ipsum ob invidiam meam et accusatorum multitudinem deseruisset, et ipse
multis modis conflictatus est gravibus morbis, caede propriae neptis a
conjuge suo, litibus gravibus: tum etiam subsecuta calamitas publica,
Zotophagite insula amissa, classe regia dissipata."--_De Vita Propria_,
ch. xli. p. 153. The island alluded to must have been _Lotophagites
insula_, an island near the Syrtes Minor on the African coast, and the
loss of the same probably refers to some disaster during the Imperialist
wars against the Moors.

[199] _De Vita Propria_, ch. xliii. p. 160.

[200] Cardan rates it as his best work on an ethical subject.--_Opera_,
tom i. p. 146. And on p. 115 he writes: "Utinam contigisset absolvere ante
errorem filii; neque enim ille errasset, nec errandi causam aliquam
habuisset: nec, etiamsi errasset, periisset." He also quotes a letter full
of sound and loving counsels which he had sent to Gian Battista six months
before he fell into the snare.

[201] _Opera_, tom. x. p. 129.

[202] Bartolomeo Sacco was evidently living at Pavia at this date.

[203] _De Vita Propria_, ch. xxx. p. 83.

[204] _De Vita Propria_, ch. xxx. p. 86.

[205] _De Vita Propria_, ch. xvii. p. 55.

[206] _De Vita Propria_, ch. xvii. p. 54.

[207] _Ibid.,_ ch. xxx. p. 88. There is also a long account of this
occurrence in _Opera_, tom. x. p. 459.

[208] _De Vita Propria_, ch. xxx. p. 89.

[209] _De Vita Propria_, ch. xxx. p. 90.

[210] _Opera_, tom. x. p. 460.

CHAPTER XI

WHILE Cardan was lying sick at Milan, a messenger came from Pavia, begging
him to hasten thither to see his infant grandson, who had been ailing when
he left Pavia, and was now much worse. The journey under the burning sun
of the hottest summer known for many years aggravated his malady, but he
brought the child out of danger. He caught erysipelas in the face, and to
this ailment succeeded severe trouble with the teeth. If it had not been
for the fact that the time of the new moon had been near, he says that he
must have submitted to blood-letting; but after the new moon his health
mended, and thus he escaped the two-fold danger--that of the disease, and
that of the lancet. He tells of an attempt made against his life by a
servant for the sake of robbery, an attempt which came very near success;
and of a severe attack of gout in the knee. After a month's confinement to
his house he began to practise Medicine; and, finding patients in plenty,
he nourish