uitous terms were offered to me, I accepted them, not indeed
because I was satisfied therewith, but because of my necessity, and so
that I might be free from those dangers which, as I have before stated,
pressed upon me in those days. The reason why I took this step was that
the Senate, by most unexpected action, removed my name from the lists of
those licensed to teach; nor was this all. They warned me by a message
that they had recently given hearing to a double charge against me of very
grave offences, and that nothing but my position, and the interests of the
College, kept them back from laying me in hold. Nevertheless, influenced
by these considerations, they had been moved to reduce my punishment to
that of exile. But neither my good fortune nor God deserted me; for on the
same day certain things came to pass by means of which I was able, with a
single word, to free myself from all suspicion upon either charge, and to
prove my innocence. Moreover, I forced them to admit that no mention of
this affair had ever been made before the Senate, although two graduates
had informed me that it had been discussed."[211]

The Senate, however, was reluctant to stultify its late action, and
refused to restore Cardan's name to the list of teachers. But he was put
right in the sight of the world by the sharp censure pronounced by the
Senate upon those busy-bodies who had ventured to speak in its name.
Cardan's last days in Milan were cheered with a brief gleam of good
fortune. His foes seem to have overshot the mark, and to have aroused
sympathy for the old man, who, whatever his faults, was alike an honour to
his country and the victim of fortune singularly cruel. The city took him
under its protection, assured of his innocence as to the widespread
charges against him, and pitying his misfortunes. His friend Borromeo had
probably been forwarding his interests at the Papal Court, for he records
that, just at this time, certain Cardinals and men of weight wrote to him
from Rome in kindly and flattering terms. On November 16, 1562, the
messenger from the Senate of Bologna arrived at Milan, bearing an offer of
slightly more liberal terms. They were not so favourable as Cardan wished
for; but, even had they been worse, he would probably have closed with
them. In spite of the benevolent attitude of his well-wishers in Milan, it
irked him to be there; the faces in the streets, the town gossip, all
tended to recall to him the death of his