o be the sort of man the officer describes, or if his teaching should
profit us nothing, we can let him go; but if it be otherwise, the
contract may be ratified.' With regard to the salary, over which a dispute
had already arisen, the Legate gave his consent, and the business came to
an end.

"But, disregarding this settlement, my opponents urged one of their number
to wait upon me as a delegate from the Senate, and this man would fain
have added to the terms already sanctioned by the Senate, others which I
could not possibly accept. He offered me a smaller stipend, no teaching
room was assigned to me, and no allowance for travelling expenses. I
refused to treat with him, whereupon he was forced to depart, and to
return to me later on with the terms of my engagement duly set
forth."[206]

It was in June 1562 that Cardan finally resigned his position at Pavia,
but it was not until some months after this date that the final agreement
with the Bolognese Senate, lately referred to, was concluded, and in the
interim he was forced to suffer no slight annoyance and persecution at the
hands of his adversaries in Pavia, in Bologna, and in Milan as well. Just
before he resigned his Professorship he was warned by the portentous
kindling of a fire, seemingly dead,[207] that fresh mischief was afoot,
and he at once determined in his mind that his foes had planned
destruction against him afresh. So impressed was he at this manifestation
that he swore he would not leave home on the day following. "But early in
the morning there came to my house four or five of my pupils bidding me to
a feast, where all the chief Professors of the Gymnasium and the Academy
proposed to be present. I replied that I could not come, whereupon
they, knowing that it was not my wont to dine in the middle of the day,
and deeming that it was on this score that I refused to join them, said,
'Then for your sake we will make the feast a supper.' I answered that I
could not on any account make one of their party, and then they demanded
to know the cause of my refusal. I replied it was because of a strange
event which had befallen me, and of a vow I had made thereanent. At this
they were greatly astonished, and two of them exchanged significant
glances, and they urged me again and again that I should not be so firmly
set upon marring so illustrious a gathering by my absence, but I gave back
the same answer as before."[208] They came a second time, but Cardan was
no