ed a hope that Fortune had done her worst, and that he might be
allowed to repair his shattered fortunes by the exercise of his calling,
but the activity of his adversaries--which may or may not have been
provoked solely by malignity--was unsleeping. He hints at further attempts
against his good name and his life, and gives at length some painful
details of another charge made against him of an infamous character. It
is almost certain that his way was made all the harder for him from the
complaints which he had put in print about the indifference of the Duca di
Sessa to his interests at the time of Gian Battista's trial. The Milanese
doctors had no love for him, and every petulant word he might let fall
would almost surely be brought to the Governor's ears. By Cardan's own
admission it appears that utterances of this sort were both frequent and
acrid. There was a certain physician of the city who wished to place his
son gratis in Cardan's household. Cardan, however, refused, whereupon the
physician in question called attention to a certain book in which Cardan
had made some remarks to the effect that the friendship of the Duca di
Sessa had been a fatal one to him, inasmuch as, having trusted too
entirely to this friendship for his support, he had let go other interests
which might have served him better. The physician aforesaid made a second
application to Cardan to receive his son, offering this time to intercede
with the Governor on his behalf. This proposition roused the old man's
anger, and he exclaimed that he had no need of such friendship or
protection; that in fact the interruption of their good understanding had
come about more by his own act than the Governor's, who had been either
unable or unwilling to save Gian Battista's life. The doctor replied, in
the presence of divers persons, that Gian Battista had perished through
his own foolishness: if he had not confessed he would never have been
condemned; that the Senate had condemned him and not the Duca di Sessa,
and that Cardan was now slandering this prince most unjustly. A lot of
busy-bodies had by this time been attracted by the wrangle, and these
heard the doctor's accusations in full, but gathered a very imperfect
notion of Cardan's reply. He indignantly denied this charge, and in his
own account of the scene he affirms that he won the approbation of all who
listened, by the moderation of his bearing and speech.

Four days after this occurrence he again me