[60] The Xenodochium, which was originally a stranger's lodging-house. By this time places of this sort had become little else than _succursales_ of some religious house. The Governors of the Milanese Xenodochium were the patrons of the Plat endowment which Cardan afterwards enjoyed. [61] "Hoc unum sat scio, ab ineunte aetate me inextinguibili nominis immortalis cupiditate flagrasse."--_Opera_, tom. i. p. 61. [62] "Minimo tamen honorario, et illud etiam minimum suasu cujusdam amici egregii praefecti Xenodochii imminuerunt; ita cum hujus recordor in mentem venit fabellae illius Apuleii de annonae Praefecto."--_Opera_, tom. i. p. 64. [63] _De Utilitate_, p. 351. [64] The following gives a hint as to the treatment followed: "Referant leprosos balneo ejus aquae in qua cadaver ablutum sit, sanari."--_De Varietate_, p. 334. [65] _De Vita Propria_, ch. xxxvii. p. 121. This dream is also told in _De Libris Propriis_, Opera, tom. i. p. 64. [66] _De Vita Propria_, ch. xxxvii. p. 121. CHAPTER IV JEROME CARDAN is now standing on the brink of authorship. The very title of his first book, _De Malo Recentiorum Medicorum Medendi Usu_, gives plain indication of the humour which possessed him, when he formulated his subject and put it in writing. With his temper vexed by the persistent neglect and insult cast upon him by the Milanese doctors he would naturally sit down _con amore_ to compile a list of the errors perpetrated by the ignorance and bungling of the men who affected to despise him, and if his object was to sting the hides of these pundits and arouse them to hostility yet more vehement, he succeeded marvellously well. He was enabled to launch his book rather by the strength of private friendship than by the hope of any commercial success. Whilst at Pavia he had become intimate with Ottaviano Scoto, a fellow-student who came from Venice, and in after times he found Ottaviano's purse very useful to his needs. Since their college days Ottaviano's father had died and had left his son to carry on his calling of printing. In 1536 Jerome bethought him of his friend, and sent him the MS. of the treatise which was to let the world learn with what little wisdom it was being doctored.[67] Ottaviano seems to have expected no profit from this venture, which was manifestly undertaken out of a genuine desire to help his friend, and he generously bore all the costs. Cardan deemed that, whatever the result of the issue of the book might be, it would surely be to his benefit; he hazarded nothing, and the very publication of his work would give him at least notoriety. It would moreover give him the intense pleasure of knowing that he was repaying in some measure the debt of vengeance owing to his professional foes. The outcome was exactly the opposite of what printer and author had feared and hoped. The success of the book was rapid and great.