[75] There is a full account of this episode in _De Libris Propriis_, p. 128, and in _De Vita Propria_, ch. xl. p. 133. [76] Exotericarum exercitationum, p. 987. [77] _Cardanus Comforte, translated into Englishe_, 1573. It was the work of Thomas Bedingfield, a gentleman pensioner of Queen Elizabeth. [78] _De Vita Propria_, ch. xxxvii. p. 116. [79] "Delectant me gladii parvi, seu styli scriptorii, in quos plus viginti coronatis aureis impendi: multas etiam pecunias in varia pennarum genera, audeo dicere apparatum ad scribendum ducentis coronatis non potuisse emi."--_De Vita Propria_, ch. xviii. p. 57. [80] _De Vita Propria_, ch. iv. p. 15. [81] "At ego qui, ut dixi, Harpocraticus sum dicebam:--Summus Pont: decrepitus est: murus ruinosus, certa pro incertis derelinquam?"--_De Vita Propria_, ch. iv. p. 15. It is quite possible that Paul III. may have desired to have Cardan about him on account of his reputation as an astrologer, the Pope being a firm believer in the influence of the stars.--_Vide_ Ranke, _History of the Popes_ i. 166. [82] "Neque ego tum Moroni probitatem, nec Pharnesiorum splendorem intelligebam."--_De Vita Propria_, ch. iv. p. 15. [83] In writing of his own horoscope (_Geniturarum Exempla_, p. 461) he records that she miscarried thrice, brought forth three living children, and lived with him fifteen years. He dismisses his marriage as follows: "Duxi uxorem inexpectato, a quo tempore multa adversa concomitata sunt."--_De Vita Propria_, ch. xli. p. 149. But in _De Rerum Subtilitate_, p. 375, he records his grief at her death:--"Itaque cum a luctu dolor et vigilia invadere soleant, ut mihi anno vertente in morte uxoris Luciae Bandarenae quanquam institutis philosophiae munitus essem, repugnante tamen natura, memorque vinculi c[o=]jugalis, suspiriis ac lachrymis et inedia quinque dierum, a periculo me vindicavi." CHAPTER V AT this point it may not be inopportune to make a break in the record of Cardan's life and work, and to treat in retrospect of that portion of his time which he spent in the composition of his treatises on Arithmetic and Algebra. Ever since 1535 he had been working intermittently at one or other of these, but it would have been impossible to deal coherently and effectively with the growth and completion of these two books--really the most important of all he left behind him--while chronicling the goings and comings of a life so adventurous as that of the author.