[68] Besides the De Malo Medendi Usu, he published in 1536 a tract upon judicial astrology. This, in an enlarged form, was reprinted by Petreius at Nuremburg in 1542.
[69] Cardan writes of Brissac: "Erat enim Brissacus Prorex singularis in studiosis amoris et humanitatis."—De Vita Propria, ch. iv. p. 14.
[70] "Mirumque in modum venenis cornu ejus adversari creditur."—De Subtilitate, p. 315. Sir Thomas Browne (Vulgar Errors, Bk. iii. 23) deals at length with the pretended virtues of the horn, and in the Bestiary of Philip de Thaun (Popular Treatises on Science during the Middle Ages) is given an account of the many wonderful qualities of the beast.
[71] De Vita Propria, ch. xxxiii. p. 105. He also alludes to this case in De Libris Propriis (Opera, tom. i. p. 65), affirming that the other doctors concerned in the case raised a great prejudice against him on account of his reputation as an astrologer. "Ita tot modis et insanus paupertate, et Astrologus profitendo edendoque libros, et imperitus casu illustris pueri, et modum alium medendi observans ex titulo libri nuper edito, jam prope ab omnibus habebar. Atque hæc omnia in Urbe omnium nugacissima, et quæ calumniis maximè patet."
[72] The founder of this family was Indico d'Avalos, a Spanish gentleman, who was chosen by Alfonso of Naples as a husband for Antonella, the daughter and heiress of the great Marchese Pescara of Aquino. This d'Avalos Marchese dal Guasto was the grandson of Indico. He commanded the advanced guard at the battle of Pavia, and took part in almost every battle between the French and Imperialists, and went with the Emperor to Tunis in 1535. Though he was a brave soldier and a skilful tactician, he was utterly defeated by d'Enghien at Cerisoles in 1544. He has been taxed with treachery in the case of the attack upon the messengers Rincon and Fregoso, who were carrying letters from Francis I. to the Sultan during a truce, but he did little more than imitate the tactics used by the French against himself; moreover, neither of the murdered men was a French subject, or had the status of an ambassador. D'Avalos was a liberal patron of letters and arts, and was very popular as Governor of Milan. He was a noted gallant and a great dandy. Brantôme writes of him—"qu'il était si dameret qu'il parfumait jusqu'aux selles de ses chevaux."—He died in 1546.
[73] "Violentia quorundam Medicorum adactus sum anno MDXXXVI, seu XXXVII, turpi conditione pacisci cum Collegio, sed ut dixi, postmodum dissoluta est, anno MDXXXIX et restitutus sum integrè."—De Vita Propria, ch. xxxiii. p. 105.
[74] De Vita Propria, ch. xl. p. 133.—He gives a long list of cases of his successful treatment in Opera, tom. i. p. 82.
[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.