144 The Rice Institute Pamphlet
From the beginning Jason’s lectures were extraordinarily
successful. He commenced his course with commentaries on
the Code and continued by taking up the first book of the
Digest. His first publication was a treatise on tenures in 1477
and this was followed by extensive volumes of commentaries
on the Digestum Vetus, on the Infoiiiatum and on the Di-
gestum Novum. In 1485, after his reputation had been bril-
liantly established, he was called to the University of Padua
and the service of Venice, and there he remained for three
years and then removed to Pisa, the university which had
recently been reconstituted by Lorenzo di Medici. His career
at Pisa was exceptionally stormy, involving prolonged con-
troversy with Filippo Decio, who had formerly been his
pupil, and with Bartolommeo Sozzini, the irascible jurist of
Siena. Under these circumstances his professorship of Pisa
was soon terminated and he returned to Pavia where he
taught for most of the remainder of his life during the period
of the French occupation as well as during the last days of
the Sforza dynasty. He died in 1519 full of honors and in
possession of a considerable fortune. He had been made
Councillor and Senator by Ludovico il Moro and by virtue
of his connection with the Sforza family he assumed the title
of Count and Knight. He served the state of Milan as Am-
bassador on the occasion of the election of Alexander VI to
the papacy and he was given many titles and rewards by
Louis XII who honored him on one occasion, as I have noted
above, by coming in person with members of his court to
hear Jason expound a text of the Digest. His motto was,
appropriately enough, “Fortune comes to him who deserves
it.”
In his will he provided for numerous charitable bequests
and also made regulations for the erection of his tomb with