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They had a nurse for it, and it was reared and loved as if it

were their own child. They baptized it, and gave it the name of

Castruccio after their father. As the years passed Castruccio

grew very handsome, and gave evidence of wit and discretion, and

learnt with a quickness beyond his years those lessons which

Messer Antonio imparted to him. Messer Antonio intended to make a

priest of him, and in time would have inducted him into his

canonry and other benefices, and all his instruction was given

with this object; but Antonio discovered that the character of

Castruccio was quite unfitted for the priesthood. As soon as

Castruccio reached the age of fourteen he began to take less

notice of the chiding of Messer Antonio and Madonna Dianora and

no longer to fear them; he left off reading ecclesiastical books,

and turned to playing with arms, delighting in nothing so much as

in learning their uses, and in running, leaping, and wrestling

with other boys.