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Whilst Castruccio made peace with the Florentines, and

strengthened his position in Lucca, he neglected no opportunity,

short of open war, of increasing his importance elsewhere. It

appeared to him that if he could get possession of Pistoia, he

would have one foot in Florence, which was his great desire. He,

therefore, in various ways made friends with the mountaineers,

and worked matters so in Pistoia that both parties confided their

secrets to him. Pistoia was divided, as it always had been, into

the Bianchi and Neri parties; the head of the Bianchi was

Bastiano di Possente, and of the Neri, Jacopo da Gia. Each of

these men held secret communications with Castruccio, and each

desired to drive the other out of the city; and, after many

threatenings, they came to blows.