Young Philip was not eleven when his father died. Two days before, George called his son to his bed-side, and exhorted him to have the thought of God always present. "I foresee," said the dying armourer, "that dreadful storms are coming to shake the world. I have seen great things, but greater are in preparation. May God guide and direct you!" Philip, after receiving his father's blessing, was sent to Spires, that he might not be present at his death. He departed crying bitterly. The young boy's grandfather, the worthy bailie Reuter, who had also a son, acted as a father to him, and took him, together with his brother, George, under his own roof. Shortly after he gave the three boys for tutor John Hungarus, an excellent man, who afterwards, and at a very advanced age, became a powerful preacher of the gospel. He let nothing pass in the young man, punishing him for every fault, yet with discretion. "In this way," says Melancthon in 1554, "he made me a grammarian. He loved me as a son, I loved him as a father, and we will meet, I trust, in eternal life."[507] [507] "Dilixit me ut filium, et ego eum ut patrem; et conveniemus, spero, in vita æterna." (Melancth. Explicat. Evang.) Philip was remarkable for the excellence of his understanding, and for his facility in learning, and expounding what he had learned. He could not endure idleness, and always sought out some one with whom he might discuss what he had heard.[508] It often happened that educated strangers passed through Bretten, and visited Reuter. The bailie's grandson instantly accosted them, entered into conversation with them, and so pressed them in discussion as to excite the wonder of those present. To a powerful genius he joined great sweetness of temper, and was hence a general favourite. He had a stammer, but, like the celebrated orator of the Greeks, made such exertions to overcome it, that it afterwards completely disappeared. [508] "Quiescere non poterat, sed quærebat ubique aliquem cum quo de auditis disputaret." (Camerarius, Vita Melancth. p. 7.) His grandfather having died, Philip was sent with his brother and his young uncle, John, to the school of Pforzheim. The boys resided with one of their relatives, the sister of the famous Reuchlin. Eager for knowledge, Philip, under the tuition of George Simler, made rapid progress in science, and especially in the study of Greek, for which he had a real passion. Reuchlin often came to Pforzheim, and having become acquainted with his sister's young boarders, was soon struck with Philip's answers, and gave him a Greek grammar and a Bible. These two books were to be the study of his whole life.