Chapter IV (4)

[361] Herrera makes the unauthorized assertion, repeated by Solís, that the Mexicans were unacquainted with the value of the cochineal till it was taught them by the Spaniards. (Herrera, Hist. general, dec. 4, lib. 8, cap. 11.) The natives, on the contrary, took infinite pains to rear the insect on plantations of the cactus, and it formed one of the staple tributes to the crown from certain districts. See the tribute-rolls, ap. Lorenzana, Nos. 23, 24.--Hernandez, Hist. Plantarum, lib. 6, cap. 116.--Also, Clavigero, Stor. del Messico, tom. i. p. 114, nota.

[362] _Ante_, vol. i. p. 155.

[363] Zuazo, who seems to have been nice in these matters, concludes a paragraph of dainties with the following tribute to the Aztec _cuisine_: “Vendense huebos asados, crudos, en tortilla, é diversidad de guisados que se suelen guisar, con otras cazuelas y pasteles, que en el mal cocinado de Medina, ni en otros lugares de Tlamencos dicen que hai ni se pueden hallar tales trujamanes.” Carta, MS.

[364] Ample details--many more than I have thought it necessary to give--of the Aztec market of Tlatelolco may be found in the writings of all the old Spaniards who visited the capital. Among others, see Rel. Seg. de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, pp. 103-105.--Toribio, Hist. de los Indios, MS., Parte 3, cap. 7.--Carta del Lic. Zuazo, MS.--Rel. d’un gentil’ huomo, ap. Ramusio, tom. iii. fol. 309.--Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 92.

[365] Zuazo raises it to 80,000! (Carta, MS.) Cortés to 60,000. (Rel. Seg., ubi supra.) The most modest computation is that of the “Anonymous Conqueror,” who says from 40,000 to 50,000. “Et il giorno del mercato, che si fa di cinque in cinque giorni, vi, sono da quaranta ò cinquanta mila persone” (Rel. d’un gentil’ huomo, ap. Ramusio, tom. iii. fol. 309); a confirmation, by the by, of the supposition that the estimated population of the capital, found in the Italian version of this author, is a misprint. (See the preceding chapter, note 13.) He would hardly have crowded an amount equal to the whole of it into the market.{*}

{*} [And yet, even now, the number of “persone,” _i.e._, shoppers or transient visitors, in a Mexican or Peruvian plaza on a great fair day, not infrequently equals the number of “habitatori,” or permanent inhabitants of the city.--M.]

[366] [From the description of the coin, Ramirez infers that it was not stamped, but cut, in the form mentioned in the text. This is confirmed by one or two specimens of the kind still preserved in the National Museum at Mexico. Ramirez, Notas y Esclarecimientos, p. 102.]

[367] _Ante_, vol. i. p. 161.

[368] Toribio, Hist. de los Indios, MS., Parte 3, cap. 7.--Rel. Seg., ap. Lorenzana, p. 104.--Oviedo, Hist. de las Ind., MS., lib. 33, cap. 10.--Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, loc. cit.

[369] “There were amongst us,” says Diaz, “soldiers who had been in many parts of the world,--in Constantinople and in Rome and through all Italy,--and who said that a market-place so large, so well ordered and regulated, and so filled with people, they had never seen.” Hist. de la Conquista, loc. cit.

[370] Clavigero, Stor. del Messico, tom. ii. p. 27.

[371] _Ante_, vol. i. p. 94.--[A minute account of the site and extent of the ground covered by the great temple is given by Alaman (Disertaciones históricas, tom. ii. pp. 246-248). The Mexicans are largely indebted to this eminent scholar for his elaborate researches into the topography and antiquities of the Aztec capital.]

[372] “Et di più v’ hauea vna guarnigione di dieci mila huomini di guerra, tutti eletti per huomini valenti, & questi accompagnauano & guardauano la sua persona, & quando si facea qualche rumore ò ribellione nella città ò nel paese circumuicino, andauano questi, ò parte d’ essi per Capitani.” Rel. d’un gentil’ huomo, ap. Ramusio, tom. iii. fol. 309.

[373] Humboldt, Essai politique, tom. ii. p. 40.--On paving the square, not long ago, round the modern cathedral, there were found large blocks of sculptured stone buried between thirty and forty feet deep in the ground. Ibid., loc. cit.

[374] Clavigero calls it oblong, on the alleged authority of the “Anonymous Conqueror.” (Stor. del Messico, tom. ii. p. 27, nota.) But the latter says not a word of the shape, and his contemptible woodcut is too plainly destitute of all proportion to furnish an inference of any kind. (Comp. Rel. d’un gentil’ huomo, ap. Ramusio, tom. iii. fol. 307.) Torquemada and Gomara both say it was square (Monarch. Ind., lib. 8, cap. 11;--Crónica, cap. 80); and Toribio de Benavente, speaking generally of the Mexican temples, says they had that form. Hist. de los Ind., MS., Parte 1, cap. 12.

[375] See the essay on the Origin of the Mexican Civilization. _Ante._

[376] Clavigero, calling it oblong, adopts Torquemada’s estimate--not Sahagun’s, as he pretends, which he never saw, and who gives no measurement of the building--for the length, and Gomara’s estimate, which is somewhat less, for the breadth. (Stor. del Messico, tom. ii. p. 28, nota.) As both his authorities make the building square, this spirit of accommodation is whimsical enough. Toribio, who did measure a _teocalli_ of the usual construction in the town of Tenayuca, found it to be forty _brazas_, or two hundred and forty feet, square. (Hist. de los Ind., MS., Parte 1, cap. 12.) The great temple of Mexico was undoubtedly larger, and, in the want of better authorities, one may accept Torquemada, who makes it a little more than three hundred and sixty Toledan, equal to three hundred and eight French feet square. (Monarch. Ind., lib. 8, cap. 11.) How can M. de Humboldt speak of the “great concurrence of testimony” in regard to the dimensions of the temple? (Essai politique, tom. ii. p. 41.) No two authorities agree.

[377] Bernal Diaz says he counted one hundred and fourteen steps. (Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 92.) Toribio says that more than one person who had numbered them told him they exceeded a hundred. (Hist. de los Indios, MS., Parte 1, cap. 12.) The steps could hardly have been less than eight or ten inches high, each; Clavigero assumes that they were a foot, and that the building, therefore, was a hundred and fourteen feet high, precisely. (Stor. del Messico, tom. ii. pp. 28, 29.) It is seldom safe to use anything stronger than _probably_ in history.

[378] “Tornámos á ver la gran plaça, y la multitud de gente que en ella auia, vnos comprado, y otros vendiendo, que solamente el rumor, y zumbido de las vozes, y palabras que allí auia, sonaua mas que de vna legua!” Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 92.

[379] “Y por honrar mas sus templos sacaban los caminos muy derechos por cordel de una y de dos leguas que era cosa harto de ver, desde lo Alto del principal templo, como venian de todos los pueblos menores y barrios; salian los caminos muy derechos y iban á dar al patio de los teocallis.” Toribio, Hist. de los Indios, MS., Parte 1, cap. 12.

[380] “No se contentaba el Demonio con los [Teucales] ya dichos, sino que en cada pueblo, en cada barrio, y á cuarto de legua, tenian otros patios pequeños adonde habia tres ó cuatro teocallis, y en algunos mas, en otras partes solo uno, y en cada Mogote ó Cerrejon uno ó dos, y por los caminos y entre los Maizales, habia otros muchos pequeños, y todos estaban blancos y encalados, que parecian y abultaban mucho, que en la tierra bien poblada parecia que todo estaba lleno de casas, en especial de los patios del Demonio, que eran muy de ver.” Toribio, Hist. de los Indios, MS., ubi supra.

[381] Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, ubi supra.

[382] _Ante_, vol. i. p. 70.

[383] “Y tenia en las paredes tantas costras de sangre, y el suelo todo bañado dello, que en los mataderos de Castilla no auia tanto hedor.” Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, ubi supra.--Rel. Seg. de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, pp. 105, 106.--Carta del Lic. Zuazo, MS.--See, also, for notices of these deities, Sahagun, lib. 3, cap. 1, et seq.--Torquemada, Monarch. Ind., lib. 6, cap. 20, 21.--Acosta, lib. 5, cap. 9.

[384] Bernal Diaz, Ibid., ubi supra.--Whoever examines Cortés’ great letter to Charles V. will be surprised to find it stated that, instead of any acknowledgment to Montezuma, he threw down his idols and erected the Christian emblems in their stead. (Rel. Seg., ap. Lorenzana, p. 106.) This was an event of much later date. The _Conquistador_ wrote his despatches too rapidly and concisely to give heed always to exact time and circumstance. We are quite as likely to find them attended to in the long-winded, gossiping,--inestimable chronicle of Diaz.

[385] “Quarenta torres muy altas y bien obradas.” Rel. Seg. de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, p. 105.

[386] “Delante de todos estos altares habia braçeros que toda la noche hardian, y en las salas tambien tenian sus fuegos.” Toribio, Hist. de los Indios, MS., Parte 1, cap. 12.

[387] Bernal Diaz, Ibid., ubi supra.--Toribio, also, notices this temple with the same complimentary epithet. “La boca hecha como de infierno y en ella pintada la boca de una temerosa Sierpe con terribles colmillos y dientes, y en algunas de estas los colmillos eran de bulto, que verlo y entrar dentro ponia gran temor y grima, en especial el infierno que estaba en México, que parecia traslado del verdadero infierno.” Hist. de los Indios, MS., Parte 1, cap. 4.

[388] Bernal Diaz, ubi supra.--“Andres de Tapia, _que me lo dijo_, i Gonçalo de Umbria, las contáron vn Dia, i halláron ciento i treinta i seis mil Calaberas, en las Vigas, i Gradas.” Gomara, Crónica, cap. 82.{*}

{*} [Gomara is so often accused of exaggeration and falsehood that it is satisfactory to find his exactness, in the present instance, established by the evidence of Tápia himself, who thus describes the manner in which the estimate was made: “E quien esto escribe, y un Gonzalo de Umbréa, contaron los palos que habie, é multiplicando á cinco cabezas cada palo de los que entre viga y viga estaban, ... hallamos haber ciento treinta y seis mill cabezas, _sin las de las torres_.” (Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc. para la Hist. de México, tom. iii.) The original of this “Relacion,” recently discovered, is in the library of the Academy of History at Madrid. It is an unfinished narrative, valuable as the production of one of the chief companions of Cortés, and for the confirmation it affords of other contemporaneous accounts of the Conquest.--K.]

[389] “Three collections, thus fancifully disposed, of these grinning horrors--in all 230,000--are noticed by Gibbon!” (Decline and Fall, ed. Milman, vol. i. p. 52; vol. xii. p. 45.) A _European_ scholar commends “the conqueror’s piety, his moderation, and his justice”! Rowe’s Dedication of “Tamerlane.”

[390] _Ante_, vol. i. pp. 83, 84.--The desire of presenting the reader with a complete view of the actual state of the capital at the time of its occupation by the Spaniards has led me in this and the preceding chapter into a few repetitions of remarks on the Aztec institutions in the Introductory Book of this History.

[391] Toribio, Hist. de los Indios, MS., Parte 1, cap. 12.--Gomara, Crónica, cap. 80.--Rel. d’un gentil’ huomo, ap. Ramusio, tom. iii. fol. 309.

[392] “Es tan grande que dentro del circuito de ella, que es todo cercado de Muro muy alto, se podia muy bien facer una Villa de quinientos Vecinos.” Rel. Seg., ap. Lorenzana, p. 105.

[393] “Todas estas mugeres,” says Father Toribio, “estaban aquí sirviendo al demonio por sus propios intereses; las unas porque el Demonio las hiciese modestas,” etc. Hist. de los Indios, MS., Parte 1, cap. 9.

[394] See essay on the Origin of the Mexican Civilization. _Ante._

[395] “Y luego lo supímos entre todos los demas Capitanes, y soldados, y lo entrámos á ver muy secretamente, y como yo lo ví, digo que me admiré, é como en aquel tiempo era mancebo, y no auia visto en mi vida riquezas como aquellas, tuue por cierto, que en el mundo no deuiera auer otras tantas!” Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 93.

[396] Ibid., loc. cit.

[397] “We Spaniards,” says Cortés, frankly, “are apt to be somewhat unmanageable and troublesome.” Rel. Seg., ap. Lorenzana, p. 84.

[398] Gomara, Crónica, cap. 83.--There is reason to doubt the truth of these stories. “Segun una carta original que tengo en mi poder firmada de las tres cabezas de la Nueva-España en donde escriben á la Magestad del Emperador Nuestro Señor (que Dios tenga en su Santo Reyno) disculpan en ella á Motecuhzoma y á los Mexicanos de esto, y de lo demas que se les argulló, que lo cierto era que fué invencion de los Tlascaltecas, y de algunos de los Españoles que veian la hora de salirse de miedo de la Ciudad, y poner en cobro innumerables riquezas que habian venido á sus manos.” Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 85.

[399] Rel. Seg. de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, p. 84.--Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 85.--P. Martyr, De Orbe Novo, dec. 5, cap. 3.--Oviedo, Hist. de las Ind., MS., lib. 33, cap. 6.--Bernal Diaz gives a very different report of this matter. According to him, a number of officers and soldiers, of whom he was one, suggested the capture of Montezuma to the general, who came into the plan with hesitation. (Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 93.) This is contrary to the character of Cortés, who was a man to lead, and not to be led, on such occasions. It is contrary to the general report of historians, though these, it must be confessed, are mainly built on the general’s narrative. It is contrary to anterior probability; since, if the conception seems almost too desperate to have seriously entered into the head of any one man, how much more improbable is it that it should have originated with a number! Lastly, it is contrary to the positive written statement of Cortés to the emperor, publicly known and circulated, confirmed in print by his chaplain, Gomara, and all this when the thing was fresh and when the parties interested were alive to contradict it. We cannot but think that the captain here, as in the case of the burning of the ships, assumes rather more for himself and his comrades than the facts will strictly warrant; an oversight for which the lapse of half a century--to say nothing of his avowed anxiety to show up the claims of the latter--may furnish some apology.

[400] Even Gomara has the candor to style it a “pretext,”--_achaque_. Crónica, cap. 83.

[401] Bernal Diaz states the affair, also, differently. According to him, the Aztec governor was enforcing the payment of the customary tribute from the Totonacs, when Escalante, interfering to protect his allies, now subjects of Spain, was slain in an action with the enemy. (Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 93.) Cortés had the best means of knowing the facts, and wrote at the time. He does not usually shrink from avowing his policy, however severe, towards the natives; and I have thought it fair to give him the benefit of his own version of the story.

[402] Oviedo, Hist. de las Ind., MS., lib. 33, cap. 5.--Rel. Seg. de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, pp. 83, 84. The apparition of the Virgin was seen only by the Aztecs, who, it is true, had to make out the best case for their defeat they could to Montezuma; a suspicious circumstance, which, however, did not stagger the Spaniards. “Assuredly all of us soldiers who accompanied Cortés held the belief that the divine mercy and Our Lady the Virgin Mary were always with us, and this was the truth.” Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 94.

[403] “Paseóse vn gran rato solo, i cuidadoso de aquel gran hecho, que emprendia, i que aun á él mesmo le parecia temerario, pero necesario para su intento, andando.” Gomara, Crónica, cap. 83.

[404] Diaz says, “All that night we spent in prayer, beseeching the Father of Mercies that he would so direct the matter that it should contribute to his holy service.” Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 95.

[405] According to Ixtlilxochitl, it was his own portrait. “Se quitó del brazo una rica piedra, donde está esculpido su rostro (que era lo mismo que un sello Real).” Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 85.

[406] Rel. Seg. de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, p. 86.

[407] “Quando Io lo consintiera, los mios no pasarian por ello.” Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 85.

[408] “¿Que haze v. m. ya con tantas palabras? O le lleuemos preso, ó le darémos de estocadas, por esso tornadle á dezir, que si da vozes, ó haze alboroto, que le mataréis, porque mas vale que desta vez asseguremos nuestras vidas, ó las perdamos.” Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 95.

[409] Oviedo has some doubts whether Montezuma’s conduct is to be viewed as pusillanimous or as prudent. “Al coronista le parece, segun lo que se puede colegir de esta materia, que Montezuma era, ó mui falto de ánimo, ó pusilánimo, ó mui prudente, aunque en muchas cosas, los que le viéron lo loan de mui señor y mui liberal; y en sus razonamientos mostraba ser de buen juicio.” He strikes the balance, however, in favor of pusillanimity. “Un Príncipe tan grande como Montezuma no se habia de dexar incurrir en tales términos, ni consentir ser detenido de tan poco número de Españoles, ni de otra generacion alguna; mas como Dios tiene ordenado lo que ha de ser, ninguno puede huir de su juicio.” Hist. de las Ind., MS., lib. 33, cap. 6.

[410] The story of the seizure of Montezuma may be found, with the usual discrepancies in the details, in Rel. Seg. de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, pp. 84-86,--Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 95,--Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 85,--Oviedo, Hist. de las Ind., MS., lib. 33, cap. 6,--Gomara, Crónica, cap. 83,--Herrera, Hist. general, dec. 2, lib. 8, cap. 2, 3,--Martyr, De Orbe Novo, dec. 5, cap. 3.

[411] “Siempre que ante él passauamos, y aunque fuesse Cortés, le quitauamos los bonetes de armas ó cascos, que siempre estauamos armados, y él nos hazia gran mesura, y honra á todos.... Digo que no se sentauan Cortés, ni ningun Capitan, hasta que el Monteçuma les mandaua dar sus assentaderos ricos, y les mandaua assentar.” Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 95, 100.

[412] Herrera, Hist. general, dec. 2, lib. 8, cap. 3.

[413] On one occasion, three soldiers, who left their posts without orders, were sentenced to run the gauntlet,--a punishment little short of death. Ibid., ubi supra.

[414] Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 97.

[415] [The patriotic sensibilities of Señor Ramirez are somewhat disturbed by my application of the term _barbarians_ to his Aztec countrymen.{*} This word, with the corresponding epithet of _savages_, forms the key, he seems to think, to my description of the ancient Mexicans. “Regarded from this point of view,” he says, “the astounding examples of heroism and self-devotion so rarely met with in the history of the world are interpreted not as a voluntary sacrifice inspired by the holy love of country and of freedom, but as the effect of a brutish hatred and stupid ferocity.” There may be some foundation for these strictures, though somewhat too highly colored. And one cannot deny that, as he reflects on the progress made by the Aztecs in the knowledge of the useful arts, and, indeed, to a certain extent, of science, he must admit their claim to a higher place in the scale of civilization than that occupied by barbarians,--to one, in truth, occupied by the semi-civilized races of China and Hindostan. But there is another side of the picture, not presented by the Eastern nations, in those loathsome abominations which degraded the Aztec character to a level with the lowest stages of humanity, and makes even the term _barbarian_ inadequate to express the ferocity of his nature.]

{*} [This sensibility is the more natural that Señor Ramirez claims descent not from the conquering but from the conquered race,--a fact which may also account for his rigorous judgments on the acts and character of Cortés.--K.]

[416] “Y despues que confesáron haber muerto los Españoles, les hice interrogar si ellos eran Vasallos de Muteczuma? Y el dicho Qualpopoca respondió, que si habia otro Señor, de quien pudiesse serlo? casi diciendo, que no habia otro, y que si eran.” Rel. Seg. de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, p. 87.

[417] “E assimismo les pregunte, si lo que allí se habia hecho si habia sido por su mandado? y dijéron que no, aunque despues, al tiempo que en ellos se executó la sentencia, que fuessen quemados, todos á una voz dijéron, que era verdad que el dicho Muteczuma se lo habia embiado á mandar, y que por su mandado lo habian hecho.” Rel. Seg. de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, loc. cit.

[418] Gomara, Crónica, cap. 89.--Oviedo, Hist. de las Ind., MS., lib. 33, cap. 6.--Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 95.--One may doubt whether pity or contempt predominates in Martyr’s notice of this event. “Infelix tunc Muteczuma re adeo noua perculsus, formidine repletur, decidit animo, neque iam erigere caput audet, aut suorum auxilia implorare. Ille vero pœnam se meruisse fassus est, vti agnus mitis. Æquo animo pati videtur has regulas grammaticalibus duriores, imberbibus pueris dictatas, omnia placide fert, ne seditio ciuium et procerum oriatur.” De Orbe Novo, dec. 5, cap. 3.

[419] Rel. Seg. de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, p. 18.

[420] Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, ubi supra.

[421] Archbishop Lorenzana, as late as the close of the last century, finds good Scripture warrant for the proceeding of the Spaniards. “Fué grande prudencia, y Arte militar haber asegurado á el Emperador, porque sino quedaban expuestos Hernan Cortés, y sus soldados á perecer á traycion, y teniendo seguro á el Emperador se aseguraba á sí mismo, pues los Españoles no se confian ligeramente: Jonathas fué muerto, y sorprendido por haberse confiado de Triphon.” Rel. Seg. de Cortés, p. 84, nota.

[422] See Puffendorf, De Jure Naturæ et Gentium, lib. 8, cap. 6, sec. 10.--Vattel, Law of Nations, book 3, chap. 8, sec. 141.

[423] “Osar quemar sus Capitanes delante de sus Palacios, y echalle grillos entre tanto que se hazia la Justicia, que muchas vezes aora que soy viejo me paro á considerar las cosas heroicas que en aquel tiempo passámos, que me parece las veo presentes: Y digo que nuestros hechos, que no los haziamos nosotros, sino que venian todos encaminados por Dios.... Porque ay mucho que ponderar en ello.” Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 95.

[424] Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 96.

[425] Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 97.

[426] Gomara, Crónica, cap. 84.--Herrera, Hist. general, dec. 2, lib. 8, cap. 4.

[427] Herrera, Hist. general, dec. 2, lib. 8, cap. 5.

[428] “En esto era tan bien mirado, que todos le queriamos con gran amor, porque verdaderamente era gran señor en todas las cosas que le viamos hazer.” Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 100.

[429] “Y él bien conocia á todos, y sabia nuestros nombres, y aun calidades, y era tan bueno que á todos nos daua joyas, á otros mantas é Indias hermosas.” Ibid., cap. 97.

[430] Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 98.

[431] According to Solís, the Devil closed his heart against these good men; though, in the historian’s opinion, there is no evidence that this evil counsellor actually appeared and conversed with Montezuma after the Spaniards had displayed the Cross in Mexico. Conquista, lib. 3, cap. 20.

[432] Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 99.--Rel. Seg. de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, p. 88.

[433] He sometimes killed his game with a tube, a sort of air-gun, through which he blew little balls at birds and rabbits. “La Caça á que Moteçuma iba por la Laguna, era á tirar á Pájaros, á Conejos, con Cerbatana, de la qual era diestro.” Herrera, Hist. general, dec. 2, lib. 8, cap. 4.

[434] _Ante_, book I. chap. 6.

[435] “E llámase esta Ciudad Tezcuco, y será de hasta treinta mil Vecinos.” (Rel. Seg., ap. Lorenzana, p. 94.) According to the licentiate Zuazo, double that number,--_sesenta mil Vecinos_. (Carta, MS.) Scarcely probable, as Mexico had no more. Toribio speaks of it as covering a league one way by six another! (Hist. de los Indios, MS., Parte 3, cap. 7.) This must include the environs to a considerable extent. The language of the old chroniclers is not the most precise.

[436] A description of the capital in its glory is thus given by an eyewitness. “Esta Ciudad era la segunda cosa principal de la tierra, y así habia en Tezcuco muy grandes edificios de templos del Demonio, y muy gentiles casas y aposentos de Señores, entre los cuales, fué muy cosa de ver la casa del Señor principal, así la vieja con su huerta cercada de mas de mil cedros muy grandes y muy hermosos, de los cuales hoy dia están los mas en pie, aunque la casa está asolada, otra casa tenia que se podia aposentar en ella un egército, con muchos jardines, y un muy grande estanque, que por debajo de tierra solian entrar á él con barcas.” (Toribio, Hist. de los Indios, MS., Parte 3, cap. 7.) The last relics of this palace were employed in the fortifications of the city in the revolutionary war of 1810. (Ixtlilxochitl, Venida de los Esp., p. 78, nota.) Tezcuco is now an insignificant little place, with a population of a few thousand inhabitants. Its architectural remains, as still to be discerned, seem to have made a stronger impression on Mr. Bullock than on most travellers. Six Months in Mexico, chap. 27.

[437] “Cacama reprehendió asperamente á la Nobleza Mexicana porque consentia hacer semejantes desacatos á quatro Estrangeros y que no les mataban; se escusaban con decirles les iban á la mano y no les consentian tomar las Armas para libertarlo, y tomar sí una tan gran deshonra como era la que los Estrangeros les habian hecho en prender á su señor, y quemar á Quauhpopocatzin, los demas sus Hijos y Deudos sin culpa, con las Armas y Municion que tenian para la defenza y guarda de la ciudad, y de su autoridad tomar para sí los tesoros del Rey, y de los Dioses, y otras libertades y desvergüenzas que cada dia pasaban, y aunque todo esto vehian lo disimulaban por no enojar á Motecuhzoma que tan amigo y casado estaba con ellos.” Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 86.

[438] It is the language of Cortés. “Y este señor _se rebeló_, assí contra el servicio de Vuestra Alteza, á quien se habia ofrecido, como contra el dicho Muteczuma.” Rel. Seg., ap. Lorenzana, p. 95.--Voltaire, with his quick eye for the ridiculous, notices this arrogance in his tragedy of Alzire:

“Tu vois de ces tyrans la fureur despotique:
Ils pensent que pour eux le Ciel fit l’Amérique,
Qu’ils en sont nés les Rois; et Zamore à leurs yeux,
Tout souverain qu’il fut, n’est qu’un sêditieux.”
ALZIRE, act 4, sc. 3.

[439] Gomara, Crónica, cap. 91.

[440] “I que para reparar la Religion, i restituir los Dioses, guardar el Reino, cobrar la fama, i libertad á él, i á México, iria de mui buena gana, mas no las manos en el seno, sino en la Espada, para matar los Españoles, que tanta mengua, i afrenta havian hecho á la Nacion de Culhúa.” Ibid., cap. 91.

[441] “Pero que él tenia en su Tierra de el dicho Cacamazin muchas Personas Principales, que vivian con él, y les daba su salario.” Rel. Seg. de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, p. 95.

[442] Rel. Seg. de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, pp. 95, 96.--Oviedo, Hist. de las Ind., MS., lib. 33, cap. 8.--Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 86.--The latter author dismisses the capture of Cacama with the comfortable reflection “that it saved the Spaniards much embarrassment, and greatly facilitated the introduction of the Catholic faith.”

[443] Cortés calls the name of this prince Cucuzca. (Rel. Seg., ap. Lorenzana, p. 96.) In the orthography of Aztec words, the general was governed by his ear, and was wrong nine times out of ten.--Bustamante, in his catalogue of Tezcucan monarchs, omits him altogether. He probably regards him as an intruder, who had no claim to be ranked among the rightful sovereigns of the land. (Galería de antiguos Príncipes (Puebla, 1821), p. 21.) Sahagun has, in like manner, struck his name from the royal roll of Tezcuco. Hist. de Nueva-España, lib. 8, cap. 3.

[444] The exceeding lenity of the Spanish commander, on this occasion, excited general admiration, if we are to credit Solís, throughout the Aztec empire! “Tuvo notable aplauso en todo el imperio este género de castigo sin sangre, que se atribuyó al superior juicio de los Españoles, porque no esperaban de Montezuma semejante moderacion.” Conquista, lib. 4, cap. 2.

[445] Rel. Seg. de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, p. 91.

[446] “Damus quæ dant,” says Martyr, briefly, in reference to this valuation. (De Orbe Novo, dec. 5, cap. 3.) Cortés notices the reports made by his people, of large and beautiful edifices in the province of Oaxaca. (Rel. Seg., ap. Lorenzana, p. 89.) It is here, also, that some of the most elaborate specimens of Indian architecture are still to be seen, in the ruins of Mitla.