XIV. NAHUA LAWS AND LAW COURTS
GENERAL REMARKS--THE CIHUACOATL, OR SUPREME JUDGE--THE COURT OF THE TLACATECATL--JURISDICTION OF THE TECUHTLIS--THE CENTECTLAPIXQUES AND TOPILLIS--LAW COURTS AND JUDGES OF TEZCUCO--EIGHTY-DAY COUNCIL--TRIBUNAL OF THE KING--COURT PROCEEDINGS--LAWYERS--WITNESSES--REMUNERATION OF JUDGES--JUSTICE OF KING NEZAHUALPILLI--HE ORDERS HIS SON'S EXECUTION--MONTEZUMA AND THE FARMER--JAILS--LAWS AGAINST THEFT, MURDER, TREASON, KIDNAPPING, DRUNKENNESS, WITCHCRAFT, ADULTERY, INCEST, SODOMY, FORNICATION, AND OTHER CRIMES--STORY OF NEZAHUALCOYOTL AND THE BOY.
It has already been stated that among the Nahuas the supreme legislative power belonged to the king; the lawful share that he took in the administration of justice we shall see as we examine the system of jurisprudence adopted by them.
When treating of the Nahua judiciary the majority of historians have preferred to discuss almost exclusively the system in vogue at Tezcuco, partly, perhaps, because it presents a nicer gradation of legal tribunals, and consequently a closer resemblance to European institutions than did the more simple routine of the Mexicans, but mainly because the materials of information were more accessible and abundant. Many writers, however, have not followed this rule, but throwing all the information they could obtain into a general fund, they have applied the whole indiscriminately to the 'Mexicans,' by which term they mean all the inhabitants of the regions conquered by Cortés. Las Casas, speaking of the allied kingdoms of Mexico, Tezcuco, and Tlacopan, says that "their government and laws scarcely differed, so that whatever may be said of those parts concerning which the most information can be obtained, may be understood, and perhaps it is best to say it, as applying to all."[476] Although the number and jurisdiction of the law-courts of Mexico and Tezcuco differed, there is reason to believe that the laws themselves and the penalties inflicted were the same, or nearly so.
[Sidenote: THE CIHUACOATL, SUPREME JUDGE.]
In Mexico, and in each of the principal cities of the empire, there was a supreme judge, called cihuacoatl,[477] who was considered second only to the king in rank and authority. He heard appeals in criminal cases from the court immediately below him, and from his decision no appeal was allowed, not even to the king.[478] Whether or not the cihuacoatl pronounced judgment in civil cases is uncertain. According to Clavigero he did;[479] Prescott,[480] Brasseur de Bourbourg,[481] and Carbajal Espinosa[482] agree with Clavigero, and Leon Carbajal[483] cites Torquemada as an authority for this statement, but the fact is Torquemada distinctly affirms the contrary,[484] as does Las Casas,[485] from whom Torquemada takes his information. It appears, however, reasonable to suppose that in some exceptional cases, as, for instance, where the title to large possessions was involved, or when the litigants were powerful nobles, the supreme judge may have taken cognizance of civil affairs. Whether the jurisdiction of the cihuacoatl was ever original, as well as final, as Prescott[486] asserts it to have been, I do not find stated by the earlier authorities, although this may have happened exceptionally, but in that case there could have been but one hearing, for the king, who was the only superior of the supreme judge, had no authority to reverse the decisions of the latter. The cihuacoatl was appointed by the king, and he in turn appointed the inferior judges. He held his office for life, and in addition to his regular judicial duties had charge of the most important affairs of government, and of the royal revenues. He was without a colleague, and must administer justice in person. Such was the respect paid to this exalted personage, that whoever had the audacity to usurp his power or insignia suffered death, his property was confiscated and his family enslaved.[487]
The next court was supreme in civil matters and could only be appealed from to the cihuacoatl in cases of a criminal nature. It was presided over by three judges, the chief of whom was styled tlacatecatl, and from him the court took its name; his colleagues were called quauhnochtli and tlanotlac.[488] Each of these had his deputies and assistants. Affairs of importance were laid in the first instance before this tribunal, but appeals from the inferior courts were also heard. Sentence was pronounced by a crier entitled tecpoyotl in the name of the tlacatecatl, and was carried into execution by the quauhnochtli with his own hands. The office of tecpoyotl was considered one of high honor because he declared the will of the king as represented by his judges.
[Sidenote: THE TECUHTLI AND CENTECTLAPIXQUE.]
In each ward of the city there was a magistrate called tecuhtli who was annually elected by the inhabitants of his district; he judged minor cases in the first instance only, and probably the office somewhat resembled that of our police judge. Appeal lay from him to the tlacatecatl.[489] It was the duty of the tecuhtlis to give a daily report of affairs that had been submitted to them, and of the judgments they had rendered thereon, to the tlacatecatl, who reviewed their proceedings. Whether the tlacatecatl could reverse the decision of a tecuhtli when no appeal had been made, is uncertain, but it appears improbable, inasmuch as a failure to exercise the right of appeal would imply recognition of justice in the judgment passed by the lower tribunal. In each ward, and elected in the same manner as the tecuhtlis, were officers whose title was centectlapixque, whose province it was to watch over the behavior and welfare of a certain number of families committed to their charge, and to acquaint the magistrates with everything that passed. Although the centectlapixques could not exercise judicial authority, yet it is probable that petty disputes were often submitted to them for arbitration, and that their arbitrament was abided by. In case the parties could not be brought to any friendly settlement, however, the centectlapixque immediately reported the matter to the tecuhtli of his district, and a regular trial ensued.
The tecuhtlis had their bailiffs, who carried their messages and served summonses. In addition to these there were constables styled topilli, who arrested prisoners and enforced order.[490]
[Sidenote: THE EIGHTY-DAY COUNCIL.]
In Tezcuco, although the kingdom was divided into many provinces,[491] the higher courts of justice were placed in six of the principal cities only.[492] Each of these tribunals was presided over by two judges, who were very high magnates and usually relatives of the king, and from these an appeal lay to two supreme judges who resided at the capital.[493] These twelve judges were assisted by twelve sheriffs,[494] whose duty it was to arrest prisoners of exalted rank in their own district, or to go in search of offenders in other provinces. The peculiar badge of these officers was a certain ornamented mantle; wherever they went they were held in great awe and respect, as representatives of the king, and seldom encountered resistance in the exercise of their functions. There were also constables in attendance on the courts, who acted with great diligence in carrying messages or making arrests. Every ten or twelve days all the judges met in council with the king,[495] when cases of importance were discussed, and either finally settled, or laid over for decision at a grand council which convened every four Mexican months, making in all eighty days. On these occasions all the judges, without exception, met together, the king presiding in person. All being seated according to their order of precedence, an orator opened the proceedings with a speech, in which he praised virtue and severely reprimanded vice; he reviewed all the events of the past eighty days, and commented very severely even upon the acts of the king himself. In this council all suits were terminated, the sentences being carried out on the spot,[496] and affairs of state and policy were discussed and transacted; it generally sat during eight or ten days.[497] In addition to these judges there were magistrates of a lower order in all the provinces, who took cognizance of cases of minor importance, and who also heard and considered those of greater consequence preparatory to laying them before the Eighty-Day Council.[498] The historian Ixtlilxochitl gives a somewhat different account of the Tezcucan tribunals, which, as it contains the only description given by the ancient writers of the halls in which the judges sat, I translate in full.
In the palace were two principal courtyards, the larger of which served as the market-place. The second courtyard was smaller than the first, and was situated more in the interior of the palace; in the centre of it a fire was kept continually burning. Here were the two most important tribunals in the kingdom. To the right of this courtyard, writes Ixtlilxochitl, was the supreme tribunal, which was called teohicpalpan, meaning, Tribunal of God. Here was a throne of gold, set with turquoises and other precious stones; before the throne stood a stool, upon which were a shield, a macana, and a bow with its quiver of arrows; upon these was placed a skull, surmounted by an emerald of a pyramidal shape, in the apex of which was fixed a plume of feathers and precious stones; at the sides, serving as carpets, were the skins of tigers and lions (tigres y leones), and mats (mantas) made of the feathers of the royal eagle, where a quantity of bracelets and anklets (grevas) of gold were likewise placed in regular order.[499] The walls were tapestried with cloth of all colors, made of rabbits' hair, adorned with figures of divers birds, animals, and flowers.[500] Attached to the throne was a canopy of rich plumage, in the centre of which was a glittering ornament of gold and precious stones.
[Sidenote: THE TRIBUNAL OF THE KING.]
The other tribunal was called that of the king; it also had a throne, which was lower than that of the Tribunal of God, and a canopy adorned with the royal coat of arms. Here the kings transacted ordinary business and gave public audience; but when they rendered decisions upon grave and important cases, or pronounced sentence of death, they removed to the Tribunal of God, placing the right hand upon the skull, and holding in the left the golden arrow which served as a sceptre, and on these occasions they put on the tiara (tiara) which they used, which resembled a half mitre. There were on the same stool three of these tiaras; one was of precious stones set in gold, another of feathers, and the third woven of cotton and rabbit-hair, of a blue color. This tribunal was composed of fourteen grandees of the kingdom, who sat in three divisions of the hall, according to their rank and seniority. In the first division was the king; in the second division were seated six grandees; the first of these six, on the right hand, was the lord of Teotihuacan, the second the lord of Acolman, the third the lord of Tepetlaoztoc; on the left side sat, first, the lord of Huexotla, second, the lord of Coatlichan, third, he of Chimalhuacan. In the third division of the hall, which was the exterior one, sat eight other lords, according to their rank and seniority; on the right side the first was the lord of Otompan, the second was the lord of Tollantzinco, the third the lord of Quauhchinanco, the fourth the lord of Xicotepec, and on the left side were, first, the lord of Tepechpan, second, the lord of Chiauhtla, third, the lord of Chiuhnauhtla, and fourth, he of Teiotocan.
There followed, also, another hall, which adjoined this on the eastern side, and was divided into two parts; in the inner and principal division, were eight judges, who were nobles and gentlemen, and four others who were of the citizen class;[501] these were followed by fifteen provincial judges, natives of all the cities and chief towns of Tezcuco; the latter took cognizance of all suits, civil or criminal, which were embraced in the eighty laws that Nezahualcoyotl established; the duration of the most important of these cases was never more than eighty days. In the other, or exterior, division of the hall, was a tribunal composed of four supreme judges, who were presidents of the councils; and there was a wicket, through which they entered and went out to communicate with the king.[502]
[Sidenote: COURT PROCEEDINGS.]
Besides these various tribunals for the general administration of justice, there were others that had jurisdiction in cases of a peculiar nature only. There was a court of divorce, and another which dealt only with military matters; by it military men were tried and punished, and it had also the power to confer rewards and honors upon the deserving; the especial jurisdiction of another tribunal extended over matters pertaining to art and science, while a fourth court had charge of the royal exchequer, of taxes and tributes, and of those employed in collecting them. Of some of these institutions I have already had occasion to speak. The mode of procedure, or daily routine, in the law courts of Mexico and Tezcuco was strict and formal. At sunrise, or as some say, at daybreak, the judges took their places in court, squatting upon mats spread for the purpose, usually upon an elevated platform. Here they administered justice until noon, when they partook of a meal supplied from the royal kitchen. When this was over and they had rested for a short space, business was resumed, and carried on during the greater part of the afternoon. Punctuality on the part of the judges was strictly enforced, and he who absented himself from court without good cause, such as illness, or royal permission, was severely punished. This order was observed every day, except when the presence of the judges was required at the public sacrifices or solemn festivities, at which time the courts of justice remained closed.[503]
[Sidenote: EXAMINATION OF WITNESSES.]
Minor cases were conducted verbally, the parties producing their witnesses, who testified under oath for the complaint or the defence. The testimony, under oath, of the principals was also admitted as evidence; and one writer even asserts that the defendant could clear himself by his oath;[504] but it is plain that if such were the case conviction would be very rare. In cases of greater importance, especially in civil suits where the possession of real estate was involved, paintings, in which the property in dispute was represented, were produced as authentic documents, and the whole of the proceedings, such as the object of the claim, the evidence, the names of the parties and their respective witnesses, as well as the decision or sentence, were recorded in court by notaries, or clerks, appointed for that purpose.[505] A witness in an Aztec court of law occupied a serious position. In the first place the judges are by all writers said to have been particularly skillful in cross-examination. They seem to have made it an especial study to harass witnesses with pertinent questions and minute details; in the next place the punishment for perjury was death, and perjury among these people consisted in making a false statement when under oath, without the possibility of being saved by a legal quibble; in addition to this, superstition attached great weight to the oath which every witness was obliged to take, and which consisted in touching the forefinger to the earth and then to the tongue, as if to say, as Las Casas expresses it: By the goddess Earth, who supports and affords me sustenance, I swear to speak truth. This oath was considered to be very sacred and binding, and is said to have been rarely violated. Whether counsel or advocates were employed is a disputed point, some writers asserting distinctly that they were, and others that they were not.[506] Veytia states that the complainant and defendant were sometimes confronted with each other, and compelled to argue the case before the court, no other person being allowed to speak the while. The judges heard and passed sentence by a majority of votes,[507] each giving his decision aloud. If the trial took place in an inferior court, a disagreement sent the matter on appeal to a higher court; if it took place in the first instance before a superior tribunal, it was appealed to the great council of the emperor. The same writer also says that where a serious public offense had been committed, the witnesses were examined, and sentence was immediately passed without giving the accused time to defend himself.[508] We have already seen that the duration of suits was limited to eighty days, and generally they terminated much sooner than this, all possible expedition being always used. The better to avoid bribery and corruption, it was expressly forbidden for a judge to receive presents, no matter how trifling, and he who violated this rule was deposed from office, and otherwise punished with exceeding rigor.
The way in which the judges were paid for their services was peculiar. A certain portion of land was set apart for their exclusive benefit, which was cultivated and harvested by tenants, who doubtless were allowed to retain a part of the produce in return for their labor. These lands were not inherited by the son on the death of the father, but passed to the judge appointed in the place of the latter.[509] Veytia does not mention these lands; he says that the judges had no fixed salary, but were paid according to the king's pleasure, more or less, in proportion to the size of their families, besides which the king made valuable presents when the Eighty-Day Council met, to those who had performed their duty to his satisfaction.[510] The allowance was in all cases made amply sufficient, that there might be no excuse on the ground of poverty for a judge receiving presents or bribes. They held their office for life, and were selected from the higher classes, especially the superior judges, who were generally relatives of the king, or even members of the royal family. None were eligible for the office who were not sober, upright men, brought up in the temples, and who were well acquainted with court life and manners. A judge who became drunk, or received a bribe, was three times severely reprimanded by his fellow-judges; if the offense was repeated, his head was shaved publicly, a great disgrace among the Aztecs, and he was deprived of his office with ignominy. A judge making a false report to the king, or convicted of receiving a large bribe, or of rendering a manifestly unjust decision, was punished with death.[511] All this machinery of the law was dispensed with in Tlascala, where all disputes and difficulties were promptly settled by certain old men appointed for that purpose.[512]
[Sidenote: ANECDOTES OF NEZAHUALPILLI.]
A love of impartial justice seems to have characterized all the Aztec monarchs, and, as we have seen, the laws they enacted to ensure this to their subjects were severe in the extreme. No favoritism was allowed; all, from the highest to the lowest were held amenable to the law. A story, illustrating this, is repeated by nearly all the old writers. In the reign of Nezahualpilli, the son of Nezahualcoyotl, who were accounted the two wisest kings of Tezcuco, a suit sprang up between a rich and powerful noble and a poor man of the people. The judge decided against the poor man, who thereby lost what little he had, and was in danger of having to sell himself as a slave to procure subsistence for his family. But suspicion of foul play having been aroused, the king ordered the matter to be thoroughly investigated, when it transpired that the judge had been guilty of collusion with the rich man; so the king commanded that the unjust judge should be hanged at once, and that the poor man's property should be restored to him.
Neither were the rulers themselves, nor their families, exempt from observance of the law, and instances are not wanting where fathers have, Brutus-like, condemned their children to death, rather than allow the law to be violated, and the offender to go unpunished. Nezahualcoyotl caused four of his own sons to be publicly executed because they had sinned with their step-mothers, the wives of their father.[513] A very touching incident is narrated by Torquemada, showing to what an extent this love of impartial justice was carried by a Tezcucan sovereign.
Nezahualpilli, king of Tezcuco, had married two sisters, whom he dearly loved, and especially did he dote upon the younger, whose name was Xocotzincatzin. By her he had several children, the eldest being a son, named Huexotzincatzin, who was beloved by all who knew him, on account of his amiable disposition and noble qualities, and who was besides a very valiant young man and a great warrior. No wonder that he was the king's pride, and beloved even more than his brothers and sisters, for his own and his mother's sake. So much had Huexotzincatzin distinguished himself, that, although he was but a young man, his father determined to bestow upon him the office and title of tlacatecatl, which was a post of the highest honor and importance.[514] For this purpose the king one day ordered that the prince be sent for and brought into his presence. With a light heart, and much elated, Huexotzincatzin, accompanied by his suite, and the nobles who were his tutors, set out for the royal palace. As he was about to enter, the prince met one of his father's concubines, attended by her ladies. This concubine was a very beautiful and proud woman, yet withal of a free and easy carriage, that encouraged Huexotzincatzin, who perhaps did not know who she was, to address her in a familiar and disrespectful manner. The woman, who, the historian remarks, could not have been possessed of much sense, either because she felt offended at his conduct towards her, or because she dreaded the consequence if the king should discover what had happened, turned from the prince without a word, and entered the palace. The king's concubines, as we have seen in a former chapter, were always accompanied by certain elderly women, whose duty it was to instruct them in discreet behavior and to watch continually over their actions. One of these women, who had been with the concubine at the time of her meeting with Huexotzincatzin, and had overheard the prince's remarks, went straightway to the king, and informed him of all that had happened. The king immediately sent for his concubine, and inquired of her if the prince had spoken lewdly to her publicly and in the presence of the ladies and courtiers, or if he had intended his words to reach her ear alone; for Nezahualpilli would fain have discovered some excuse for his son, the punishment for speaking lewdly in public to the king's concubines being, according to law, death; but the frightened woman replied that Huexotzincatzin had spoken openly to her, before all that were present. Then the king dismissed the concubine, and retired, mourning, into certain apartments which were called the 'rooms of sorrow.'
[Sidenote: PUNISHMENT OF THE KING'S SON.]
When these things came to the ears of the friends and tutors of the prince, they were much troubled on his account, because the severity of the king, and his strict adherence to the law were as a proverb among the people, and their apprehensions increased when, upon arriving at the royal apartments, the prince was denied admission, although his attendants were ordered to appear at once before the king. There they were closely questioned by him, and although they would willingly have saved the prince from the consequences of his folly, yet they dared not speak anything but truth, for he who was convicted of wilfully deceiving the king, suffered death. All they could do was to make excuses for the prince, and ask pardon for his crime, and this they did with many prayers and entreaties, advancing, as extenuating circumstances, his youth, his previous good conduct, and his possible ignorance of the fact that the lady was his father's concubine. The king listened patiently to the end, answering nothing, and then he commanded that Huexotzincatzin be forthwith arrested and placed in confinement. Later in that same day he pronounced sentence of death against his son. When it became known that Huexotzincatzin was to die, all the powerful nobles who were at court went in a body to the king and earnestly conjured him not to insist upon carrying out his sentence, telling him that it was barbarous and unnatural, and that future generations would hold in horror and hatred the memory of the man who had condemned his own son to death. Their prayers and arguments seemed, however, to render the old king only the more implacable, and he dismissed them, saying that if the law forbade such things, and if that law was inviolably observed throughout the kingdom, how could he justify his conduct to his subjects, were he to allow the same to be infringed upon in his own palace, and the offender to remain unpunished merely because he was his son; that it should never be said of him that he made laws for his subjects which did not apply to his own family.
When Xocotzincatzin, the prince's mother, heard that he was condemned to death, she gathered the rest of her sons about her, and coming suddenly before her husband, she fell on her knees and besought him with many tears, to spare the life of her darling son, the first pledge of love that she, his favorite wife had given him. Finding all her entreaties fruitless, she then implored him for the sake of the love he had once borne her, to slay her and her other sons with Huexotzincatzin, since life without her first-born was unbearable. But the stern old king still sat to all appearance unmoved and immovable, and coldly directed the attendant ladies to convey the wretched mother to her apartments.
The execution of the prince was delayed in every possible manner by those who had charge of it, in the hope that the king might even yet relent; but Nezahualpilli having been informed of this, immediately ordered that the sentence should be carried out without further delay. So Huexotzincatzin died. As soon as the news of his son's death was carried to the king, he shut himself up in certain apartments called the 'rooms of sorrow,' and there remained forty days, mourning for his first-born and seeing no one. The house of the late prince was then walled up, and none were allowed to enter it, and so all tokens of the unhappy young man were destroyed.[515]
[Sidenote: MONTEZUMA AND THE FARMER.]
Another anecdote, which is written in execrable Spanish by the native historian, Tezozomoc, may not be out of place here. It is told of the emperor Montezuma of Mexico, and the reader will at once recognize a resemblance between this and many other anecdotes with which he is familiar, where a bold and merited rebuke from a subject to his sovereign is received with respect and even favor.
It happened one summer, that the king, being wearied with the cares of government, went for rest and recreation to his country palace at Tacubaya. One day, when out shooting birds, he came to an orchard, and having told his attendants to remain outside, he entered alone. He succeeded in killing a bird, and as he was returning, bearing his game in his hand, he turned aside into a field where a remarkably fine crop of corn was growing. Having plucked a few ears, he went towards the house of the owner of the field, which stood hard by, for the purpose of showing him the ears that he had plucked, and of praising his crop, but as by law it was death to look upon the king's face, the occupants of the house had fled, and there was no one therein. Now the owner of the field had seen the king pluck the corn from afar off, and, notwithstanding it was against the law, he ventured to approach the monarch in such a way as to make the meeting appear accidental. Making a deep obeisance, he thus addressed the king: "How is it, most high and mighty prince, that thou hast thus stolen my corn? Didst thou not thyself establish a law that he who should steal one ear of corn, or its value, should suffer death?" And Montezuma answered: "Truly I did make such a law." Then said the farmer: "How is it then, that thou breakest thine own law?" And the king replied: "Here is thy corn, take back that which I have stolen from thee." But the owner of the field began to be alarmed at his own boldness, and tried to excuse himself, saying that he had spoken merely in jest, for, said he: "Are not my fields, and myself, and my wife, and my children, all thine, to do with as thou wilt;" and he refused to take back the ears of corn. Then the king took off his mantle of net-work and precious stones, which was called xiuhayatl and was worth a whole city, and offered it to the farmer, who at first was afraid to accept so precious a gift, but Montezuma insisted, so he took the mantle, promising to preserve it with great care as a remembrance of the king. When Montezuma returned to his attendants, the precious mantle was at once missed, and they began to inquire what had become of it; which the king perceiving, he told them that he had been set upon by robbers, when alone, who had robbed him of his mantle, at the same time he ordered them, upon pain of death, to say nothing more about the matter. The next day, having arrived at his royal palace in Mexico, when all his great nobles were about him, he ordered one of his captains to repair to Tacubaya, and inquire for a certain Xochitlacotzin, whom they should at once bring to his presence, but under penalty of death they should not injure or abuse him in any way. When the king's messengers told Xochitlacotzin their errand, he was greatly alarmed, and tried to escape, but they caught him, and telling him to fear nothing, for that the king was kindly disposed towards him, they brought him before Montezuma. The king, having bidden him welcome, asked him what had become of his mantle. At this the nobles who were present became much excited, but Montezuma quieted them, saying: "This poor man has more courage and boldness than any of you who are here, for he dared to speak the truth and tell me that I had broken my laws. Of such men have I greater need, than of those who speak only with honeyed words to me." Then having inquired what principal offices were vacant, he ordered his attendant lords to shelter and take care of Xochitlacotzin, who was henceforth his relative and one of the chief men of the realm. Afterwards he who had so lately been a poor farmer was given a principal house of Olac for his own, and it was long the boast of his descendants that they were relatives of Montezuma.[516]
[Sidenote: PUNISHMENT OF CRIMES.]
The Aztecs adopted numerous ways of punishing offenders against the law, as we shall see presently, but I do not think that imprisonment was largely resorted to. They had prisons, it is true, and very cruel ones, according to all accounts, but it appears that they were more for the purpose of confining prisoners previous to their trial, or between their condemnation and execution, than permanently, for punishment. These jails were of two classes, one called teilpiloyan for those imprisoned on a civil charge, another called quauhcalco,[517] for prisoners condemned to death. The cells were made like cages, and the prison was so constructed as to admit very little light or air;[518] the food was scanty and of a bad quality, so that, as Las Casas expresses it, the prisoners soon became thin and yellow, and commenced at the prison to suffer the death that was afterwards adjudged them. Clavigero, however, asserts that those condemned to the sacrificial stone were well fed in order that they might appear in good flesh at the sacrifice.[519] A very close watch was kept upon the captives, so much so, indeed, that if through the negligence of the guard a prisoner of war escaped from the cage, the community of the district, whose duty it was to supply the prisoners with guards, was obliged to pay to the owner of the fugitive, a female slave, a load of cotton garments, and a shield.[520] Mendieta says that these prisons were only used for persons awaiting trial on very grave charges; for, he writes, in the case of one held to answer on an ordinary charge, "it was sufficient for the minister of justice to place the prisoner in a corner with a few light sticks before him; indeed, I believe that to have merely drawn a line and told him not to pass it would have sufficed, even though he might have reason to believe that there was a heavy punishment in store for him, because to flee from justice, and escape, was an impossibility. At all events, I with my own eyes have seen a prisoner standing entirely unguarded save for the before-mentioned sticks."[521]
Like most semi-barbarous nations, the Aztecs were more prone to punish crime than to recompense virtue, and even when merit was rewarded, it was of the coarser and more material kind, such as valor in war or successful statesmanship. The greater part of their code might, like Dracon's, have been written in blood--so severe were the penalties inflicted for crimes that were comparatively slight, and so brutal and bloody were the ways of carrying those punishments into execution. In the strongest sense of the phrase the Aztecs were ruled with a rod of iron; but that such severity was necessary I have no doubt, inasmuch as whatever form of government exists, be it good or bad, that form of government is the necessary one, or it could have no existence. All young states must adopt harsh laws to secure the peace and well-being of the community, while as yet the laws of habit and usage are unestablished; and as that community progresses and improves, it will of itself mold its system of government to fit itself. The code of Dracon was superseded by that of Solon when the improved state of the Athenian community warranted a mitigation of the severity of the former, and in like manner the laws of Montezuma and Nezahualcoyotl would have given place to others less harsh had Aztec civilization been allowed to progress.
[Sidenote: CODE OF LAWS.]
The laws of the several Aztec kingdoms were essentially the same; some slight differences existed, however, and in these instances the code of Tezcuco proves the most rigid and severe, while more of lenience is exhibited in that of Mexico. I have before remarked that the majority of writers treat of the legislation of Tezcuco, but, as in other matters, many authorities who should be reliable surmount the difficulty of distinguishing that which belongs to one system of jurisprudence from that which belongs to another, by speaking generally of the code that existed in Nueva España, or among 'these people.' Most of the subjected provinces adopted the laws of the state to which they became subject. But this was by no means obligatory, because as conquered nations were not compelled to speak the language of their conquerors, neither were they forced to make use of their laws.[522] Let us now see what these laws were.
[Sidenote: PUNISHMENT OF THEFT.]
Theft was punished in various ways, and, it appears, not at all in proportion to the magnitude of the crime. Thus he who stole a certain number of ears of corn,[523] suffered death, while he who broke into the temples and stole therefrom, was enslaved for the first offence and hanged for the second, and it is distinctly stated[524] that in order to merit either of these punishments the theft must be an extensive one. In cases not specially provided for, it appears that a petty thief became the slave of the person from whom he had stolen; according to Ortega, however, the injured party had the privilege of refusing to accept the thief as a slave, in which case the latter was sold by the judges, and with the proceeds of the sale the complainant was reimbursed. The same writer states that in some cases a compromise could be effected by the offended party agreeing to be indemnified by the thief, in which case the latter paid into the treasury a sum equal to the amount stolen. This statement is somewhat obscure, inasmuch as it would be but poor satisfaction to the party robbed to see the equivalent of that robbery paid into the public treasury; but I understand the writer to mean that the loser had his loss made good, and that for the satisfaction of justice an equal amount was imposed as a fine upon the prisoner.[525] Theft of a large amount was almost invariably punished with death, which was inflicted in various ways. Usually the culprit was dragged ignominiously through the streets and then hanged;[526] sometimes he was stoned to death.[527] He who robbed on the highway was killed by having his head smashed with a club;[528] he who was caught in the act of pilfering in the market-place, no matter how trivial the theft, was beaten to death with sticks on the spot by the assembled multitude, for this was considered a most heinous sin; but notwithstanding the fearful risk incurred, it is asserted that many were so light-fingered that it was only necessary for a market woman to turn her head away, and her stall would be robbed in a trice. There was a regular judicial tribunal established for the settling of disputes in the general government of the market-place, of which I have had occasion to speak before; but this tribunal does not appear to have troubled itself much with persons who were caught in the act of stealing, as it seems to have been tacitly allowed to the people assembled in the market-place to exercise lynch law upon the culprit.[529]
Besides these general laws for the prevention of theft, there were others which prescribed special penalties for those who stole certain particular articles. For instance, Ortega tells us that the thief of silver or gold was skinned alive and sacrificed to Xipe, the tutelary divinity of the workers in precious metals, such a theft being considered a direct insult to the god.[530] In some of these cases fines were imposed. Among a collection of laws given by Las Casas, for the authenticity of which he does not vouch, "because," he says, "they were taken out of a little Indian book of no authority," we find the following relating to theft: If any one stole the plants, called maguey, from which they manufactured more than twenty articles, and which were used for making syrup, he was compelled to pay as a fine as many cotton cloths as the judges might decree, and if he was unable to pay the fine imposed, or if he had stolen more than twenty plants, he was enslaved. Whoever stole a fishing-net or a canoe was punished in the same manner. Whoever stole corn to the amount of twenty ears or upward, died for it, and if he took a less quantity, he paid that which he was sentenced to pay. He that plucked the corn before it had formed seed, suffered death. Whoever stole a tecomatl, "which is a little gourd tied at the top with strips of red hide, and having feather tassels at the end, used by the lords for carrying a green powder, from which they take in smoke through the mouth, the powder being called in the island of Española 'tabacos'--whoever stole one of these died for it." He that stole precious stones, and more especially the stone called chalchiuite, no matter from whence he took it, was stoned to death in the market-place, because no man of the lower orders was allowed to possess this stone.[531]
In Mexico, a distinction seems to have been made between the thief who reaped the benefit of his crime and him who did not; in other words, if the stolen property was recovered intact from the thief he was only enslaved, but if he had already disposed of his plunder he suffered death.[532] Whether the ultimate recovery of the property after it had passed from the thief's hands, would answer the same end, we are not told, but if not, then it would appear that according to Aztec jurisprudence the culprit was punished not so much in proportion to the actual injury he inflicted upon others, as in accordance with the actual extent of the crime he committed. In Michoacan, the first theft was not severely punished, but for the second offence the thief was thrown down a precipice and his carcass left to the birds of prey.[533]
The murderer suffered death even though he should be a noble and his victim but a slave.[534] In Michoacan, we are told by Herrera,[535] that there was no punishment for murder, since, through fear, the crime was never committed. Beaumont allows that for a time there were no murders, but says that afterwards they became frequent, and then the criminal was dragged along the ground until he died.[536] He who administered poison to another, thereby causing death, died for it, and the same punishment was awarded to him who furnished the poison.[537]
[Sidenote: THE FATE OF TRAITORS AND CONSPIRATORS.]
Traitors, conspirators, and those who stirred up sedition among the people or created ill feeling between nations, were broken to pieces at the joints, their houses razed to the ground, their property confiscated, and their children and relations made slaves to the fourth generation. The lord of vassals who rebelled, unless taken captive in battle, was killed by having his head smashed with a club; the common rebel was tied to an oaken spit and roasted alive.[538]
In Tezcuco, he who kidnapped a child and sold it into slavery, was hanged; in Mexico, the kidnapper was himself sold as a slave, and of the price he brought one half was given to the stolen child, or its parents, and the other half became the property of the purchaser; if several persons were implicated in the crime, they were all sold as slaves.[539]
[Sidenote: LAWS AGAINST INTOXICATION.]
Drunkenness was punished with excessive rigor; indeed, intoxicating liquor was not allowed to be drunk, except by express permission from the judges, and this license was only granted to invalids and persons over fifty years of age, who, it was considered, needed strong drink in order to warm their blood; and even they were only permitted to partake of a limited quantity, at each meal,[540] though according to the explanation of Mendoza's collection old men of seventy years were allowed to drink as much as they pleased.[541] Moderate conviviality at weddings and public feasts, was not forbidden, and upon these occasions the young people were allowed to partake of the wine-cup sparingly;[542] the same license was granted to those whose daily occupation necessitated great bodily exertion, such as masons, carpenters, and the like.[543] Women in childbed were allowed to use strong drink as a stimulant, but only during the first days of their confinement. With these exceptions, the law against drinking was strictly enforced. The young man who became drunk was conveyed to the jail, and there beaten to death with clubs; the young woman was stoned to death. In some parts, if the drunkard was a plebeian, he was sold for a slave for the first offence, and suffered death for the second; at other times the offender's hair was cut off in the public market-place, he was then lashed through the principal streets, and finally his house was razed to the ground, because, they said, one who would give up his reason to the influence of strong drink, was unworthy to possess a house, and be numbered among respectable citizens. Cutting off the hair was, as we shall see, a mode of punishment frequently resorted to by these people, and so deep was the degradation supposed to be attached to it, that it was dreaded almost equally with death itself. Should a military man, who had gained distinction in the wars, become drunk, he was deprived of his rank and honors, and considered thenceforth as infamous. Conviction of this crime rendered the culprit ineligible for all future emoluments, and especially was he debarred from holding any public office. A noble was invariably hanged for the first offence, his body being afterwards dragged without the limits of the town and cast into a stream used for that purpose only. But a mightier influence than mere fear of the penal law restrained the Aztec nobility and gentry from drinking to excess; this influence was social law. It was considered degrading for a person of quality to touch wine at all, even in seasons of festivity when, as I have said, it was customary and lawful for the lower classes to indulge to a certain extent. Wine-bibbing was looked upon as a coarse pleasure, peculiar exclusively to the common people, and a member of the higher orders, who was suspected of practicing the habit, would have forfeited his social position, even though the law had suffered him to remain unpunished.[544] These heathens, however, seem to have recognized the natural incongruity existing between precept and practice, fully as much as the most advanced Christian.[545]
He who employed witchcraft, charms, or incantations for the purpose of doing injury to the community or to individuals, was sacrificed to the gods, by having his breast opened and his heart torn out.[546]
[Sidenote: MISCELLANEOUS LAWS.]
Whoever made use of the royal insignia or ensigns, suffered death, and his property was confiscated.[547] The reader will recollect that the same penalty was inflicted upon him who should usurp the insignia or office of the Mexican cihuacoatl, or supreme judge. Whoever maltreated an ambassador, minister, or courier, belonging to the king, suffered death; but ambassadors and couriers were on their part forbidden to leave the high road, under pain of losing their privileges.[548] He who by force took possession of land not belonging to him, suffered death.[549] He who sold the land of another, or that which he held in trust, without judicial authority, or permission from such as had power to grant it to him, was enslaved.[550] If a piece of land was fraudulently sold twice over, the first purchaser held it, and the vendor was punished.[551] He who squandered his patrimony suffered death.[552] The son that raised his hand against his father or mother, suffered death, and his children were prevented from inheriting the property of their grand-parents. In the same manner a father could disinherit a son who was cowardly or cruel.[553] He who removed boundary-marks, died for it.[554] Those who disturbed the peace by engaging in petty fights and squabbles, without using weapons, were confined in jail for a few days, and obliged to make good whatever damage they had done; for, says Las Casas, they generally revenged themselves by breaking something. If any one was wounded in a brawl, he who made the assault had to defray all the expenses of curing the injured party. But those who fought in the market-place, were dealt with far more severely.[555] Slanderers were treated with great severity. In Mexico, he who wilfully calumniated another, thereby seriously injuring his reputation, was condemned to have his lips cut off, and sometimes his ears also. In Tezcuco, the slanderer suffered death. The false witness had the same penalty adjudged to him that would have been awarded to the accused, if convicted. So great a lover of truth was king Nezahualcoyotl, that he is said to have made a law prescribing the death penalty to historians who should record fictitious events.[556] Whoever obtained goods on credit and did not pay for them, was enslaved, and the delinquent taxpayer met with the same punishment.[557]
[Sidenote: PENALTY FOR ADULTERY.]
Concerning the way in which adulterers were treated scarcely two of the ancient writers agree,[558] and it is probable that the law on this point differed more or less in various parts of the Aztec kingdoms; indeed, we have Clavigero's testimony that in some parts of the Mexican empire the crime of adultery was punished with greater severity than in others, and Las Casas and Mendieta both speak of several penalties attaching to the offence in different localities. According to what can be gathered on this point, it appears that adulterers taken in flagrante delicto, or under circumstances which made their guilt a moral certainty, were stoned to death. A species of trial was granted to the culprits, but if, as some writers assert, confession of guilt was extorted by torture,[559] this trial must have been as much a mockery of justice as were the proceedings of most European courts of law at that period. The amount of evidence necessary to convict is uncertain. Veytia says that accusation by the husband was in itself sufficient proof.[560] Las Casas and Torquemada, however, who are both far older authorities, tell us that no man or woman was punished for adultery upon the unsupported testimony of the husband, but that other witnesses, and the confession of the defendants were necessary to procure their conviction.[561] Usually if the condemned adulterers were of the lower orders, they were taken out into a public place and there stoned to death by the assembled multitude, and few of the old writers omit to remark that this manner of death was almost painless, since no sooner was the first stone thrown than the poor wretch was immediately covered with a pile of missiles, so great was the number of his executioners, and so eager was each to take a hand in the killing. Another common mode of execution consisted in placing the head of the condemned upon a stone, and smashing his skull by letting another stone fall upon it.[562] The noble convicted of the same crime was not killed in this public manner, but was strangled in jail; and as a mark of respect to his rank, his head, after death, was adorned with plumes of green feathers, and the body was then burned. Adulterers who were found guilty merely upon circumstantial evidence also suffered death by strangulation. It was strictly forbidden for a husband to take the law into his own hands, and he who should seek to avenge his honor by slaying his wife or her paramour, even though he took them in the act of adultery, suffered death; in the same manner should the criminal endeavor to save himself by killing the injured husband, his fate was to be roasted alive before a slow fire, his body being basted with salt and water that death might not come to his relief too soon.[563] An adulterer could not escape the law on the plea of drunkenness,[564] and, indeed, had such an excuse been held admissible, little would have been gained by exchanging the fate of the adulterer for that of the drunkard. The trespass of a married man with a free unmarried woman was not considered to constitute adultery, nor punished as such, so that the husband was not bound to so much fidelity as was exacted from the wife. I have before remarked that although the crime of adultery was punished in all parts of the Aztec empire, yet the penalty inflicted differed in point of severity and in manner of execution. Thus, in the province of Ixcatlan, if we may believe Clavigero, a woman accused of this crime was summoned before the judges, and if the proofs of her guilt were satisfactory, she was there and then torn to pieces, and her limbs were divided among the witnesses, while in Itztepec the guilty woman's husband cut off her ears and nose, thus branding her as infamous for life.[565] In some parts of the empire the husband who cohabited with his wife after it had been proved that she had violated her fidelity, was severely punished.[566]
[Sidenote: UNNATURAL CRIMES.]
Carnal connection with mother, sister, step-mother or step-sister, was punished by hanging; Torquemada says the same penalty was incurred by him who had connection with his mother-in-law, because they considered it a sin for a man to have access to both mother and daughter. Intercourse between brother-in-law and sister-in-law was, however, not criminal, and, indeed, it was customary for a man to raise up seed to his deceased brother by marrying his widow.[567] He who attempted to ravish a maiden, whether in the field, or in her father's house, suffered death.[568] In Michoacan, the ravisher's mouth was split from ear to ear with a flint knife, and he was afterwards impaled.[569] In Mexico, those who committed sodomy were hanged; in Tezcuco, the punishment for unnatural crime was characteristically brutal. The active agent was bound to a stake, completely covered with ashes and so left to die; the entrails of the passive agent were drawn out through his anus, he also was then covered with ashes, and, wood being added, the pile was ignited.[570] In Tlascala, the sodomite was not punished by law, but was scouted by society, and treated with scorn and contempt by all who knew him.[571] From the extreme severity of the laws enacted by the later sovereigns for the suppression of this revolting vice, and from the fact that persons were especially appointed by the judicial authorities to search the provinces for offenders of this class, it is evident that unnatural love had attained a frightful popularity among the Aztecs. Father Pierre de Gand, or, as he is sometimes known, de Mura, bears terrible testimony to this; he writes: "Un certain nombre de prêtres n'avaient point de femmes, sed eorum loco pueros quibus abutebantur. Ce péché était si commun dans ce pays, que, jeunes ou vieux, tous en étaient infectés; ils y étaient si adonnés, que mêmes des enfants de six ans s'y livraient."[572]
Las Casas relates that in several of the more remote provinces of Mexico unnatural vice was tolerated, if not actually permitted,[573] and it is not improbable that in earlier times this was the case in the entire empire. Inexpressibly revolting as the sin must appear to a modern mind, yet we know that pederasty has obtained among peoples possessed of a more advanced civilization than the Aztecs. In ancient Greece this unnatural passion prevailed to such an extent that it was regarded as heroic to resist it. Plutarch, in his Life of Agesilaus, cannot praise too highly the self-control manifested by that great man in refraining from gratifying a passion he had conceived for a boy named Megabates, which Maximus Tyrius says deserves greater praise than the heroism of Leonidas; Diogenes Laertius, in his Life of Zeno, the founder of stoicism, the most austere of all ancient sects, praises that philosopher for being but little addicted to this vice; Sophocles, the Tragic Homer, and the Attic Bee, is said by Athenæus to have been especially addicted to it. Moralists were known to praise it as the bond of friendship, and it was spoken of as inspiring the enthusiasm of the heroic legion of Epaminondas. The defeat of the Romans by Hannibal at Cannæ was said to be caused by the jealousy of Juno, because a beautiful boy had been introduced into the temple of Jupiter. Las Casas tells us that pederasty was tolerated because they believed that their gods practiced it.[574] In precisely the same manner did the ancient Greeks make the popular religion bend to the new vice, and, by substituting Ganymede for Hebe as heavenly cup-bearer, make the head of all Olympus set an example of unnatural love.
[Sidenote: LAWS RESPECTING CHASTITY.]
The priest who violated his vow of chastity was banished; his house was demolished and his property confiscated.[575] Pimps were publicly disgraced in the market-place, by having their hair burnt off so close to the head that the drops of resin falling from the burning pitch-pine chips fell upon and seared the scalp; if the persons for whom the panderage was committed were of high rank, a greater penalty was inflicted upon the pander.[576] This was the law in Mexico; in Tezcuco, according to the historian of the Chichimecs, the pimp suffered death in all cases.[577]
Simple fornication was not punished, unless it was committed by a noble lady, or with a maiden consecrated to the service of the gods, in which cases it was death. Fornication with the concubine of another also went unpunished, unless they had been living a long time together, and were in consequence, according to custom, considered man and wife. If any one had connection with a slave, and the woman died during her pregnancy, or in giving birth to the child, then the offender became a slave; but if she was safely delivered, the child was free and was taken care of by the father.[578] The woman who took any drug to procure an abortion, and she who furnished the drug, both suffered death.[579] If one woman sinned carnally with another, both died for it.[580] The man who went about the streets dressed as a woman, or the woman who dressed as a man, was slain.[581]
In this account are comprised nearly all the special laws of the Aztecs which have been preserved, with the exception of those relating to military matters, marriage, divorce, and slavery, all of which I have already had occasion to consider.
That the Aztec code was a severe and brutal one there can be no denial, but that it was more severe and brutal than was necessary, is, as I have before remarked, doubtful. We have already seen that a horrible death was the inevitable fate of those detected stealing in the market-place, yet we are told that did the owner of a stall but turn away his head for a moment, his wares would be pilfered. A people accustomed almost daily to see human blood poured out like water in sacrifice to their gods, must of necessity have been hardened to the sight of suffering, and upon such none but an execution of the most revolting description could create an impression of awe or fear. It appears remarkable that punishments involving only disgrace should have been adopted by such a people, yet it is doubtful whether slavery was not considered a lighter punishment than having the hair burned off in the public market. Some of the Aztec monarchs evinced a desire to be as lenient as the stubborn nature of their subjects would allow, but the yoke upon the people, if it were in any degree to control them, must at best be a heavy one; in short, despotism of the harshest was necessary and indispensable to them in their stage of civilization.
[Sidenote: NEZAHUALCOYOTL AND THE BOY.]
Nezahualcoyotl, king of Tezcuco, was especially merciful and considerate towards his subjects. For instance, he ordered that corn should be planted, at the expense of government, by the roadside, in order that none who were guilty of stealing from the fields, might excuse themselves on the ground of hunger.[582] It is related that this monarch went frequently among his people in disguise, for the purpose of discovering their grievances and general condition, and some of the adventures he met with on these occasions are as entertaining as any told by Sheherezade of the Good Caliph. I select one, not because it is the best, but because it points more particularly to Nezahualcoyotl's benevolence and love of justice. During the reign of this monarch, owing to the immense consumption of wood, the use of oil and tallow being then unknown, the forests began to grow thin, and the king foreseeing that unless some precautions were taken, there would soon be a scarcity of wood in the kingdom, ordered that within certain limits no wood should be touched. Now it happened one day, when the king was abroad in disguise, and accompanied only by his brother Quauhtlehuanitzin, that they passed by the skirts of a forest wherein it was prohibited to cut or gather wood. Here they found a boy who was engaged in picking up the light chips and twigs that had been carried by the wind outside of the enclosure, because in this locality the inhabitants were very numerous, and had exhausted all the timber that was not reserved by law. Nezahualcoyotl, seeing that under the trees of the forest there lay a great quantity of fallen wood, asked the boy why he contented himself with dry leaves and scattered twigs when so great an abundance of fuel lay close at hand. The boy answered that the king had forbidden the people to gather wood in the forest, and therefore he was obliged to take whatever he could get. The king told him to go, nevertheless, into the forest and help himself to fuel, and none would be the wiser, for that he and his companion would say nothing of the matter. But the boy rebuked them, saying that they must be traitors to the king who would persuade him to do this thing, or that they sought to avenge themselves upon his parents by bringing misfortune upon their son, and he refused to enter the forbidden ground. Then was the king much pleased with the boy's loyalty, and seeing the distress to which the people were reduced by the severity of the forest laws, he afterwards had them altered.[583]
FOOTNOTES:
[476] 'El govierno y las leyes quasi no diferian, por manera que por lo que de unas partes dijeremos, y adonde tuvimos mayor noticia, se podra entender, y quiza sera mejor, decirlo en comun y generalmente.' Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxii. It is also stated that many Mexican cases, presenting more than ordinary difficulty, were tried in the Tezcucan law-courts; see Zurita, Rapport, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série ii., tom. i., p. 95; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxii.; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 354. Speaking of Mexico, Tezcuco, and Tlacopan, Zurita says: 'Les lois et la procédure étaient les mêmes dans ces trois états, de sorte qu'en exposant les usages établis dans l'un d'eux, on fera connaître ce qui se passait dans les autres.' Rapport, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série ii., tom. i., pp. 93-4.Return to passage
[477] The title cihuacoatl, meaning 'serpent-woman,' appears incomprehensible as applied to a judge, but M. l'Abbé Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., pp. 579-80, sees reason to believe that the Mexicans, when they succeeded to the rights of the Toltec kings of Culhuacan, adopted also the titles of the court, and that the name cihuacoatl had been given to the prime minister in memory of Cihuacoatl, the sister of Camaxtli, who cared for the infancy of Quetzalcoatl. The learned Abbé translates cihuacoatl, serpent femelle, which is literally a serpent of the female sex. Molina, however, in his Vocabulario, gives 'ciua' as a substantive, meaning 'women' (mugeres), and 'coatl' as another substantive, meaning 'serpent' (culebra), the two as a compound he does not give. I translate the word 'serpent-woman,' because the sister of Camaxtli would more probably be thus distinguished among women, than among serpents as the 'woman-serpent.'Return to passage
[478] Although all other historians agree that the judgment of the cihuacoatl was final, the interpreter of Mendoza's collection states that an appeal lay from the judges (he does not state which) to the king. Explicacion de la Coleccion de Mendoza, in Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. v., p. 109. Prescott, Mex., vol. i., p. 29, attributes this to the changes made during Montezuma's reign, the period which the Mendoza paintings represent, and Leon Carbajal, Discurso, p. 98, totally denies the truth of the statement.Return to passage
[479] 'Dalle sentenze da lui pronunziate o nel civile, o nel criminale, non si poteva appellare ad un altro tribunale,' &c. Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 127.Return to passage
[480] Mex., vol. i., p. 29.Return to passage
[481] Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 580.Return to passage
[482] Hist. Mex., tom. i., p. 593.Return to passage
[483] Discurso, p. 97.Return to passage
[484] 'Oìa de causas, que se debolvian, y remitian à èl, por apelacion; y estas eran solas las criminales, porque de las civiles no se apelaba de sus Justicias ordinarias.' Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 352. It is possible that Señor Carbajal may have read only a subsequent passage in the same chapter, where Torquemada, speaking of the tribunal of the tlacatecatl, says: 'De este se apelaba, para el Tribunal, y Audiencia del Cihuacohuatl, que era Juez Supremo, despues del Rei.' From what has gone before, it is, however, evident that the author here refers only to the criminal cases that were appealed from the court of the tlacatecatl.Return to passage
[485] Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxii.Return to passage
[486] Mex., vol. i., p. 29. Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 127-8, also affirms, indirectly, that cases were sometimes laid in the first instance before the supreme judge, inasmuch as he first says that the cihuacoatl took cognizance of both civil and criminal cases, and afterwards, when speaking of the court of the tlacatecatl, he writes: 'Se la causa era puramente civile, non v'era appellazione.' The same applies to Brasseur de Bourbourg. Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 580.Return to passage
[487] Herein lies the only difference between Las Casas and Torquemada on the subject of the Cihuacoatl. The former writes: 'Qualquiera que este oficio para si usurpara, ó lo concediera á otro, avia de morir por ello, y sus padres y deudos eran desnaturados del pueblo donde acaeciese hasta lo quarta generación. Allende que todos los bienes avian de ser confiscados, y aplicados para la republica.' Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxii. Torquemada says: 'era tan autoriçado este oficio, que el que lo vsurpara para si, ò lo comunicàra à otro en alguna parte del Reino, muriera por ello, y sus Hijos, y Muger fueran vendidos, por perpetuos esclavos, y confiscados sus bienes por Lei, que para esto havia.' Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 352. Notwithstanding all other historians distinctly affirm that the cihuacoatl was, in the exercise of his functions perfectly independent of the king, Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 580, makes the following extraordinary statement: 'Il jugeait en dernier ressort et donnait des ordres en lieu et place du souverain, chaque fois que celui-ci ne le faisait pas directement et par lui-même.' This must be from one of the original manuscripts in the possession of M. l'Abbé.Return to passage
[488] Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxii., spells these names tacatecatl, acoahunotl, and tlaylotlat; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 352, tlacateccatl, quauhnuchtli, and tlaylotlac; and Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 127, tlacatecatl, quauhnochtli, and tlanótlac, or tlaiíotlac, a defect in the impression makes it difficult to tell which. Scarcely two of the old writers follow the same system of orthography, and in future I shall follow the style which appears simplest, endeavoring only to be consistent with myself.Return to passage
[489] Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 128, writes 'Egiornalmente si portava al Cihuacoatl, od al Tlacatecatl per avvertirlo di tutto ciò, che occorreva, e ricever gli ordini da lui;' but it would probably be only in cases of great importance that the reports of the tecuhtli would be carried to the cihuacoatl.Return to passage
[490] Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxii.; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 355; Clavigero, _Storia Ant. del Messico_, tom. ii., pp. 127-8.Return to passage
[491] Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 354, says that there were fifteen provinces subject to the king of Tezcuco.Return to passage
[492] The English edition of Clavigero reads: 'the judicial power was divided amongst seven principal cities,' p. 354; but the original agrees with the other authorities: 'nel Regno d'Acolhuacan era la giurisdizione compartita tra sei Città principali.' Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 128.Return to passage
[493] Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxii. Torquemada, however, asserts that there were 'en la Ciudad de Tetzcuco (que era la Corte) dentro de la Casa Real dos Salas de Consejo ... y en cada Sala dos Jueces. Havia diferencia entre los dichos Jueces; porque los de la vna Sala eran de mas autoridad, que los de la otra; estos se llamaban Jueces maiores, y esotros menores; los maiores oìan de causas graves, y que pertenecian à la determinacion del Rei; los segundos, de otras, no tan graves, sino mas leves, y livianas.' Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 354. The lower of these two probably either formed one of the six superior courts above mentioned, or corresponded with them in jurisdiction. According to Zurita, 'chacune des nombreuses provinces soumises à ces souverains entretenait à Mexico, à Tezcuco et à Tlacopan, qui étaient les trois capitales, deux juges, personnes de sens choisies à cet effet, et qui quelquefois étaient parents des souverains,' and adds: 'les appels étaient portés devant douze autres juges supérieurs qui prononçaient d'après l'avis du souverain.' Rapport, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série ii., tom. i., pp. 95, 100.Return to passage
[494] Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 355, writes: 'Tenia cada Sala de estas dichas otro Ministro, que hacia oficio de Alguacil Maior,' &c., while other writers assign one to each judge, of whom there were two in each court.Return to passage
[495] Clavigero differs on this point from other writers, in making this meeting occur every Mexican month of twenty days. Zurita, Rapport, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série ii., tom. i., p. 101, writes: 'Tous les douze jours il y avait une assemblée générale des juges présidée par le prince;' to this the editor attaches the following note: 'il est évident, comme on le verra page 106, qu'il y a ici une erreur, et que ces assemblées, dont les sessions duraient douze jours, ne se tenaient que tous les quatre-vingts jours.' It is, however, the learned editor who is mistaken, because, as we have seen above, there were two distinct meetings of the judges; a lesser one every ten or twelve days, and a greater every eighty days, and it is of the latter that Zurita speaks on p. 106.Return to passage
[496] 'Al que él sentenciava le arrojava una flecha de aquellas.' Tezozomoc, Crónica Mex., in Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., tom. ix., p. 57. 'A capital sentence was indicated by a line traced with an arrow across the portrait of the accused.' Prescott's Mex., vol. i., p. 33.Return to passage
[497] It is probable that as matters of government, as well as legal affairs, were discussed at their Eighty-Day Council, it was not exclusively composed of judges, but that nobles and statesmen were admitted to membership. Torquemada is, however, the only writer who distinctly states this: 'tenian Audiencia General, que la llamaban Napualtlatolli, como decir, Palabra ochentena, que era Dia, en el qual se juntaban todos los de la Ciudad, y los Asistentes de todas las Provincias, con todo el Pueblo, asi nobles, como Comunes, y Plebeios,' &c. Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 168; Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., in Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., pp. 244-5, says that the king was accompanied by all his sons and relatives, with their tutors and suites.Return to passage
[498] Concerning this judicial system of Tezcuco, see: Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxii.; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 168, tom. ii., pp. 351-5; Zurita, Rapport, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série ii., tom. i., pp. 96, et seq.; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 128-9; Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., pp. 134-6; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. viii., pp. 302-5; Pimentel, Mem. sobre la Raza Indígena, pp. 28-9; Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., p. 595.Return to passage
[499] This sentence reads as follows in the original: 'Á los lados serbian de alfombras unas pieles de tigres y leones, y mantas hechas de plumas de águila real, en donde asimismo estaban por su orden cantidad de braceletes, y grevas de oro.' Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., in Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 243. It is difficult to imagine why 'braceletes, y grevas de oro' should be placed upon the floor, but certainly the historian gives us to understand as much. Prescott, who affects to give Ixtlilxochitl's description 'in his own words,' and who, furthermore, encloses the extract in quotation marks, gets over this difficulty by omitting the above-quoted sentence entirely. Mex., vol. i., p, 34; and Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., p. 205, adopts the same convenient but somewhat unsatisfactory course. This latter author's version of the whole matter is, however, like much other of his work, inextricably confused, when compared with the original.Return to passage
[500] 'Las paredes estaban entapizadas y adornadas de unos paños hechos de pelo de conejo, de todos colores, con figuras de diversas aves, animales y flores.' This is rendered by Prescott: 'The walls were hung with tapestry, made of the hair of different wild animals, of rich and various colors, festooned by gold rings, and embroidered with figures of birds and flowers.' A few lines above, 'la silla y espaldar era de oro,' is construed into 'a throne of pure gold.' It seems scarcely fair to style the ancient Chichimec's description one 'of rather a poetical cast,' at the same time making such additions as these.Return to passage
[501] Ixtlilxochitl, ubi supra, writes: 'En los primeros puestos ocho jueces que eran nobles y caballeros, y los otros cuatro eran de los ciudadanos.' Veytia says: 'Los cuatro primeros eran caballeros de la nobleza de primer órden, los cuatro siguientes ciudadanos de Tezcuco.' Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., p. 199.Return to passage
[502] Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., in Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. ix. p. 242-3. The whole of the above description is very difficult to translate literally, owing to the confused style in which it is written; and if in places it is somewhat unintelligible, the reader will recollect that I translate merely what Ixtlilxochitl says, and not what he may, or may not, have meant to say.Return to passage
[503] Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 354; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxii.; Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., p. 199; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 128; Zurita, Rapport, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série ii., tom. i., p. 100; Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., p. 134.Return to passage
[504] Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 129.Return to passage
[505] Prescott, Mex., vol. i., p. 33, says: 'The paintings were executed with so much accuracy, that, in all suits respecting real property, they were allowed to be produced as good authority in the Spanish tribunals, very long after the Conquest; and a chair for their study and interpretation was established at Mexico in 1553, which has long since shared the fate of most other provisions for learning in that unfortunate country.' Boturini thus describes the paper used by the Aztecs: 'El Papel Indiano se componìa de las pencas del Maguèy, que en lengua Nacional se llama Mètl, y en Castellano Pita. Las echaban à podrir, y lavaban el hilo de ellas, el que haviendose ablandado estendian, para componer su papel gruesso, ò delgado, que despues bruñian para pintar en èl. Tambien hacian papel de las hojas de Palma, y Yo tengo algunos de estos delgados, y blandos tanto como la seda.' Catálogo, in Id., Idea, pp. 95-6.Return to passage
[506] Veytia writes very positively on this point: 'Habia tambien abogados y procuradores; á los primeros llamaban tepantlatoani, que quiere decir el que habla por otro, y á los segundos tlanemiliani, que en lo sustancial ejercian sus ministerios casi del mismo modo que en nuestros tribunales.... Daban términos á las partes para que sus abogados hablasen por ellas, y estos lo hacian del mismo modo que en nuestros tribunales.' Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., pp. 207-8. Sahagun relates the qualities which were supposed by the Aztecs to constitute a good or bad procurador or solicitador, and describes their duties: 'El procurador favorece à una banda de los pleyteantes, por quien en su negocio vuelve mucho y apela, teniendo poder, y llevando salario por ello. El buen procurador es vivo y solícito, osado, diligente, constante, y perseverante en los negocios, en los cuales no se deja vencer; sino que alega de su derecho, apela, tacha los testigos, ni se cansa hasta vencer á la parte contraria y triunfar de ella. El mal procurador es interesable, gran pedigüeño, y de malicia suele dilatar los negocios: hace alharacas, es muy negligente y descuidado en el pleito, y fraudulento de tal modo, que de entrambas partes lleva salario. El solicitador nunca para, anda siempre solícito y listo. El buen solicitador es muy cuidadoso, determinado, y solícito en todo, y por hacer bien su oficio, muchas veces deja de comer y de dormir, y anda de casa en casa solicitando los negocios, los cuales trata de buena tinta, y con temor ó recelo, de que por su descuido no tengan mal suceso los negocios. El mal solicitador es flojo y descuidado, lerdo, y encandilador para sacar dineros, y facilmente se deja cohechar, porque no hable mal el negocio ó que mienta, y así suele echar á perder los pleitos.' Hist. Gen., tom. iii., lib. x., pp. 23-4. Clavigero takes the opposite side of the question: 'Nei giudizj dei Messicani facevano la parti da per se stesse le loro allegazioni: almeno non sappiamo, che vi fossero Avvocati.' Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 129. 'No counsel was employed; the parties stated their own case, and supported it by their witnesses.' Prescott's Mex., vol. i., p. 32. 'L'office d'avocat était inconnu; les parties établissaient elles-mêmes leur cause, en se faisant accompagner de leurs témoins.' Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 581.Return to passage
[507] The reader will have remarked in a previous note that Veytia assigns more judges to each court than any other writer.Return to passage
[508] Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., p. 208.Return to passage
[509] Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 355-6; Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., p. 135; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 128-9.Return to passage
[510] Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., p. 200.Return to passage
[511] Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxv., ccxii.; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. viii., pp. 304, 313; Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., p. 135; Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., p. 423; Zurita, Rapport, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série ii., tom. i., pp. 101-2. Torquemada says the unjust judge was warned twice, and shaved at the third offense. Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 356. See also Id., p. 385.Return to passage
[512] Camargo, Hist. Tlax., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcix., p. 136.Return to passage
[513] Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 165.Return to passage
[514] Torquemada translates tlacatecatl, Captain General, (Capitan General). We have already seen that it was the title of the presiding judge of the second Mexican court of justice, but it was probably in this case a military title, both because military promotion would be more likely to be conferred upon a renowned warrior than a judgeship, and because the prince is spoken of as a young man, while only men of mature years and great experience were entrusted with the higher judicial offices.Return to passage
[515] Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., pp. 189-90.Return to passage
[516] Tezozomoc, Crónica Mex., in Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., tom. ix., p. 146.Return to passage
[517] These names are spelled tlelpiloia and quahucalco by Las Casas, and teïlpiloyan and quauhcalli, by Brasseur de Bourbourg.Return to passage
[518] Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxii., says that the jails called quahucalco resembled the stocks; the other writers do not notice this difference.Return to passage
[519] Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 138.Return to passage
[520] Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 138-9; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 353; Las Casas, _Hist. Apologética_, MS., cap. ccxii.; Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., p. 138.Return to passage
[521] Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., p. 138.Return to passage
[522] Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 137.Return to passage
[523] Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 166, tom. ii., p. 381; Ortega, in Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., p. 225; Boturini, Idea, p. 27. The number of ears of corn varies according to the different writers from three or four to seven, except Las Casas, who makes the number twenty-one or over, stating, however, that this and some other laws that he gives are possibly not authentic. Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxv. The Anonymous Conqueror writes: 'quando altri entrauano nelle possessioni altrui per rubbare frutti, ò il grano che essi hanno, che per entrar in vn campo, e rubbare tre ò quattro mazzocche ò spighe de quel loro grano, lo faceuano schiauo del patrone di quel campo rubbato.' Relatione fatta per vn gentil'huomo del Signor Fernando Cortese, in Ramusio, Navigationi, tom. iii., fol. 306. Clavigero agrees with the Anonymous Conqueror, that the thief of corn became the slave of the owner of the field from which he had stolen, and adds in a foot-note: 'Torquemada aggiunge, che avea pena di morte; ma ciò fu nel Regno d'Acolhuacan, non già in quello di Messico.' Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 133.Return to passage
[524] Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxiii.; Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., p. 138.Return to passage
[525] Ortega's statement reads: 'Casi siempre se castigaba con pena de muerte, á ménos de que la parte ofendida conviniese en ser indemnizada por el ladron, en cuyo caso pagaba este al fisco una cantidad igual á la robada.' Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., p. 225.Return to passage
[526] Vetancvrt, Teatro Mex., pt ii., p. 33; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 166.Return to passage
[527] Explicacion de la Coleccion de Mendoza, in _Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq._, vol. v., p. 112.Return to passage
[528] Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., in _Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq._, tom. ix., p. 246.Return to passage
[529] Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., p. 138; Ortega, in Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., p. 225; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 381. Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxiii., says that he who stole in the market-place was hanged there and then by order of the judges of the place, and in cap. cxv., he writes: 'El que en el mercado algo hurtava, era ley que luego publicamente alli en el mismo mercado lo matasen á palos.' Again in the same chapter he gives a law, for the authenticity of which he does not vouch, however, which reads as follows: 'el que en el mercado hurtava algo, los mismos del mercado tenian licencia para lo matar á pedradas.'Return to passage
[530] Ortega, in Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., p. 225.Return to passage
[531] Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxv.Return to passage
[532] Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 381; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxv.Return to passage
[533] Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iii., cap. x.; Beaumont, Crón. Mechoacan, MS., p. 51.Return to passage
[534] 'L'omicida pagava colla propria vita il suo delitto, quantunque l'ucciso fosse uno schiavo.' Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 130. The manner of putting the murderer to death is differently stated: 'El homicidio, bien fuese ejecutado por noble ó plebeyo, bien por hombre ó muger, se castigaba con pena de muerte, depedazando al homicida.' Ortega, in Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., p. 226. 'Al que mataba à otro, hacian degollar.' Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 166. 'Al matador lo degollaban.' Vetancvrt, Teatro Mex., pt ii., p. 33. Other writers merely say that the murderer suffered death, without stating the manner of execution. See, Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxiii.; Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., in Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 387; Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., p. 136. Diego Duran, in his inedited 'History of New Spain,' asserts that the murderer did not suffer death, but became the slave for life of the wife or relatives of the deceased. Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. viii., pp. 240-1.Return to passage
[535] Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iii., cap. x.Return to passage
[536] Beaumont, Crón. Mechoacan, MS., pp. 51-2.Return to passage
[537] Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., p. 136; Ortega, in Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., p. 226; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxiii. In cap. ccxv., among his unauthenticated laws, we read that if the victim of poison was a slave, the person who caused his death was made a slave, in the place of suffering the extreme penalty, but the opposite to this is expressly stated by Clavigero and implied by Ortega.Return to passage
[538] Relatione fatta per vn gentil'huomo del Signor Fernando Cortese, in Ramusio, Navigationi, tom. iii., fol. 307; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxiii.; Vetancvrt, Teatro Mex., pt ii., p. 33; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 106; Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., p. 138; Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., p. 421. Ixtlilxochitl writes that the children and relations of the traitor were enslaved till the fifth generation, and that salt was scattered upon his lands. Hist. Chich., in Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., tom. ix., p. 245. 'Il traditore del Re, o dello Stato, era sbranato, ed i suoi parenti, che consapevoli del tradimento non lo aveano per tempo scoperto, erano privati della libertà.' Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 130.Return to passage
[539] Ixtlilxochitl, Relaciones, in Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 387; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 382; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxv., among the collection of unauthenticated laws so frequently mentioned heretofore, gives the following: 'Si algunos vendieron algun niño por esclavo, y despues se sabe, todos los que entendieron en ello eran esclavos, y dellos davan uno al que lo compró, y los otros repartian entre la madre del niño y entre él que lo descubrió.' In the same chapter, among another list of laws which, says Las Casas, 'son tenidas todas por autenticas y verdaderas,' we read: 'Era ley, y con rigor guardada, que si alguno vendia por esclavo algun niño perdido, que se hiciese esclavo al que lo vendia, y su hacienda se partiese en dos partes, la una era para el niño, y la otra al que lo havia comprado, y si quizas lo avian vendido y eran muchos, á todos hacian esclavos.'Return to passage
[540] Zurita writes: 'ils n'avaient droit d'en prendre que trois petites tasses à chaque repas.' Rapport, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série ii., tom. i., p. 110; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iv., cap. xvi.Return to passage
[541] Codex Mendoza, in Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. i., pl. 72; Esplicacion, in Id., vol. v., pp. 112-13; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iv., cap. xvi.; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 134.Return to passage
[542] 'Dans les noces publiques et les fêtes, les hommes âgés de plus de trente ans étaient ordinairement autorisés à en boire deux tasses.' Zurita, Rapport, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série ii., tom. i., p. 110; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 134; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iv., cap. xvi.Return to passage
[543] Ortega says that the privilege was also extended to private soldiers. Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., p. 227. Zurita, however, writes 'les guerriers regardaient comme un déshonneur d'en boire.' Rapport, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série ii., tom. i., p. 111.Return to passage
[544] Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxiii., ccxv.; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 166, tom. ii., p. 386; Vetancvrt, Teatro Mex., pt ii, p. 33; Codex Mendoza, in Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. i., pl. 72; Esplicacion, in Id., vol. v., pp. 112-13; Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., in Id., vol. ix., p. 246; Id., Relaciones, p. 387; Ortega, in Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., pp. 226-7; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 134; Zurita, Rapport, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série ii., tom. i., pp. 110-11; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iv., cap. xvi.Return to passage
[545] See this vol. pp. 360-1.Return to passage
[546] Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxv.; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 386; Ixtlilxochitl, Relaciones, in Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 387; Ortega, in Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., p. 226.Return to passage
[547] Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., in Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 246; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 130.Return to passage
[548] Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 130.Return to passage
[549] Ixtlilxochitl, Relaciones, in Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 387; Ortega, in Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., p. 226.Return to passage
[550] Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxv.Return to passage
[551] Ixtlilxochitl, Relaciones, in Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 388.Return to passage
[552] Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxv., gives two laws on this point. To the first, which is among the collection of unauthenticated laws, adds: 'Y si era plebeyo ó de baja suerte hacian lo esclavo.' Ixtlilxochitl also gives two laws: 'A los hijos de los señores si malbarataban sus riquezas, ó bien muebles que sus padres tenian, les daban garrote.' Hist. Chich., in Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 246. 'Si algun principal mayorazgo fuese desbaratado, ó travieso, ó si entre dos de estos tales hubiese alguna diferencia sobre tierras ú otras cosas, el que no quisiese estarse quedo con la averiguacion que entre ellos se hiciese por ser soberbio y mal mirado, le fuesen quitados sus bienes y mayorazgo, y fuese puesto en depósito en alguna persona que diese cuenta de ello para el tiempo que le fuese pedido, de cual mayorazgo estubiese desposeido todo el tiempo que la voluntad del señor fuese.' Relaciones, in Id., p. 387; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 385; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 134.Return to passage
[553] Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., p. 423.Return to passage
[554] Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxv.; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 386; Ixtlilxochitl, Relaciones, in Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 387.Return to passage
[555] Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxiii.Return to passage
[556] Ixtlilxochitl, Relaciones, in Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 387; Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., p. 604; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 134; Ortega, in Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., pp. 227-9; Chaves, Rapport, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série ii., tom. v., p. 313; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 165.Return to passage
[557] Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., p. 502; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxv.Return to passage
[558] Concerning adultery see: Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxiii., ccxv.; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 166, tom. ii., pp. 378, 380; Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., in Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 246; Relaciones, in Id., p. 387; Codex Mendoza, in Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. i., pl. 72; Esplicacion, in Id., vol. v., p. 112; Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., p. 423; Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., pp. 136-7; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 130-1; Bologne, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. x., p. 211; Zurita, Rapport, in Id., série ii., tom. i., pp. 107-10; Ortega, in Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., p. 224; Vetancvrt, Teatro Mex., pt ii., p. 33; Duran, in Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., tom. viii., pp. 242-3; Valades, Rhetorica Christiana, in Id., p. 129, note.Return to passage
[559] Las Casas and Mendieta, as in preceding note.Return to passage
[560] 'Para la justificacion fuese bastante la denuncia del marido.' Ibid.Return to passage
[561] Las Casas writes: 'A ninguna muger ni hombre castigavan por adulterio, si solo el marido della los acusaba, sino que havia de haver testigos y confesion dellos.' Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxv. Torquemada uses almost the same words.Return to passage
[562] Father Francisco de Bologne says that this mode of punishment was only resorted to in the case of the man, and that the female adulterer was impaled. Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. x., p. 211.Return to passage
[563] This statement is made by Ixtlilxochitl and Veytia, ubi sup.Return to passage
[564] Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxiii.; Mendieta, ubi sup.Return to passage
[565] Ibidem. Among the Miztecs, when extenuating circumstances could be proved, the punishment of death was commuted to mutilation of ears, nose, and lips. Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iii., cap. xii.Return to passage
[566] Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 380; Clavigero, ubi sup.Return to passage
[567] Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxiii., ccxv.; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 377-8, 380; Ortega, in Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., p. 224.Return to passage
[568] Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxiii.; Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., p. 136.Return to passage
[569] Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iii., cap. x.; Beaumont, Crón. Mechoacan, MS., p. 51.Return to passage
[570] Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 166, tom. ii., p. 380; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxv.; Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., p. 423; Ortega, in Id., p. 224; Vetancvrt, Teatro Mex., pt ii., p. 33; Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., p. 137; Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., in Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., pp. 245. Carbajal Espinosa differs from these in saying: 'al pasivo le arrancaban las entrañas, se llenaba su vientre de ceniza y el cadáver era quemado.' Hist. Mex., tom. i., p. 603.Return to passage
[571] Camargo, Hist. Tlax., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcviii., p. 193. Carli is therefore mistaken in saying this crime was punished with death. Cartas, p. 122.Return to passage
[572] Lettre, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. x., p. 197.Return to passage
[573] Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxiii. Clavigero writes: 'Appresso tutte le Nazioni di Anahuac, fuorchè appresso i Panuchesi, era in abbominazione sì fatto delitto, e da tutte si puniva con rigore.' This writer is very bitter against M. de Pauw for stating that this pederasty was common among the Mexicans, and adds: 'ma della falsità di tal calunnia, che con troppa, ed assai biasimevole facilità addottarono parecchj Autori Europei, ci consta per la testimonianza di molti altri Autori imparziarli, e meglio informati.' Clavigero does not, however, state who these 'more impartial and better informed writers' are. That the crime of sodomy was prevalent in Tabasco, we have the testimony of Oviedo, who writes that among the idols that the Christians saw there 'dixeron que avian hallado entre aquellos çemís ó yolos, dos personas hechas de copey (que es un árbol assi llamado), el uno caballero ó cabalgando sobre el otro, en figura de aquel abominable y nefando pecado de sodomia, é otro de barro que tenia la natura asida con ambas manos, la qual tenia como çircunçiso ... y no es este pecado entre aquellas mal aventuradas gentes despresçiado, ni sumariamente averiguado: antes es mucha verdad quanto dellos se puede deçir é culpar en tal caso.' Hist. Gen., tom. i., p. 533. Zuazo, speaking of the Mexicans, says: 'estas gentes tienen la tria peccatela que decia el Italiano: no creen en Dios; son casi todos sodomitas: comen carne humana.' Carta, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 365.Return to passage
[574] Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxiii.Return to passage
[575] Las Casas, among his unauthentic laws has one which prescribes death in this case, but in another list, which he says is composed of authentic laws, banishment and confiscation of property is given as the penalty. Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxv.; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 380; Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., p. 423.Return to passage
[576] Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 380; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxiii.; Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., p. 137. Ortega adds that their heads were rubbed with ashes; 'se les untaba con ceniza caliente.' Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., p. 225.Return to passage
[577] Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., in _Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq._, vol. ix., p. 246; Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., p. 224.Return to passage
[578] Ixtlilxochitl, Relaciones, in Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 387; Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., p. 423; Duran, in Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. viii., pp. 243-4; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 380; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxv.; Ortega, in Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., pp. 224-5.Return to passage
[579] Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxiii., ccxv.; Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., p. 136.Return to passage
[580] Las Casas, Ibid.; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 380-1.Return to passage
[581] Las Casas, Ibid.; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 380; Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., pp. 137-8; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 133.Return to passage
[582] Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 381; Ortega, in Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., pp. 225-6; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 133.Return to passage
[583] Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 165. In the following works more or less mention is made of the system of jurisprudence that existed among the Nahua peoples. Pimentel, Mem. sobre la Raza Indígena, pp. 31-5; Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., pp. 593-605; Amer. Ethno. Soc., Transact., vol. i., p. 153; Klemm, Cultur-Geschichte, tom. v., pp. 35-6, 53-4, 69-75, 96-7, 105, 205; Cortés, Aven. y Conq., pref., p. 13; Delaporte, Reisen, tom. x., pp. 264-7; Incidents and Sketches, pp. 60-1; Simon's Ten Tribes, pp. 263-70; Bussierre, L'Empire Mex., pp. 150-8; Chambers' Jour., 1835, vol. iv., p. 253; Baril, Mexique, pp. 205-7; Touron, Hist. Gén., tom. iii., pp. 29-31; Soden, Spanier in Peru, tom. ii., p. 14.Return to passage
XV. NAHUA ARTS AND MANUFACTURES
METALS USED AND MANNER OF OBTAINING THEM--WORKING OF GOLD AND SILVER--WONDERFUL SKILL IN IMITATING--GILDING AND PLATING--WORKING IN STONE--LAPIDARY WORK--WOOD CARVING--MANUFACTURE OF POTTERY--VARIOUS KINDS OF CLOTH--MANUFACTURE OF PAPER AND LEATHER--PREPARATION OF DYES AND PAINTS--THE ART OF PAINTING--FEATHER MOSAIC WORK--LEAF-MATS--MANNER OF KINDLING FIRE--TORCHES--SOAP--COUNCIL OF ARTS IN TEZCUCO--ORATORY AND POETRY--NEZAHUALCOYOTL'S ODES ON THE MUTABILITY OF LIFE AND THE TYRANT TEZOZOMOC--AZTEC ARITHMETICAL SYSTEM.
Gold, silver, copper, tin, and lead were the metals known to and used by the Nahuas. The latter, however, is merely mentioned, and nothing is known about where it was obtained or for what purposes it was employed. We have only very slight information respecting the processes by which any of the metals were obtained. Gold came to the cities of Anáhuac chiefly from the southern Nahua provinces, through the agency of traders and tax-gatherers; silver and tin were taken from the mines of Taxco and Tzompanco; copper was obtained from the mountains of Zacatollan, the province of the Cohuixcas, and from Michoacan. Nuggets of gold and masses of native copper were found on the surface of the ground in certain regions; gold was chiefly obtained, however, from the sand in the bed of rivers by divers. It was kept, in the form of dust, in small tubes or quills, or was melted in small pots, by the aid of hollow bamboo blow-pipes used instead of bellows, and cast in small bars. Prescott tells us that these metals were also mined from veins in the solid rock, extensive galleries being opened for the purpose. Quicksilver, sulphur, alum, ochre, and other minerals were collected to a certain extent and employed by the natives in the preparation of colors and for other purposes.[584] The use of iron, though that metal was abundant in the country, was unknown. Such metals as they had they were most skillful in working, chiefly by melting and casting, and by carving, but also to some extent by the use of the hammer. We have no details of the means employed to melt the harder metals, besides the rude blow-pipe and furnace mentioned in connection with gold.
For cutting implements copper was the only metal used, but it was hardened with an alloy of tin until it sufficed to cut the hardest substances nearly as well as steel.[585] The pure and softer metal was used to make kettles and other vessels. Copper tools were, however, rare compared with those of stone, and seem to have been used chiefly in working wood where a sharp and enduring edge was required. Such tools usually took the form of axes and chisels. Sticks for working the ground, the nearest Nahua approach to the plow, were also often tipped with copper, as we have seen. Metal was not much used in making weapons, not being found in swords or arrow-heads, but employed with obsidian in spearheads and on the maza, or club. Both copper and tin dishes and plates are mentioned but were not in common use. In the manufacture of implements of copper and tin these metals were wrought by means of stone hammers and not cast.[586]
[Sidenote: GOLD AND SILVER SMITHS.]
No branch of Nahua art was carried to a higher degree of perfection than the ornamental working of gold and silver. The conquerors were struck with admiration on beholding the work of the native goldsmiths; they even in some cases frankly acknowledge that they admired the work more than the material, and saved the most beautiful specimens from the melting furnace, the greatest compliment these gold-greedy adventurers could pay to native art. Many of the finer articles were sent as presents and curiosities to European princes, who added their testimony to that of the conquerors, pronouncing the jewelry in many instances superior to the work of old-world artists. Azcapuzalco was the headquarters of the workers in gold and silver.[587] The imitation of natural objects, particularly animals, birds, and fishes, was a favorite field for the display of this branch of Nahua talent. The conqueror Cortés tells us that Montezuma had in his collection a counterfeit in gold, silver, stones, or feathers, of every object under heaven in his dominions, so skillfully made, so far as the work in metal was concerned, that no smith in the world could excel them. This statement is repeated by every writer on the subject. Dr Hernandez, the naturalist, in preparing a treatise on Mexican zoology for Philip II., is said to have supplied his want of real specimens of certain rare species by a resort to these imitations.[588] The native artists are said to have fashioned animals and birds with movable heads, legs, wings, and tongues, an ape with a spindle in its hands in the act of spinning and in certain comic attitudes; and what particularly interested and surprised the Spaniards was the art--spoken of by them as a lost art--of casting the parts of an object of different metals each distinct from the rest but all forming a complete whole, and this, as the authorities say, without soldering. Thus a fish was molded with alternate scales of gold and silver, plates were cast in sections of the same metal, and loose handles were attached to different vessels.[589]
[Sidenote: GILDING AND PLATING.]
After the Spaniards came, the native artisans had a new and wide field for the display of their skill, in imitating the numerous products of European art. A slight examination, often obtained by stealthily looking into the shop windows, enabled them to reproduce and not unfrequently to improve upon the finest articles of jewelry and plate.[590]
Clavigero says that vessels of copper or other inferior metal were gilded, by employing an unknown process in which certain herbs were used, and which would have made the fortune of a goldsmith in Spain and Italy. Oviedo also tells us that various ornamental articles were covered with thin gold plate.[591] To enumerate the articles manufactured by the Nahua gold and silver smiths, and included in the long lists of presents made by Montezuma and other chieftains to their conquerors is impracticable; they included finely modeled goblets, pitchers, and other vessels for the tables of the kings and nobility; frames for stone mirrors and rich settings for various precious stones; personal ornaments for the wealthy, and especially for warriors, including rings, bracelets, eardrops, beads, helmets and various other portions of armor; small figures in human form worn as charms or venerated as idols; and finally the most gorgeous and complicated decorations for the larger idols, and their temples and altars.[592]
Little is known of the methods or implements by which the workers in gold accomplished such marvelous results. The authors tell us that they excelled particularly in working the precious metals by means of fire; and the furnaces already mentioned are pictured in several of the Aztec picture-writings as simple vessels, perhaps of earthen ware, various in form, heaped with lumps of metal, and possibly with wood and coal, from which the tongues of flame protrude, as the workman sits by his furnace with his bamboo blow-pipe. How they cast or molded the molten gold into numerous graceful and ornamental forms is absolutely unknown. The process by which these patient workers carved or engraved ornamental figures on gold and silver vessels by means of their implements of stone and hardened copper, although not explained, may in a general way be easily imagined. They worked also to some extent with the hammer, but as gold-beaters they were regarded as inferior workmen, using only stone implements. The art of working in the precious metals was derived traditionally from the Toltecs, and the gold and silversmiths formed in Mexico a kind of corporation under the divine guidance of the god Xipe.[593]
[Sidenote: WORKING IN STONE.]
Stone was the material of most Nahua implements. For this purpose all the harder kinds found in the country were worked, flint, porphyry, basalt, but especially obsidian, the native iztli. Of this hard material, extensively quarried some distance north of Mexico, nearly all the sharp-edged tools were made. These tools, such as knives, razors, lancets, spear and arrow heads, were simply flakes from an obsidian block. The knives were double-edged and the best of them slightly curved at the point. The maker held a round block of iztli between his bare feet, pressed with his chest and hands on a long wooden instrument, one end of which was applied near the edge of the block, and thus split off knife after knife with great rapidity, which required only to be fitted to a wooden handle to be ready for use. The edge thus produced was at first as sharp as one of steel, but became blunted by slight use, when the instrument must be thrown away. Thus Las Casas tells us that ten or fifteen obsidian razors were required to shave one man's beard. Stone knives seem rarely if ever to have been sharpened by grinding.[594] Of obsidian were made the knives used in the sacrifice of human victims, and the lancets used in bleeding for medicinal purposes and in drawing blood in the service of the gods. For bleeding, similar knives are said to be still used in Mexico.[595] The use of stone in the manufacture of weapons has been mentioned in another chapter. Masks and even rings and cups were sometimes worked from obsidian and other kinds of stone. Axes were of flint, jade, or basalt, and were bound with cords to a handle of hard wood, the end of which was split to receive it.[596] Torquemada says that agricultural implements were made of stone.[597] Mirrors were of obsidian, or of margajita,--spoken of by some as a metal, by others as a stone,--often double-faced, and richly set in gold.[598]
The quarrying of stone for building and sculpture was done by means of wooden and stone implements, by methods unknown but adequate to the working of the hardest material. Stone implements alone seem to have been used for the sculpture of idols, statues, and architectural decorations. A better idea of the excellence of the Nahuas in the art of stone-carving may be formed from the consideration of antiquarian relics in another volume than from the remarks of the early chroniclers. Most of the sculptured designs were executed in soft material, in working which flint instruments would be almost as effective as those of steel; but some of the preserved specimens are carved in the hardest stone, and must have taxed the sculptor's patience to the utmost even with hard copper chisels. The idols and hieroglyphics on which the native art was chiefly exercised, present purposely distorted figures and are a poor test of the artists' skill; according to traditional history portrait-statues of the kings were made, and although none of these are known to have survived, yet a few specimens in the various collections indicate that the human face and form in true proportions were not beyond the scope of American art; and the native sculptors were, moreover, extremely successful in the modeling of animals in stone.[599]
[Sidenote: WORKING OF PRECIOUS STONES.]
The Nahuas were no less skillful in working precious stones than gold and silver. Their Toltec ancestors possessed the same skill and used to search for the stones at sunrise, being directed to the hidden treasure by the vapor which rose from the place that concealed it. All the stones found in the country were used for ornamental purposes, but emeralds, amethysts, and turquoises were most abundant. The jewels were cut with copper tools with the aid of a silicious sand. Single stones were carved in various forms, often those of animals, and set in gold, or sometimes formed into small cups or boxes. Pearls, mother of pearl, and bright-colored shells were used with the precious stones in the formation of necklaces, bracelets, ear-rings, and other decorations for the nobles or for the idols. Various articles of dress or armor were completely studded with gems tastefully arranged, and a kind of mosaic, with which wooden masks for the idols were often covered, attracted much attention among the Spaniards. Mirrors of rock crystal, obsidian, and other stones, brightly polished and encased in rich frames, were said to reflect the human face as clearly as the best of European manufacture.[600]
Trees were felled with copper hatchets, hewn with the same instruments into beams, and dragged by slaves over rollers to the place where they were needed for building. Some of the chief idols, as for instance that of Huitzilopochtli, according to Acosta, were of wood, but wood-carving was not apparently carried to a high degree of perfection. Some boxes, furnished with lids and hinges, also tables and chairs, were made of wood, which was the chief material of weapons and agricultural implements. The authorities devote but few words to the workers in wood, who, however, after the conquest seem to have become quite skillful under Spanish instruction, and with the aid of European tools. Fire-wood was sold in the markets; and Las Casas also tells us that charcoal was burned.[601]
[Sidenote: MANUFACTURE OF POTTERY.]
At Cholula the best pottery was made, but throughout the whole country nearly all the dishes used were of clay. Pots, kettles, vases, plates for domestic use, as well as censers and other utensils for the temple service, also idols, beads, and various ornaments were modeled from this material. The early Spaniards were enthusiastic in praising the native potters' skill, but beyond the statement that vessels of earthen ware were glazed and often tastefully decorated, they give no definite information respecting this branch of manufactures. Many small earthen trumpets, or flageolets, capable of producing various sounds, and of imitating the cries of different birds, have been found in different parts of the Mexican Republic. Fortunately relics of pottery in every form are of frequent occurrence in the museums, and from the description of such relics in another volume the excellence of Aztec pottery may be estimated. Besides the earthen dishes, and vessels of metal and carved wood, some baskets were made, and drinking-cups or bowls of different sizes and shapes were formed from the hollow shells of gourds. These were known as xicalli, later jicaras, and tecomatl.[602] Seashells were also used as dishes to some extent.[603]
The finer kinds of cloth were made of cotton, of rabbit-hair, of the two mixed, or of cotton mixed with feathers. The rabbit-hair fabrics were pronounced equal in finish and texture to silk, and cotton cloths were also fine and white. Fabrics of this better class were used for articles of dress by the rich, nobles, and priests; they were both woven and dyed in variegated colors. The cloths in the manufacture of which feathers were employed often served for carpets, tapestry, and bed-coverings. Maguey-fibre, and that of the palm-leaves icxotl and izhuatl were woven into coarse cloths, the maguey-cloth being known as nequen. This nequen and the coarser kinds of cotton were the materials with which the poorer classes clothed themselves. The palm and maguey fibres were prepared for use in the same manner as flax in other countries, being soaked in water, pounded, and dried. The same material served also for cords, ropes, and mats. A coarser kind of matting was, however, made of different varieties of reeds. All the work of spinning and weaving was performed by the women, forming indeed their chief employment. The spindle used in spinning, shown in many of the Aztec manuscripts, was like a top, which was set whirling in a shallow dish, the fibre being applied to its pointed upper extremity until the impetus was exhausted. All we know of the native process of weaving is derived from the native paintings, a sample of which from the Mendoza Collection, showing a woman engaged in weaving, may be seen in chapter xvii. of this volume.[604]
[Sidenote: MAKING OF CLOTH AND PAPER.]
Paper, in Aztec amatl, used chiefly as a material on which to paint the hieroglyphic records to be described in a future chapter, was made for the most part of maguey-fibre, although the other fibres used in the manufacture of cloth were occasionally mixed with those of this plant. The material must have been pressed together when wet, and the product was generally very thick, more like a soft paste-board than our paper. The surface was smooth and well adapted to the painting which it was to bear. Certain gums are said to have been used for the more perfect coherence of the fibre, and the amatl was made in long narrow sheets suitable for rolling or folding. Humboldt describes certain bags of oval form, the work of a species of caterpillars, on the trees in Michoacan. They are white and may be separated into thin layers, which, as the author states, were used by the ancient inhabitants in the manufacture of a superior kind of paper.[605]
The skins of animals killed by the Nahua hunters were tanned both with and without the hair, by a process of which the authorities say nothing, although universally praising its results. The leather was used in some cases as a sort of parchment for hieroglyphic writings, but oftener for articles of dress, ornament, or armor.[606]
[Sidenote: DYEING AND PAINTING.]
In the preparation of dyes and paints, both mineral, animal, and vegetable colors were employed, the latter extracted from woods, barks, leaves, flowers, and fruits. In the art of dyeing they probably excelled the Europeans, and many of their dyes have since the conquest been introduced throughout the world. Chief among these was the cochineal, nochiztli, an insect fed by the Nahuas on the leaves of the nopal, from which they obtained beautiful and permanent red and purple colors for their cotton fabrics. The flower of the matlalxihuitl supplied blue shades; indigo was the sediment of water in which branches of the xiuhquilipitzahuac had been soaked; seeds of the achiotl boiled in water yielded a red, the French roucou; ochre, or tecozahuitl, furnished yellow, as did also the plant xochipalli, the latter being changed to orange by the use of nitre; other shades were produced by the use of alum; the stones chimaltizatl and tizatlalli being calcined, produced something like Spanish white; black was obtained from a stinking mineral, tlaliac, or from the soot of a pine called ocotl. In mixing paints they used chian-oil, or sometimes the glutinous juice of the tzauhtli. The numerous dye-woods of the tierra caliente, now the chief exports from that region, were all employed by the native dyers. It is probable that many of the secrets of this branch of Nahua art were never learned by the Spaniards.[607]
The Nahua paintings showed no great artistic merit, being chiefly noticeable for the excellence of the colors. Very few specimens have been preserved for modern examination, except the hieroglyphic paintings in which most of the figures are hideously and, as it is supposed, purposely distorted, and consequently no criterion of the artist's skill. It is not known that the Nahuas ever attempted to paint natural scenery, except that they prepared maps of sections of their territory on which they rudely represented the mountains, rivers, and forests, indicating the lands of different owners or lords by the use of different colors. They sometimes made portraits of the kings and nobles, but the Spanish chroniclers admit that they exhibited much less skill in picturing the human form and face than in drawing animals, birds, trees, and flowers. Some modern critics of lively imagination have, however, detected indications of great artistic genius in the awkward figures of the picture-writings. Native painters, when Cortés arrived on the coast, painted his ships, men, horses, cannon, in fact everything new and strange in the white men's equipment, and hurried with the canvas to Montezuma at the capital. Very little is known of ornamental painting on the walls of private dwellings, but that on the temples naturally partook to a great extent of a hieroglyphic character. The durability of the paintings on cloth and paper, especially when rubbed occasionally with oil, was remarked by many observers, as was also the skill displayed by the natives later under Spanish instruction.[608]
[Sidenote: FEATHER-MOSAIC.]
The mixture of feathers with cotton and other fibres in the manufacture of clothing, tapestry, carpets, and bed-coverings has already been mentioned. For such fabrics plain colors from ducks and other aquatic birds were generally employed, brighter hues being occasionally introduced for ornamental purposes. Feathers also played an important part in the decoration of warriors' armor, the tail-feathers of the bright-hued quetzal being the favorites. These were formed into brilliant plumes, often tipped with gold and set in precious stones. Beautiful fans were made of the same material. But the art which of all those practiced by the Nahuas most delighted and astonished the Europeans, was the use of feathers in the making of what has been called feather-mosaic. The myriads of tropical birds in which the forests of the tierra caliente abounded, chief among which were the quetzal, many varieties of the parrot kind, and the huitzilin, or humming-bird, supplied feathers, fine and coarse, of every desired color and shade. It was for this use chiefly that the royal and other collections of birds, already described, were so carefully kept. These captive birds were plucked each year at the proper season, and their plumage sorted according to color and quality. Some shades only to be obtained from the rarest birds, were for ordinary feather-work artificially produced by dyeing the white plumage of more common birds.
To prepare for work the amanteca, or artist, arranged his colors in small earthen dishes within easy reach of his hand, stretched a piece of cloth on a board before him, and provided himself with a pot of glue--called by Clavigero tzauhtli,--and a pair of very delicate pincers. The design he wished to execute was first sketched roughly on the cloth, and then with the aid of the pincers feather after feather was taken from its dish and glued to the canvas. The Spanish writers marvel at the care with which this work was done; sometimes, they say, a whole day was consumed in properly choosing and adjusting one delicate feather, the artist patiently experimenting until the hue and position of the feather, viewed from different points and under different lights, became satisfactory to his eye. When a large piece was to be done, many workmen assembled, a part of the work was given to each, and so skillfully was the task performed that the parts rarely failed at the end to blend into an harmonious whole; but if the effect of any part was unsatisfactory it must be commenced anew. By this method a great variety of graceful patterns were wrought, either fanciful, or taken from natural objects, flowers, animals, and even the human face, which latter the native artists are said to have successfully portrayed. Las Casas tells us they made these feather-fabrics so skillfully that they appeared of different colors according to the direction from which they were viewed. The Spaniards declare that the feather-pictures were fully equal to the best works of European painters, and are at a loss for words to express their admiration of this wonderful Nahua invention; specimens of great beauty have also been preserved and are to be seen in the museums. Besides mantles and other garments, tapestry, bed-coverings, and other ornamental fabrics for the use of the noble and wealthy classes, to which this art was applied, the feather-mosaic was a favorite covering for the shields and armor of noted warriors. By the same process masks were made representing in a manner true to nature the faces of fierce animals; and even the whole bodies of such animals were sometimes counterfeited, as Zuazo says, so faithfully as to deceive the ignorant observer. The Tarascos of Michoacan were reputed to be the most skillful in feather-work.[609]
The feather-workers were called amantecas from Amantla, the name of the ward of Mexico in which they chiefly lived. This ward adjoined that of Pochtlan, where lived the chief merchants called pochtecas, and the shrine of the amantecas' god Ciotliahuatl, was also joined to that of the merchants' god Iyacatecutli. The feather-workers and merchants were closely united, there was great similarity in all their idolatrous rites, and they often sat together at the same banquet.[610]
Another art, similar in its nature to that of the feather-mosaics, was that of pasting leaves and flowers upon mats so as to form attractive designs for temporary use on the occasion of special festivals. The natives made great use of these flower-pictures after the conquest in the decoration of the churches for Catholic holidays.[611]
The Nahuas kindled a fire like their more savage brethren by friction between two pieces of wood, achiotl being the kind of wood preferred for this purpose. Boturini, followed by later writers, states that the use of the flint was also known. Once kindled, the flames were fanned by the use of a blow-pipe. For lights, torches of resinous wood were employed, especially the ocotl, which emitted a pleasing odor. The use of wicks with oil or wax was apparently unknown until after the coming of Europeans. Substitutes for soap were found in the fruit of the copalxocotl and root of the amolli.
[Sidenote: THE COUNCIL OF ARTS IN TEZCUCO.]
All the branches of art among the Nahuas were placed under the control of a council or academy which was instituted to favor the development of poetry, oratory, history, painting, and also to some extent of sculpture and work in gold, precious stones, and feathers. Tezcuco was the centre of all high art and refinement during the palmy days of the Chichimec empire, and retained its preëminence to a great extent down to the coming of the Spaniards; consequently its school of arts is better known than others that probably existed in other cities. It was called the Council of Music, although taking cognizance of other arts and sciences, chiefly by controlling the education of the young, since no teacher of arts could exercise his profession without a certificate of his qualifications from the council. Before the same body all pupils must be brought for examination. The greatest care was taken that no defective work of lapidary, goldsmith, or worker in feathers should be exposed for sale in the markets, and that no imperfectly instructed artists should be allowed to vitiate the public taste. But it was above all with literary arts, poetry, oratory, and historical paintings, that this tribunal, composed of the best talent and culture of the kingdom, had to do, and every literary work was subject to its revision. The members, nominated by the emperor of Tezcuco, held daily meetings, and seats of honor were reserved for the kings of the three allied kingdoms, although a presiding officer was elected from the nobility with reference to his literary acquirements. At certain sessions of the council, poems and historical essays were read by their authors, and new inventions were exhibited for inspection, rich prizes being awarded for excellence in any branch of learning.[612]
[Sidenote: ORATORY AND POESY.]
Speech-making is a prominent feature in the life of most aboriginal tribes, and in their fondness for oratory the Nahuas were no exceptions to the rule. Many and long addresses accompanied the installation of kings and all public officers; all diplomatic correspondence between different nations was carried on by orators; prayers to the gods were in aboriginal as in modern times elaborate elocutionary efforts; the departing and returning traveler was dismissed and welcomed with a speech; condolence for misfortune and congratulation for success were expressed in public and private by the friends most skillful in the art of speaking; social intercourse in feasts and banquets was but a succession of speeches; and parents even employed long discourses to impart to their children instruction and advice. Consequently children were instructed at an early age in the art of public speaking; some were even specially educated as orators. They were obliged to commit to memory, and taught to repeat as declamations, the speeches of their most famous ancestors, handed down from father to son for many generations. Specimens of the orations delivered by Nahua speakers on different occasions are so numerous in this and the following volume, that the reader may judge for himself respecting their merit. It is impossible, however, to decide how far these compositions have been modified in passing through Spanish hands, although it is probable, according to the judgment of the best critics, that they retain much of the original spirit of their reputed authors.[613]
Poets, if somewhat less numerous, were no less honored than orators. Their compositions were also recited, or sung, before the Council of Music in Tezcuco, and the most talented bards were honored with prizes. The heroic deeds of warlike ancestors, national annals and traditions, praise of the gods, moral lessons drawn from actual events, allegorical productions with illustrations drawn from the beauties of nature, and even love and the charms of woman were the common themes. The emperor Nezahualcoyotl, the protector and promoter of all the arts and sciences, was himself a poet of great renown. Several of his compositions, or fragments of such, have been preserved; that is, the poems were written from memory in Aztec with Roman letters after the conquest, and translated into Spanish by Ixtlilxochitl, a lineal descendant of the royal poet. They have also been translated into other languages by various authors. The following will serve as specimens.[614]
[Sidenote: NEZAHUALCOYOTL'S ODES.]
SONG OF NEZAHUALCOYOTL, KING OF TEZCUCO; ON THE MUTABILITY OF LIFE.
Now will I sing for a moment, Since time and occasion offer, And I trust to be heard with favor If my effort proveth deserving; Wherefore thus I begin my singing, Or rather my lamentation.
O thou, my friend, and beloved, Enjoy the sweet flowers I bring thee; Let us be joyful together And banish each care and each sorrow; For although life's pleasures are fleeting, Life's bitterness also must leave us.
I will strike, to help me in singing, The instrument deep and sonorous; Dance thou, while enjoying these flowers, Before the great Lord who is mighty; Let us grasp the sweet things of the present, For the life of a man is soon over.
Fair Acolhuacán thou hast chosen As thy dwelling-place and thy palace; Thou hast set up thy royal throne there, With thine own hand hast thou enriched it; Wherefore it seems to be certain That thy kingdom shall prosper and flourish.
And thou, O wise Prince Oyoyotzin, Mighty monarch, and King without equal, Rejoice in the beauty of spring-time, Be happy while spring abides with thee, For the day creepeth nearer and nearer When thou shalt seek joy and not find it.
A day when dark Fate, the destroyer, Shall tear from thine hand the proud sceptre, When the moon of thy glory shall lessen, Thy pride and thy strength be diminished, The spoil from thy servants be taken, Thy kingdom and honor go from thee.
Ah, then in this day of great sorrow The lords of thy line will be mournful, The princes of might will be downcast, The pride of high birth will avail not; When thou, their great Head, hast been smitten The pains of grim Want will assail them.
Then with bitterness will they remember The glory and fame of thy greatness, Thy triumphs so worthy of envy, Until, while comparing the present With years that are gone now forever, Their tears shall be more than the ocean.
The vassals that cluster about thee And are as a crown to thy kingdom, When thine arm doth no longer uphold them, Will suffer the fate of the exile; In strange lands their pride will be humbled, Their rank and their name be forgotten.
The fame of the race that is mighty, And worthy a thousand fair kingdoms, Will not in the future be heeded; The nations will only remember The justice with which they were governed In the years when the kingdom was threefold.
In Mexico, proudest of cities, Reigned the mighty and brave Montezuma, Nezahualcoyotl, the just one Of blest Culhuacán was the monarch, To strong Totoquíl fell the portion Of Acatlapán, the third kingdom.
But yet thou shalt not be forgotten, Nor the good thou hast ever accomplished; For, is not the throne that thou fillest The gift of the god without equal, The mighty Creator of all things, The maker of Kings and of Princes!
Nezahualcoyotl, be happy With the pleasant things that thou knowest, Rejoice in the beautiful garden, Wreathe thy front with a garland of flowers, Give heed to my song and my music, For I care but to pleasure thy fancy.
The sweet things of life are but shadows; The triumphs, the honors, what are they But dreams that are idle and last not Though clothed in a semblance of being? And so great is the truth that I utter, I pray thee to answer this question.
Cihuapán, the valiant, where is he, And Quauhtzintecomtzin, the mighty, The great Cohuahuatzin, where are they? They are dead, and have left us no token, Save their names, and the fame of their valor; They are gone from this world to another.
I would that those living in friendship, Whom the thread of strong love doth encircle, Could see the sharp sword of the Death-god. For, verily, pleasure is fleeting, All sweetness must change in the future, The good things of life are inconstant.
ODE ON THE TYRANT TEZOZOMOC BY NEZAHUALCOYOTL THE KING.
Give ear unto the lamentation which I, Nezahualcoyotl the King, make within myself for the fate of the Empire, and set forth for an example unto others.
O King, unstable and restless, when thou art dead then shall thy people be overthrown and confounded; thy place shall be no more; the Creator, the All-powerful shall reign.
Who could have thought, having seen the palaces and the court, the glory and the power of the old King Tezozomoc, that these things could have an end? Yet have they withered and perished. Verily, life giveth naught but disappointment and vexation; all that is, weareth out and passeth away.
Who will not be sorrowful at the remembrance of the ancient splendor of this tyrant, this withered old man; who, like a thirsty willow, nourished by the moisture of his ambition and avarice, lorded it over the lowly meadows and flowery fields while spring-time lasted, but at length, dried up and decayed, the storms of winter tore him up by the roots and scattered him in pieces upon the ground.
But now, with this mournful song, I bring to mind the things that flourish for an hour, and present, in the fate of Tezozomoc, an example of the brevity of human greatness. Who, that listens to me, can refrain from weeping? Verily, the enjoyments and pleasures of life are as a bouquet of flowers, that is passed from hand to hand until it fades, withers, and is dead.
Hearken unto me, ye sons of kings and of princes, take good heed and ponder the theme of my mournful song, the things that flourish for an hour, and the end of the King Tezozomoc. Who is he, I say again, that can hear me and not weep? Verily, the enjoyments and pleasures of life are as a handful of flowers, blooming for a space, but soon withered and dead.
Let the joyous birds sing on and rejoice in the beauty of spring, and the butterflies enjoy the honey and perfume of the flowers, for life is as a tender plant that is plucked and withereth away.
Granados tells us that Nezahualcoyotl's poems were all in iambic verse, resembling in style the works of Manilius, Seneca, Pomponius, Euripides, and Lilius. In one of his songs he compared the shortness of life and of its pleasures with the fleeting bloom of a flower, so pathetically as to draw tears from the audience, as Clavigero relates. Ixtlilxochitl narrates that a prisoner condemned to death obtained pardon by reciting a poem before the king. There is not much evidence that verses were ever written in rhyme, but the authors say that due attention was paid to cadence and metre, and that some unmeaning syllables were added to certain lines to accommodate the measure. By their system of combination a single word often sufficed for a line in the longest measure. Many of their poetical compositions were intended for the dramatic representations which have been spoken of elsewhere.[615]
[Sidenote: AZTEC ARITHMETICAL SYSTEM.]
The Nahua system of numeration was very simple and comprehensive, there being no limit to the numbers that could be expressed by it. The following table will give a clear idea of the method as employed by the Aztecs:
One, ce, or cen. Two, ome. Three, yey, or ei. Four, nahui. Five, macuilli,--signifying the 'clenched hand,' one finger having been originally doubled, as is supposed, for each unit in counting from one to five. Six, chico a ce. Seven, chic ome. Eight, chico ey. Nine, chico nahui,--These names from six to nine are simply those from one to four, with a prefix whose meaning is not altogether clear, but which is said to be composed of chico, 'at one side,' and ihuan or huan, meaning 'near another,' 'with,' or simply 'and.' These names may consequently be interpreted perhaps, 'one side (or hand) with one,' 'one hand with two,' etc., or one two, etc., 'with the other side.' Ten, matlactli--that is the upper part of the body, or all the fingers of the hands. Eleven, matlactli oc ce, ten and one. Twelve, matlactli om ome, ten and two. Thirteen, matlactli om ey, ten and three. Fourteen, matlactli o nahui, ten and four. In these names oc, om, o, or on as Molina gives it, seems to be used as a connective particle, equivalent to 'and,' but I am not acquainted with its derivation. Fifteen, caxtolli, a word to which the authorities give no derivative meaning. Sixteen, caxtolli oc ce, fifteen and one, etc. Twenty, cem pohualli, once twenty. The word pohualli means 'a count,' the number twenty being in a sense the foundation of the whole numerical system. Twenty-one, cem pohualli oc ce, once twenty and one, etc. Thirty, cem pohualli, ihuan (or om as Molina has it) matlactli, once twenty and ten. Thirty-five, cem pohualli ihuan (or on) caxtolli, once twenty and fifteen, etc. Forty, ome pohualli, twice twenty, etc. One hundred, macuil pohualli, five times twenty. Two hundred, matlactli pohualli, ten times twenty. Four hundred, cen tzontli, once four hundred, 'the hair of the head.' Eight hundred, ome tzontli, twice four hundred. One thousand, ome tzontli ihuan matlactli pohualli, twice four hundred and ten times twenty. Eight thousand, xiquipilli, a purse or sack, already mentioned as containing eight thousand cacao-nibs. Sixteen thousand, ome xiquipilli, twice eight thousand.
It will be seen from the table that the only numbers having simple names are one, two, three, four, five, ten, fifteen, twenty, four hundred, and eight thousand; all the rest are compounds of these constructed on the principle that when the smaller number follows the larger the sum of the two is expressed, but when the smaller precedes the larger, their product is indicated. Molina and Leon y Gama are the chief authorities on the Nahua arithmetical system. All the writers agree perfectly respecting its details, but differ considerably in orthography. Molina writes each compound name together as a single word, while Gama often separates a word into its parts as I have done in every case, following his spelling.
[Sidenote: SYSTEM OF NUMERATION.]
The manner in which the numbers were written was as simple as the system itself. A point or small circle indicated a unit, and these points sufficed for the numbers from one to nineteen. Twenty was indicated by a flag, four hundred by a feather, and eight thousand by a purse. One character placed above another indicated that the product was to be taken; for instance, 160,000 might be expressed either by twenty purses, or by a flag over a purse. To avoid the excessive use of the unit points in writing large and fractional numbers, each flag, feather, and purse was divided into four quarters, and only those quarters which were colored were to be counted. Thus five might be expressed by five points or by a flag with but one quarter colored; three hundred and fifty-six would be indicated by a feather with three quarters colored, two complete flags, three quarters of another flag, and one point.
We have seen that twenties were used, much as dozens are by us, as the foundation of all numeration, but strangely enough these twenties took different names in counting different classes of articles. The regular name, as given in the table, is pohualli; in counting sheets of paper, tortillas, small skins, and other thin objects capable of being packed one above another in small parcels, each twenty was called pilli; in counting cloths and other articles usually formed into large rolls, quimilli was the name applied to twenty; and in counting persons, lines, walls, and other things ranged in order, the term tecpantli was sometimes employed. In reckoning birds, eggs, fruits, seeds, and round or plump objects, generally tetl, 'a stone,' was affixed to each one of the numerals in the table; pantli was in the same way added for objects arranged in regular order, and also for surface measurements; tlamantli likewise was joined to the numerals for articles sold in pairs or sets, as shoes, dishes, etc.; while ears of corn, cacao in bunches, and other bulky articles required the termination olotl.
Among all the Nahua nations, so far as known, the arithmetical system was practically the same, and was essentially decimal. Nearly all gave great prominence to the number twenty; the Huastec language had simple names for the numbers from one to ten, twenty, and one thousand; the Otomí approached still nearer our modern system by making one hundred also one of its fundamental numbers with an uncompounded name as well as a compounded one.[616]
Astrology, soothsaying, the interpretation of dreams, and of auguries such as the flight or song of birds, the sudden meeting of wild animals, or the occurrence of other unlooked-for events, were regarded by the Nahuas as of the greatest importance, and the practice of such arts was entrusted to the tonalpouhqui, 'those who count by the sun,' a class of men held in high esteem, to whom was attributed a perfect knowledge of future events. We have seen that no undertaking, public or private, of any importance, could be engaged in except under a suitable and propitious sign, and to determine this sign the tonalpouhqui was appealed to. The science of astrology was written down in books kept with great secrecy and mystery, altogether unintelligible to the common crowd, whose good or bad fortune was therein supposed to be painted. The details of the methods employed in the mysterious rites of divination are nowhere recorded, and the continual mention of the seer's services throughout the chapters of this and the following volume render this paragraph on the subject sufficient here.
[Sidenote: AUTHORITIES ON NAHUA ARTS.]
In addition to the miscellaneous arts described in the preceding pages, separate chapters will be devoted to the Nahua calendar, hieroglyphics, architecture, and medicine.[617]
FOOTNOTES:
[584] 'Tambien las minas de plata y oro, cobre, plomo, oropel natural, estaño y otros metales, que todos los sacaron, labraron, y dejaron señales y memoria.' Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., lib. x., pp. 110-11. To obtain gold 'se metian al fondo del agua y sacaban las manos llenas de arena, para buscar luego en ella los granos, los que se guardaban en la boca.' Diaz, Itinerario, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 299. In Michoacan 'trabajaban minas de cobre.' Beaumont, Crón. Mechoacan, MS., p. 48. 'The traces of their labors furnished the best indications for the early Spanish miners.' Prescott's Mex., vol. i., pp. 138-9; Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., pp. 99-100; Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., p. 198 et seq.Return to passage
[585] 'Whether a man desire the rude mettall, or to haue it molten, or beaten out, and cunningly made into any kinde of Iewell, hee shall find them ready wrought.' Peter Martyr, dec. v., lib. iv. Gomara and Gama state that they mixed gold and silver, as well as tin, with copper, for the manufacture of gimlets, axes, and chisels. Conq. Mex., fol. 318; Dos Piedras, pt ii., p. 26. Clavigero states that in Zacatollan two kinds of copper were found, hard and soft, so that there was no need of any hardening process. Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. iv., pp. 210-11.Return to passage
[586] 'Porras claveteadas de hierro, cobre y oro.' Ixtlilxochitl, Relaciones, in Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 332. 'Nous avons eu entre les mains de beaux outils de cuivre rosette.' Viollet-le-Duc, in Charnay, Ruines Amér., pp. 86-7. 'Hazen muchas cosas, como los mejores caldereros del mundo.' Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iii., cap. ix. Some had plates and other vessels of tin. Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., p. 465. 'Contuttociò si sa, che lavoravano bene il rame, e che piacquero assai agli Spagnuoli lo loro scuri, e le loro picche.' Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 196. Peter Martyr speaks of large copper stands or candlesticks which supported pine torches to light the courts of the better houses. Dec. v., tom. x. 'Il existait de si grands vases d'argent qu'un homme pouvait à peine les entourer de ses bras.' Baril, Mexique, p. 209; Brownell's Ind. Races, p. 94; Edinburgh Review, July 1867.Return to passage
[587] 'Todo variadizo, que en nuestra España los grandes Plateros tienen que mirar en ello.' Bernal Diaz, Hist. Conq., fol. 69. 'Los Plateros de Madrid, viendo algunas Piezas, Brazaletes de oro, con que se armaban en guerra los Reyes, y Capitanes Indianos, confessaron que eran inimitables en Europa.' Boturini, Idea, p. 78. 'Non sarebbero verisimili le maraviglie di cotal arte, se oltre alla testimonianza di quanti le videro, non fossero state mandate in Europa in gran copia sì fatte rarità.' 'Finalmente erano tali sì fatte opere, che anche que' Soldati spagnuoli, che si sentivano travagliati dalla sacra fame dell'oro, pregiavano in esse più l'arte, che la materia.' Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 195-6.Return to passage
[588] Cortés, Cartas, pp. 109, 100-1. In the collection of Nezahualcoyotzin 'no faltava alli ave, pez ni animal de toda esta tierra, que no estuvìese vivo, ó hecho figura y talle, en piedras de oro y pedrería.' Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., in Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 244. 'There is no fourefooted beast, no foule, no fyshe, which their Artificers have once seene, but they are able to drawe, and cutte in mettall the likenesse and proportion thereof, euen to the lyfe.' Peter Martyr, dec. v., lib. x., iv. Eight gold shrimps of much perfection. Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., p. 285; Pimentel, Mem. sobre la Raza Indígena, p. 56.Return to passage
[589] 'Sacan un ave, como un papagayo que se le anda la lengua como si vivo la menease y tambien la cabeza y las alas. Un rostro de aguila lo mismo, una rana, y un pescado, señalada muchas escamas una de plata y otra de oro, todo de vaciado, que espanta à todos nuestros oficiales.' Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. lxiii. 'Funden vna mona, que juegue pies y cabeça, y tenga en las manos vn huso, que parezca que hila, o vna mançana, que come. Esto tuuieron a mucho nuestros Españoles, y los plateros de aca no alcançan el primor.' Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 117. 'Y lo que mas es, que sacaban de la fundicion vna pieça, la mitad de Oro, y la mitad de Plata.' Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 487; Vetancvrt, Teatro Mex., pt ii., p. 59; Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., pp. 403-7. 'Sacauan al mercado los oficiales deste arte, platos, ochauados de vn quarto de oro, y otro de plata, no soldados, sino fundidos, y en la fundicion pegado, cosa dificultosa de entender. Sacauan vna caldereta de plata, con excelentes labores, y su assa de vna fundicion, y lo que era de marauillar que la asa estaua suelta.' Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. vii., cap. xv.Return to passage
[590] 'Acaeciales á los principios estar un indio envuelto en una manta que no se le parecian si no los ojos, como ellos se ponen no muy cerca de una tienda de algun platero de los nuestros disimuladamente, como no pretendia mirar nada y el platero estar labrando de oro y de plata alguna joya ó pieza de mucho artificio y muy delicada, y de solo verle hacer alguna parte della irse á su casa y hacello tanto y mas perfecto y traello desde á poco en la mano para lo vender.' Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. lxiii. Zuazo, however, pronounces some of the native work inferior to the European. 'Yo vi algunas piezas y no me parecieron tan primamente labradas como las nuestras.' Carta, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 362.Return to passage
[591] Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. iv., p. 211; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. i., p. 520.Return to passage
[592] 'Vna rueda de hechura de Sol, tan grande como de vna carreta, con muchas labores, todo de oro muy fino, gran obra de mirar; ... otra mayor rueda de plata, figurada la Luna, con muchos resplandores, y otras figuras en ella.' Bernal Diaz, Hist. Conq., fol. 26-7. 'Espejos hechos de Margajita, que es vn metal hermosissimo, como plata muy resplandeciente y estos grandes como vn puño redondos como vna bola, engastados en oro.' Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. v., cap. v. 'Doze zebratanas de fusta y plata, con que solia el tirar. Las unas pintadas y matizadas de aves, animales, rosas, flores, yarboles.... Las otras eran variadas, y sinzeladas con mas primor y sotileza que la pintura.' Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 135-6, 42; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., p. 259; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. cxxxii.Return to passage
[593] 'Vnas fundidas, otras labradas de Piedra.' Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 557; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. vii., cap. xv. 'Y lo que mas las hace admirables, es que las obran y labran con solo fuego y con una piedra ó pedernal.' Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. lxiii. Hammered work inferior to that of European artisans. Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 196. 'Los oficiales que labran oro son de dos maneras, unos de ellos se llaman martilladores ó amajadores, porque estos labran oro de martillo majándolo con piedras ó con martillos, para hacerlo delgado como papel: otros se llaman tlatlaliani, que quiere decir, que asientan el oro ó alguna cosa en él, ó en la plata, estos son verdaderos oficiales ó por otro nombre se llaman tulteca; pero están divididos en dos partes, porque labran el oro cada uno de su manera.' Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. ix., p. 387, et seq. For pictures of furnaces and of some manufactured articles from the hieroglyphic MSS., see Ewbank, in Schoolcraft's Arch., vol. iv., p. 448, et seq. 'They cast, also, vessels of gold and silver, carving them with their metallic chisels in a very delicate manner.' Prescott's Mex., vol. i., pp. 139-40.Return to passage
[594] 'Siéntanse en el suelo y toman un pedazo de aquella piedra negra.... Aquel pedazo que toman es de un palmo ó poco mas largo, y de grueso como la pierna ó poco menos, y rollizo. Tienen un palo del grueso de una lanza y largo como tres codos ó poco mas, y al principio de este palo ponen pegado y bien atado un trozo de palo de un palmo, grueso como el molledo del brazo, y algo mas, y este tiene su frente llana y tajada, y sirve este trozo para que pese mas aquella parte. Juntan ambos piés descalzos, y con ellos aprietan la piedra con el pecho, y con ambas las manos toman el palo que dije era como vara de lanza (que tambien es llano y tajado) y pónenlo á besar con el canto de la frente de la piedra (que tambien es llana y tajada), y entonces aprietan hácia el pecho, y luego salta de la piedra una navaja con su punta y sus filos de ambas partes.' Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., p. 406; repeated in nearly the same words in Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 489-90; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. lxii., lxvi; Vetancvrt, Teatro Mex., pt ii., p. 60.Return to passage
[595] Tylor's Researches, p. 194. 'Tienen lancetas de azabache negro, y vnas nauajas de axeme, hechas como puñal, mas gordas en medio que á los filos, con que se jassan y sangran de la lengua, braços, y piernas.' Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 324-5; Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., p. 491.Return to passage
[596] Lenoir, Parallèle, pp. 64-5. 'In the beginning of this so rare inuention, I gotte one of them, which Christophorus Colonus, Admirall of the Sea gaue mee. This stone was of a greene darkishe colour, fastened in most firme and harde woode, which was the handle or helue thereof. I stroke with all my force vpon Iron barres and dented the Iron with my strokes without spoyling or hurting of the stone in any part thereof. With these stones therefore they make their instruments, for hewing of stone, or cutting of timber, or any workemanship in gold or siluer.' Peter Martyr, dec. v., lib. iv.Return to passage
[597] Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 231.Return to passage
[598] Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. lxii. See note 9 of this chapter.Return to passage
[599] 'Sculptured images were so numerous, that the foundations of the cathedral in the plaza mayor, the great square of Mexico, are said to be entirely composed of them.' Prescott's Mex., vol. i., pp. 140-1. Two statues in likeness of Montezuma and his brother cut in the cliff at Chapultepec. Duran, Hist. Indias, MS., tom. i., cap. iii. The idols destroyed by Cortés 'eran de manera de dragones espantables, tan grandes como becerros, y otras figuras de manera de medio hombre, y de perros grandes, y de malas semejanças.' Bernal Diaz, Hist. Conq., fol. 35. 'Sapevano esprimere nelle loro statue tutti gli atteggiamenti, e positure, di cui è capace il corpo, osservavano esattamente le proporzioni, e facevano, dove si richiedeva, i più minuti, e dilicati intaglj.' Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 195. 'Habia entre ellos grandes escultores de cantería, que labraban cuanto querian en piedra, con guijarros ó pedernales, tan prima y curiosamente como en nuestra Castilla los muy buenos oficiales con escodas y picos de acero.' Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., p. 403; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 486-8. Portrait-statues of the Tezcucan kings. Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., in Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 264; Id., Relaciones, p. 440. Statues of Montezuma and brother. Bustamante, in Cavo, Tres Siglos, tom. iii., p. 49.Return to passage
[600] 'Gli smeraldi erano tanto comuni, che non v'era Signore, che non ne avesse.' Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 206-7. 'Esmaltan assi mesmo, engastan y labran esmeraldas, turquesas, y otras piedras, y agujeran perlas pero no tambien como por aca.' Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 117. 'Ambar, cristal, y las piedras llamadas amatista perlas, y todo género de ellas, y demas que traían por joyas que ahora se usan.' Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., lib. x., pp. 109-11, 117-18. 'Un encalado muy pulido, que era de ver, y piedras de que estaban hechas, tambien labradas y pegadas, que parecia ser cosa de musaico.' Id., p. 107. Shields adorned with 'perlas menudas como aljofar, y no se puede dezir su artificio, lindeza, y hermosura.' Sandals having 'por suelas vna piedra blanca y azul, cosa preciosa y muy delgada.' Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. v., cap. v. Guariques of blue stones set in gold; a stone face surrounded with gold; a string of stone beads. 'Dos mascaras de piedras menudas, como turquesas, sentadas sobre madera de otra musáyca.' Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. i., pp. 526-8, tom. iii., pp. 285, 305. Idol covered with mosaic work of mother of pearl, turquoises, emeralds, and chalcedonies. Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. cxxxii. 'Excellent glasses may bee made thereof by smoothing and polishing them, so that we all confessed that none of ours did better shewe the naturall and liuely face of a manne.' Peter Martyr, dec. v., lib. x. 'Ils avaient des masques garnis de pierres précieuses, représentant des lions, des tigres, des ours, etc.' Camargo, Hist. Tlax., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcviii., p. 133. Emerald altar to the Miztec god. Burgoa, Geog. Descrip., tom. i., pt ii., fol. 156. 'Y lo de las piedras, que no basta juicio á comprehender con qué instrumentos se hiciese tan perfecto.' Cortés, Cartas, p. 109.Return to passage
[601] Huitzilopochtli's idol 'era vna estatua de madera entretallada en semejança de vn hombre sentado en vn escaño azul.' Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., p. 324. Large chests 'hechas de madera con sus tapaderas que se abren y cierran con unos colgadizos.' Zuazo, Carta, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., pp. 361-2. 'I Falegnami lavoravano bene parecchie spezie di legni co'loro strumenti di rame, d' quali se ne vedono alcuni anche oggidì.' Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 207, 194-5. 'Los carpinteros y entalladores labraban la madera con instrumentos de cobre, pero no se daban á labrar cosas curiosas como los canteros.' Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., p. 403. 'Labravan lazos, y animales tan curiosos que causaron admiracion à los primeros Españoles.' Vetancvrt, Teatro Mex., pt ii., p. 59. 'With their Copper Hatchets, and Axes, cunnyngly tempered, they fell those trees, and hewe them smooth, taking away the chyppes, that they may more easily be drawne. They haue also certayne hearbes, with the which, in steed of broome, and hempe, they make ropes, cordes, and cables: and boaring a hole in one of the edges of the beame, they fasten the rope, then sette their slaues vnto it, like yoakes of oxen, and lastly insteede of wheels, putting round blocks vnder the timber, whether it be to be drawn steepe vp, or directly downe the hill, the matter is performed by the neckes of the slaues, the carpenters onely directing the carriage.' Peter Martyr, dec. v., lib. x. 'Hazen caxas, escritorios, mesas, escriuanias, y otras cosas de mucho primor.' Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iii., cap. ix. 'They made cups and vases of a lackered or painted wood, impervious to wet and gaudily colored.' Prescott's Mex., vol. i., p. 143.Return to passage
[602] Molina, Diccionario, says, however that, the tecomatl was an earthen vase. See also p. 458 of this volume.Return to passage
[603] 'Siete sartas de quentas menudas de barro, redondas y doradas muy bien.' Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. i., pp. 526, 533. 'I Pentolai facevano d'argilla non solo gli stoviglj necessarj per l'uso delle case, ma eziandío altri lavori di mera curiosità.' Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 207, tom. iv., pp. 211-2. 'La loza tan hermosa, y delicada como la de Faenza en Italia.' Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. vii., cap. ii., vii. 'Los incensarios con que incensaban eran de barro, à manera de cuchara, cuio remate era hueco, y dentro tenían metidas pelotillas del mismo barro, que sonaban como cascaveles, à los golpes del Incienso, como suenan las cadenas de nuestros incensarios.' Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 264. The jicara was of gold, silver, gourd-shells, or fish-shells. 'Aunque estèn cien Años en el Agua, nunca la pintura se les borra.' Id., p. 488. 'Para coger la sangre tienen escudillas de calabaça.' Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 324-5. 'Many sorts also of earthen vessels are sold there, as water pots, greate iuggs, chargers, gobblets, dishes, colenders, basens, frying pans, porringers, pitchers.' Peter Martyr, dec. v., lib. iv. 'Vasos que llaman xicalli, y tecomatl, que son de vnos arboles, que se dan en tierras calientes.' 'À estas les dan vn barniz con flores, y animales de diversos colores, hermoseadas, que no se quita, ni se despinta aunque estè en el agua muchos días.' Vetancvrt, Teatro Mex., pt ii., p. 60.Return to passage
[604] 'Non aveano lana, nè seta comune, nè lino, nè canapa; ma supplivano alla lana col cotone, alla seta colla piuma, e col pelo del coniglio, e della lepre, ed al lino, ed alla canapa coll' Icxotl, o palma montana, col Quetzalichtli, col Pati, e con altre spezie di Maguei.' Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 207-8, 210. 'En todo el mundo no se podia hacer ni tejer otra tal, ni de tantas ni tan diversas y naturales colores ni labores.' Cortés, Cartas, p. 101. 'Una Vestidura del Gran Sacerdote Achcauhquitlinamacàni se embiò à Roma en tiempo de la Conquista, que dexò pasmada aquella Corte.' Boturini, Idea, p. 77. The Olmecs used the hair of dogs and other animals. Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. i., pp. 154, 252-3. 'Incredible matters of Cotton, housholde-stuffe, tapestry or arras hangings, garments, and couerlets.' Peter Martyr, dec. v., lib. iii. Humboldt states that silk made by a species of indigenous worms was an article of commerce among the Miztecs, in the time of Montezuma. Essai Pol., tom. ii., p. 454. 'Hilan teniendo el copo en vna mano, y el huso en otra. Tuercen al reues que aca, estando el huso en vna escudilla. No tiene hueca el huso, mas hilan a prissa y no mal.' Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 318.Return to passage
[605] Humboldt, Essai Pol., tom. ii., pp. 454-5. Maguey-paper 'resembling somewhat the Egyptian papyrus.' Prescott's Mex., vol. i., pp. 99-100. Some paper of palm-leaf, as thin and soft as silk. Boturini, Catálogo, in Id., Idea, pp. 95-6. Native paper called cauhamatl. Tezozomoc, Crónica Mex., in Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., tom. ix., p. 65. They made paper of a certain species of aloe, steeped together like hemp, and afterwards washed, stretched, and smoothed; also of the palm icxotl, and thin barks united and prepared with a certain gum. Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 189, tom. iv., p. 239. Torquemada speaks of a sheet 20 fathoms long, one wide, and as thick as the finger. Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 263.Return to passage
[606] 'Habia oficiales de curtir cueros y muchos de adovarlos maravillosamente.' Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. lxii. 'Cueros de Venado, Tigres, y leones ... con pelo, y sin pelo, de todos colores.' Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 488. 'Tan suaves que de ellos se vestian, y sacaban correas.' Vetancvrt, Teatro Mex., pt ii., p. 60; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., lib. x., p. 118. Cortés found the skins of some of his horses slain in battle 'tan bien adobados como en todo el mundo lo pudieran hacer.' Cartas, p. 183. Red skins resembling parchment. Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. i., p. 526. 'No se puede bien dezir su hermosura, y hechura.' Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. v., cap. v. 'Los tarascos curtian perfectamente las pieles de los animales.' Payno, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, 2da época, tom. i., p. 721. 'Des tapis de cuir maroquinés avec la dernière perfection.' Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 271.Return to passage
[607] Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 189-90; Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., pp. 652-3. Method of raising cochineal. Id., pp. 625-6. 'En parcourant le palais de Montézuma les Castillans furent très-étonnés d'y voir des sacs de punaises dont on se servait à teindre et même à badigeonner les murs.' Rosny, in Comité d'Arch. Amér., 1866-7, pp. 15-16. See p. 235 of this volume. They possessed the art of dyeing a fabric without impairing its strength, an art unknown to Europeans of the 18th century. Carli, Cartas, pt ii., pp. 95-7.Return to passage
[608] 'Y pintores ha habido entre ellos tan señalados, que sobre muchos de los señalados donde quiera que se hallasen se podian señalar.' Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. lxii. The same author speaks of their skill in reducing or enlarging drawings. 'Havia Pintores buenos, que retrataban al natural, en especial Aves, Animales, Arboles, Flores, y Verduras, y otras semejantes, que vsaban pintar, en los aposentos de los Reies, y Señores; pero formas humanas, asi como rostros, y cuerpos de Hombres, y Mugeres, no los pintaban al natural.' Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 487, tom. i., p. 388; Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., p. 404. 'Dans leur grotesque et leur raccourci, on trouve encore cependant une délicatesse de pinceau, fort remarquable, une pureté et une finesse dans les esquisses, qu'on ne saurait s'empêcher d'admirer; on voit, d'ailleurs, un grand nombre de portraits de rois et de princes, qui sont évidemment faits d'après nature.' Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., pp. 653-4. 'Wee sawe a Mappe of those countreyes 30. foote long, and little lesse in breadth, made of white cotton, wouen: wherein the whole playne was at large described.' Peter Martyr, dec. v., lib. x., iii., v.Return to passage
[609] 'La Natura ad essi somministrava quanti colori fa adoperar l'Arte, e alcuni ancora, que essa non è capace d'imitare.' The specimens made after the conquest were very inferior. Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 197-9. 'Hazense las mejores ymagines de pluma en la prouincia de Mechoacan en el pueblo de Pascaro.' Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., p. 285. 'Vi ciertos follajes, pájaros, mariposas, abejones sobre unas varas temblantes, negras é tan delgadas, que apenas se veian, é de tal manera que realmente se hacian vivas á los que las miraban un poquito de lejos: todo lo demas que estaba cerca de las dichas mariposas, pájaros é abejones correspondia naturalmente á boscajes de yerbas, ramos é flores de diversas colores é formas.' Zuazo, Carta, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 360. 'Figuras, y imagenes de Principes, y de sus idolos, tan vistosas, y tan acertadas, que hazian ventaja a las pinturas Castellanas.' Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. vii., cap. xv. 'Muchas cosas de Pluma, como Aves, Animales, Hombres, y otras cosas mui delicadas, Capas, y Mantas para cubrirse, y vestiduras para los Sacerdotes de sus Templos, Coronas, Mitras, Rodelas, y Mosqueadores.' Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 488-9; Vetancvrt, Teatro Mex., pt ii., p. 59; Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., pp. 405-6; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. lxii. 'Acontece les no comer en todo vn dia, poniendo, quitando y assentando la pluma, y mirando à una parte, y à otra, al sol, a la sombra,' etc. Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 116-17. Mention of the birds which furnished bright-colored feathers. Bernal Diaz, Hist. Conq., fol. 68-9. 'Ils en faisaient des rondaches et d'autres insignes, compris sous le nom d' "Apanecayotl," dont rien n'approchait pour la richesse et le fini.' Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 285; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., lib. x., p. 109. Mention of some specimens preserved in Europe. Klemm, Cultur-Geschichte, tom. v., p. 30.Return to passage
[610] Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. ix., pp. 392-6.Return to passage
[611] Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 489; Vetancvrt, Teatro Mex., pt ii., p. 59; Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., p. 405; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. l.Return to passage
[612] Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., pp. 201-3; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 147; Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., in Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., tom. ix., p. 244.Return to passage
[613] 'Avvegnachè i lor più celebri Aringatori non sieno da paragonarsi cogli Oratori delle Nazioni culte dell'Europa, non può peraltro negarsi, che i loro ragionamenti non fossero gravi, sodi, ed eleganti, come si scorge dagli avanzi che ci restano della loro eloquenza.' Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 174-5. 'Les raisonnements y sont graves, les arguments solides, et pleins d'élégance.' Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii, p. 672; Prescott's Mex., vol. i., pp. 172-3. Montezuma's speech to Cortés, in Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., pp. 285-6. 'The Spaniards have given us many fine polished Indian orations, but they were certainly fabricated at Madrid.' Adair, Amer. Ind., p. 202.Return to passage
[614] Four poems or fragments are given in Spanish, in Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. viii., pp. 110-15. No. 1 has for its subject the tyrant Tezozomoc; No. 2 is an ode on the mutability of life; No. 3 is an ode recited at a feast, comparing the great kings of Anáhuac to precious stones; No. 4 was composed for the dedication of the author's palace and treats of the unsatisfactory nature of earthly honors. Nos. 2 and 3 are also found in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iii., tom. iv., pp. 286-93. No. 2 is given in Prescott's Mex., vol. iii., pp. 425-30, in Spanish and English verse. A French translation of No. 1 is given by Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., pp. 672-4, who also gives an additional specimen from Carochi's grammar, in Aztec and Spanish. Nos. 1, 2, and 4 in French, in Bussierre, L'Empire Mex., pp. 411-17. No. 4 is to be found in Granados y Galvez, Tardes Amer., pp. 90-4. Nos. 1 and 4, in German, in Müller, Reisen, tom. iii., pp. 138-41, where are also two additional odes. No. 2 is also given in German by Klemm, Cultur-Geschichte, tom. v., pp. 146-51.Return to passage
[615] Boturini, Idea, pp. 90-7. The language of their poetry was brilliant, pure, and agreeable, figurative, and embellished with frequent comparisons to the most pleasing objects in nature. Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 174-6. Nezahualcoyotl left sixty hymns composed in honor of the Creator of Heaven. Id., tom. i., pp. 232, 245-7; Pimentel, Mem. sobre la Raza Indígena, pp. 57-9; Prescott's Mex., vol. i., pp. 108, 171-5; Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., pp. 639-40. 'Cantauan lamentaciones, y endechas. Tenian pronosticos, especialmente que se auia de acabar el mundo, y los cantauan lastimosamente: y tambien tenian memoria de sus grandezas, en cantares y pinturas.' Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. vi., cap. xvi.; Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., in Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 275.Return to passage
[616] Molina, Vocabulario; Leon y Gama, Dos Piedras, pt ii., pp. 128-47; Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, 2da época, tom. iv., Sept., 1872; Gallatin, in Amer. Ethno. Soc., Transact., vol. i., pp. 49-57; Pimentel, Mem. sobre la Raza Indígena, pp. 45-7; Prescott's Mex., vol. i., pp. 109-10.Return to passage
[617] My authorities for the matter in this chapter are: Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. ix., pp. 282-337, 387-96, tom. iii., lib. x., pp. 107-12, 117-18, 122, 131, 137; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. l., lxii-lxiii., lxv., cxxi., cxxxii., clxxii., ccxi.; Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., pp. 403-7; Cortés, Cartas, pp. 29-34, 94, 100-1, 109, 183, 192; Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., pp. 198, 285, 324; Vetancvrt, Teatro Mex., pt ii., pp. 59-60; Beaumont, Crón. Mechoacan, MS., pp. 48-50; Boturini, Idea, pp. 77-8, 90-7; Peter Martyr, dec. iv., lib. iv., dec. v., tom. i.-v., x., dec. viii., lib. iv.; Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 39, 42, 60-2, 75, 116-18, 135-6, 318, 324-5, 342-3; Duran, Hist. Indias, MS., tom. i., cap. iii.; Leon y Gama, Dos Piedras, pt ii., pp. 26, 128-47; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., pp. 232, 245-7, tom. ii., pp. 174-8, 189-99, 205-10, 224-8, tom. iv., pp. 210-11, 232, 239; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., pp. 37, 72, 146-7, 168, 228-31, tom. ii., pp. 263, 486-90, 557-8; Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., in Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., pp. 243-4, 264; Id., Relaciones, pp. 327, 332, 440-1, 455; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. v., cap. iv., v., lib. vi., cap. xi., xvi., lib. vii., cap. ii., vii., ix., xv., dec. iii., lib. iii., cap. ix.; Camargo, Hist. Tlax., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcviii., p. 133; Tezozomoc, Crónica Mex., in Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., pp. 17, 41, 46, 49, 64, 171; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. i., pp. 520-1, 526-8, 533, tom. iii., pp. 259, 272, 285-92, 298-300, 305, 464-5, 499; Burgoa, Geog. Descrip., tom. i., pt ii., fol. 156, 160-1; Bernal Diaz, Hist. Conq., fol. 26-7, 68-9; Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. i., pp. 154, 238, 252-3, tom. iii., pp. 201-3, 319; Zuazo, Carta, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., pp. 360-2; Diaz, Itinerario, in Id., p. 299; Relacion de Algunas Cosas, in Id., pp. 378-9; Motolinia, Hist. Indios, in Id., pp. 204, 211; Hernandez, Nova Plant., p. 339; Granados y Galvez, Tardes Amer., pp. 90-4; Prescott's Mex., vol. i., pp. 99-100, 108-10, 138-45, 170-5, vol. iii., pp. 425-30; Ewbank, in Schoolcraft's Arch., vol. iv., pp. 44-56; Müller, Reisen, tom. iii., pp. 125-8, 134; Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., pp. 62, 99-102, 378, 431-2, 498, 588-9, 638-40, 652-3, 657-60, 666-7, 682-3, tom. ii., pp. 60, 69-70, 74, 103-4, 198, 230-1; Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, 2da época, tom. i., p. 721, tom. iv., Sept. 1872; Rosny, in Comité d'Arch. Amér., 1866-7, pp. 15-16; Gallatin, in Amer. Ethno. Soc., Transact., vol. i., pp. 49-57; Tylor's Researches, pp. 165, 194, 201, 267; Id., Anahuac, pp. 95-101, 107-9; Humboldt, Essai Pol., tom. ii., pp. 454, 485; Carli, Cartas, pt ii., pp. 94-7; Lenoir, Parallèle, pp. 48, 56, 62, 64-5; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., pp. 130, 271-2, 285-6, 288, tom. iii., pp. 648-54, 672-4; Id., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1858, tom. clix., pp. 77-85; Pimentel, Mem. sobre la Raza Indígena, pp. 44-7, 54-9; Cavo, Tres Siglos, tom. iii., p. 49; Viollet-le-Duc, in Charnay, Ruines Amér., pp. 86-7; Brownell's Ind. Races, p. 94; Edinburgh Review, July, 1867; Klemm, Cultur-Geschichte, tom. v., pp. 13-20, 24, 26-32, 144-51, 162-3, 181; Baril, Mexique, pp. 209-10; Bussierre, L'Empire Mex., pp. 168-72, 244, 270, 411-17; Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., tom. viii., pp. 110-15; West-Indische Spieghel, pp. 218, 220, 225-6, 238-9, 246, 250-1, 343; Chevalier, Mex., Ancien et Mod., pp. 19, 28, 36-7; Mill's Hist. Mex., p. 150; Heredia y Sarmiento, Sermon, pp. 73, 83; Gage's New Survey, pp. 110-11; Lafond, Voyages, tom. i., pp. 161-2; Touron, Hist. Gén., tom. iii., pp. 142, 146; Fransham's World in Miniature, vol. ii., p. 9; Montanus, Nieuwe Weereld, pp. 221-2; Dapper, Neue Welt, pp. 248-50; Malte-Brun, Précis de la Géog., tom. vi., pp. 435, 456; Dupaix, Rel., 2de Expéd., pp. 25, 28; Soden, Spanier in Peru, tom. ii., pp. 27-9; Wappäus, Geog. u. Stat., p. 47; Monglave, Résumé, pp. 43, 52, 57; Delaporte, Reisen, tom. x., p. 268; Gordon, Hist. and Geog. Mem., p. 76; Helps' Span. Conq., vol. ii., pp. 268-9, 450; Alzate y Ramirez, Mem. sobre Grana., MS.Return to passage