FOOTNOTES
[307] Cortés, Cartas, 62-3. According to Gomara the Indians pursued to the very camp, where they were defeated with great slaughter, after five hours’ fighting. Hist. Mex., 76-7.
[308] Camargo, Hist. Tlax., 146. Duran gives a short speech, delivered in the council-chamber. Hist. Ind., MS., ii. 422-3.
[309] Cortés places the arrival of this embassy on the day following the raiding of the ten towns, Cartas, 63; but Bernal Diaz at a later date. He makes the envoys four in number, and allows them, in returning, to instruct the neighboring settlements to furnish supplies to the Spaniards, all of which Xicotencatl prevents. Hist. Verdad., 47-8, 50, 55.
[310] Bernal Diaz assumes that the lords consult the diviners, and allow a night attack to be made; but then he describes two night attacks, while Cortés and others distinctly allow only one, and he forgets his former admission that, in addition to the peace party, half the army had actually abandoned Xicotencatl. It is after this first night attack, ignored by other writers, that the senate send in their submission, and order Xicotencatl to desist from hostilities. He refuses to obey, and detains the envoys on their way to the Spaniards, whereupon his officers are ordered to desert him. Finally he repents and is forgiven. Hist. Verdad., 46-7. The detention of the envoys must be placed on their return from the Spanish camp, for Cortés distinctly states that the peace proposals from the lords arrived before the night attack.
[311] According to Gomara, Cortés announces that his men are mortal like themselves, which is not very likely. Hist. Mex., 77. Bernal Diaz calls the slaves four old hags, and allows the Indians to act in rather an insulting manner, and without tendering the usual courtesies, which is also unlikely, when we consider that they had an object to gain. Hist. Verdad., 49.
[312] ‘Los mandé tomar á todos cincuenta y cortarles las manos,’ says Cortés, Cartas, 63; but the phrase may be loose, for Bernal Diaz specifies only seventeen as sent back with hands or thumbs cut off. Hist. Verdad., 49. ‘El marques les hizo á algunos de ellos contar (sic pro cortar) las manos.’ Tapia, Rel., in Icazbalceta, Col. Doc., ii. 570. ‘Mandò cortar las manos a siete dellos, y a algunos los dedos pulgares muy contra su voluntad.’ Herrera, dec. ii. lib. vi. cap. viii. Gomara places this occurrence on the 6th of September, but it is most likely later, and makes the spies a different party from those bringing the slaves and feathers, who arrive on the preceding day. Hist. Mex., 77-8. Bernal Diaz accounts for this difference by stating that the party had been in camp since the previous day. Robertson reverses the order by assuming that mutilation of the spies so perplexes the Indians that they send the men with the slaves and feathers to ask whether they are fierce or gentle gods, or men. He does not understand why so many as 50 spies should have been sent, but had he read Cortés’ letter more closely, he would have divined the reason, that they intended to fire the camp, and otherwise aid in the attack. He stigmatizes as barbarous the mutilation, Hist. Am., ii. 42, 451, but forgets, in doing so, that the Spanish conquerors belonged to an age when such deeds were little thought of. Spies even now suffer death, and the above punishment may therefore be regarded as comparatively lenient, particularly by a people who daily tore out the heart from living victims. The mutinous pilot of Villa Rica had his life spared, but lost his feet. Cortés, as the captain of a small band, was obliged to conform to his age and surroundings in the measures taken for its safety.
[313] ‘En yendose las espias, vieron de nuestro real como atrauessaua por vn cerro grandissima muchedumbre de gente, y era la que traya Xicotencatl.’ Gomara, Hist. Mex., 79.
[314] Cortés, Cartas, 63-4; Gomara, Hist. Mex., 78-9; Tapia, Rel., in Icazbalceta, Col. Doc., ii. 569; Herrera, dec. ii. lib. vi. cap. viii. Bernal Diaz describes a night attack with 10,000 warriors, made a few days before, in which the Spaniards drive back the Indians and pursue them, capturing four, while the morning revealed twenty corpses still upon the plain. Two of the diviners appear to have been sacrificed for their bad advice. He now reappears with 20,000 men, but on meeting the mutilated spies he becomes disheartened, and turns back without attempting a blow. Hist. Verdad., 46, 49-50. He is the only authority for two night expeditions. Having already been defeated in one night attack, Xicotencatl would be less likely to attempt a second, particularly since nocturnal movements were contrary to Indian modes of warfare. Cortés distinctly intimates that the present occasion was the first attempt at a night raid. Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., 291.
[315] He begins to suspect that their object may also have been to spy. Cortés was suffering from fever at this time, and one night he took pills, a course which among the Spaniards involved the strictest care and seclusion from affairs. Early in the morning three large bodies of Indians appeared, and regardless of his pills Cortés headed the troops, fighting all day. The following morning, strange to say, the medicine operated as if no second day had intervened. ‘No lo cuẽto por milagro, sino por dezir lo que passo, y que Cortés era muy sufridor de trabajos y males.’ Gomara, Hist. Mex., 80. But Sandoval assumes ‘que sin duda fue milagro.’ Hist. Carlos V., i. 173. Solis applies this story to the night attack, which seems plausible, and smiles philosophically at Sandoval’s conclusion. Hist. Mex., i. 271; Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., 291; Clavigero, Storia Mess., iii. 47-8. ‘Tenia calenturas, ò tercianas.’ Bernal Diaz, Hist. Verdad., 47. Some place the story with the later capture of Tzompantzinco, where it is entirely out of place, if indeed worth recording at all, for this expedition was a voluntary project, calling for no sick men to venture out. Duran relates that, tired of being besieged, Cortés one night made a sally in different directions. One party surprised all the native leaders together and asleep, and brought them to camp. In the morning they were sent back to the army, which had awakened to find them missing. In recognition of their kind treatment the chiefs raised the siege. This is told on the authority of an eye-witness, who evidently reserved his choicest stories for Padre Duran. Hist. Ind., MS., ii. 419-20.
[316] Bernal Diaz places it one league from the camp, and Tapia four leagues. Ixtlilxochitl calls it Tzimpantzinco; others vary.
[317] Gomara, Hist. Mex., 80. Tapia allows the horses to overcome their attack and proceed. It appears to have been due to the cold night winds.
[318] Gomara, Hist. Mex., 80-1. According to Herrera, Alcalde Mayor Grado counselled Cortés, on seeing this populous country, to return to Villa Rica and send to Velazquez for aid. Deeply grieved at such advice, the general remarked that the very stones would rise against them if they retreated, dec. ii. lib. vi. cap. viii.; Cortés, Cartas, 64-5. Bernal Diaz places this raid before the final night attack. Hist. Verdad., 47; Tapia, Rel., in Icazbalceta, Col. Doc., ii. 568-9.
[319] ‘Nos vimos todos heridos â dos, y â tres heridos, y muy cansados, y otros dolientes ... y faltauan ya sobre cincuenta y cinco soldados que se auian muerto en las batallas, y dolencias, y frios, y estauan dolientes otros doze.’ Bernal Diaz, 46. Prescott, i. 458, is careless enough to accept this verbally, but the run of the text here and elsewhere indicates that the sentence is rather figurative. The last four words, ‘twelve others were on the sick-bed,’ indicate that only three per cent. were laid low, and that the general health and condition must therefore have been tolerably good. This also indicates that the 55 missing soldiers could not have died since they left Vera Cruz, as certain writers assume. The only obstacles under which the soldiers could have succumbed in any number were the several battles with the Tlascaltecs, wherein the total number of the wounded nowhere foots up to more than 100. Of these 50 per cent. could not have died, to judge from the warfare engaged in, and from the very few, a couple at the most, it is said, who fell on the field. Nor could diseases have killed many during a month’s march through a fine and fertile country, for the passage of the Cofre de Perote did not affect the Spaniards seriously. Hence it must be assumed that the 55 dead include the 35 who fell out of the ranks ere the army reached Villa Rica. This leaves, say, fifteen casualties for the present expedition since it left Villa Rica, and that appears to be a fair proportion. The only one who rightly interprets Bernal Diaz on this point appears to be Torquemada, who says, ‘desde que salieron de Cuba, se avian muerto cinquenta y cinco Castellanos.’ i. 428. The old soldier confirms the interpretation by stating in more than one place that the Spaniards numbered 450, or nearly so, on entering Mexico City. ubi sup., 65, 109.
[320] Gomara gives a long speech, and intimates that it was delivered before a regular meeting. Hist. Mex., 81-3; Cortés, Cartas, 65; Herrera, dec. ii. lib. vi. cap. ix.; Torquemada, i. 428-9; Tapia, Rel., in Icazbalceta, Col. Doc., ii. 571. Bernal Diaz addresses the speech to the committee, and states that Cortés, on finding them still unconvinced, abandoned the gentle tone he had used, and exclaimed with some asperity that it was better to die like brave men than to live dishonored. The men being appealed to upheld him, and declared that they would listen to no contrary talk. Hist. Verdad., 48-9; Solis, Hist. Mex., i. 259-63.
[321] Surnamed Tlachpanquizqin, it seems. Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., 292; Veytia, Hist. Ant. Méj., iii. 380. Bernal Diaz calls them five leading men.
[322] Nearly every writer states that Montezuma acknowledged himself the vassal of the Spanish king, but it is doubtful whether he stooped so low before a distant enemy. Gomara, Hist. Mex., 79, calls the present 1000 ropas and 1000 castellanos de oro, and Cortés says pesos de oro, which doubtless means dust; but Bernal Diaz terms the latter gold jewels worth that amount. Prescott confounds these presents with a later gift, and assumes without good authority that they came after Xicotencatl had brought in his submission. Gomara on the other hand places their arrival on September 6, which must be altogether too early.
[323] ‘No les quiso dar luego la respuesta, porque estaua purgado del dia antes,’ says Bernal Diaz, in explanation of the delay. Hist. Verdad., 51. Brasseur de Bourbourg, however, lets Cortés declare that the orders of his king oblige him to disregard the wishes of the emperor. But the general was too prudent to give an open rebuff ere he saw how affairs would develop. According to Gomara he wished to detain them to witness his prowess against the Tlascaltecs. Hist. Mex., 79; Herrera, dec. ii. lib. vi. cap. x.
[324] Ixtlilxochitl alone differs by stating that they were headed by Tolinpanecatl Tlacatecuhtli the younger brother of Xicotencatl; but he appears confused.
[325] Solis causes him to be dismissed from the office of captain-general. Hist. Mex., i. 272-3. In Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., ii. 154, is a portrait of him, corresponding fairly to the description.
[326] It is generally accepted that the Tlascaltecs submitted as vassals. Yet it is just as likely that they merely offered their friendship and alliance, a relation which after the conquest was changed into vassalage.
[327] According to Bernal Diaz the Tlascaltecs gave but one present, and that at the capital, but some authors prefer to bring it in here. ‘Le presentó cantidad de alpargatas para el camino.’ Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., 292; Herrera, dec. ii. lib. vi. cap. x.; Gomara, Hist. Mex., 84-5; Cortés, Cartas, 66-7.
[328] Herrera, loc. cit.
[329] ‘Aun acordéme de una autoridad evangélica que dice: Omne regnum in seipsum divisum desolabitur; y con los unos y con los otros maneaba.’ Cortés, Cartas, 70. According to Ixtlilxochitl quite a quarrel sprang up between the Mexican and Tlascalan representatives in the presence of Cortés, attended by an exchange of epithets. Hist. Chich., 292.
[330] Cortés gives only his suspicions of the Tlascaltecs as a reason for the delay, without referring to any communication being sent to Mexico. Cartas, 67. Meanwhile he wrote to Escalante at Villa Rica, informing him of occurrences, and asking for a supply of holy wafers and two bottles of wine, which speedily came. Bernal Diaz, Hist. Verdad., 51.
[331] After an absence of six days, six leading men came from Mexico, who brought, beside the ten pieces of jewelry, 200 pieces of cloth. Bernal Diaz, Hist. Verdad., 52. The envoys who had been sent to Mexico came back on the sixth day with ten beautifully wrought jewels of gold and 1500 pieces of cloth, far richer than the former. Gomara, Hist. Mex., 85-6.
[332] ‘Todos los señores me vinieron á rogar.’ Cortés, Cartas, 67. ‘Vinieron assi mismo todas las cabeçeras y señores de Tlaxcallan a rogarle.’ Gomara, Hist. Mex., 86. Bernal Diaz, Hist. Verdad., 52, names five lords, but the names are very confused, except Xicotencatl and Maxixcatzin, which approach nearer to the usual form. Ixtlilxochitl states that Cortés made it a condition that the lords should come and ask him, whereupon they each select two high representatives to proceed to the camp and escort him to Tlascala. They were guided by the envoys Tolinpanecatl and Costomatl, and brought a few jewels as presents. Hist. Chich., 292-3. Nor does Camargo allow the lords to go to the camp, but Costomatl and Tolinpanecatl are sent. Hist. Tlax., 146.
[333] ‘Tocarõ las manos en el suelo, y besaron la tierra.’ Bernal Diaz, Hist. Verdad., 52.
[334] Camargo, Hist. Tlax., 155. Maxixcatzin is put forward by the Spanish writers as the principal lord, chiefly perhaps because he was the most devoted to the conquerors, but also because his quarter of Ocotelulco was the largest and richest. Camargo and Ixtlilxochitl place Xicotencatl first, and he certainly takes the lead in speaking and in receiving the Spaniards at his palace. His age, which Camargo raises into the hundred, may have had something to do with this, however.
[335] Bernal Diaz, Hist. Verdad., 52, states that he pleaded the want of carriers, which was not very plausible, unless intended as a hint at Tlascaltec hospitality.
[336] Cortés, Cartas, 67.
[337] Now Atoyac.
[338] Cortés proceeds to give an account of articles sold here, which is on a par with his Granada comparison, and accords little with the declared simplicity or poverty of the people. In the temple over 800 persons had been sacrificed during some years. Peter Martyr, dec. v. cap. ii.
[339] Gomara, Hist. Mex., 87-8; Herrera, dec. ii. lib. vi. caps. v. xii. xiii.; Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., ii. 162; Las Casas, Hist. Apolog., MS., 13-14.
[340] Bernal Diaz, Hist. Verdad., 52. Gomara, followed by Herrera, says the 18th.
[341] ‘Se quitó la gorra y les hizo una muy grande y humilde reverencia, y luego abrazó á Xicotencatl,’ says Ixtlilxochitl, with an exactness which is doubtless intended to impress the ruder Spanish population of his day. Hist. Chich., 293. Camargo also describes ceremonies with some detail, Hist. Tlax., 147, and Duran, Hist. Ind., MS., ii. 425-7.
[342] Gomara, Hist. Mex., 86. Camargo and Ixtlilxochitl quarter the Spaniards in the palace. ‘Á las casas reales.’ Sahagun, Hist. Conq., 17.
[343] Camargo, Hist. Tlax., 150; Bernal Diaz, Hist. Verdad., 52.
[344] Camargo calls it a rich present.
[345] Bernal Diaz, Hist. Verdad., 53.
[346] According to the somewhat mixed account of Bernal Diaz, Xicotencatl offers his daughter at once to Cortés, who accepts, and thereupon urges Padre Olmedo to begin a raid against idolatry. The latter tells him to wait till the daughters are brought. They are introduced on the following day, five in number, and Xicotencatl joins the hands of the general with the one intended for him. He accepts her, but declares that she and her companions must remain with their parents till conversion is consummated. Finally the daughter is transferred to Alvarado.
[347] A not uncommon practice in Mexico, carried out in the same manner as among the Romans. See Native Races, iii., passim.
[348] Portrait in Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., ii. 165, and Zamacois, Hist. Méj., ii. 514.
[349] ‘En aquel templo adonde estaua aposentado, se hiziesse vn capilla.’ Herrera, dec. ii. lib. vi. cap. xv. A new temple near by was set aside for this. Bernal Diaz, Hist. Verdad., 54. ‘Hizo la sala principal de Xicotencatl Oratorio.’ Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., 294. ‘Hizo una iglesia en una casa de un ídolo principal.’ Tapia, Rel., in Icazbalceta, Col. Doc., ii. 572-3. This author does not intimate that Cortés sought to force conversion, Bernal Diaz alone being responsible for the statement, though Herrera adopts it. Eager to remove the reproach of infidelity from his people, Camargo relates that Cortés insisted on the renunciation of idolatry, and that the chiefs finally yielded, while placing upon him the responsibility of removing the images. When the iconoclasm began, the people hastened to hide their cherished idols, which they long worshipped in secret, although accepting baptism. Hist. Tlax., 150-8. In a hieroglyphic painting still possessed by the cabildo, says Ixtlilxochitl, it is shown that the lords were at this time baptized. He gives their new names. Hist. Chich., 294.
[350] ‘Durò tres, ó quatro años.’ Remesal, Hist. Chyapa, 304; Dávila, Teatro Ecles., i. 78; Camargo, Hist. Tlax., 140; Herrera, dec. ii. lib. vi. cap. xv. Solis dwells upon the spiritual effect of the miracle, which occurred immediately after the departure from Tlascala. Hist. Mex., i. 324-5. Torquemada devotes a whole chapter to it, and states that the first cross was raised by unseen hands the night after the arrival of the Spaniards in the city. The high-priest placed over it a guard, who was surprised by a celestial light which appeared at midnight and drove out the demon from the temple, iii. 200-3.
[351] ‘Lo primero que mandaua nuestro Capitan era quebralles las tales carceles, y echar fuera los prisioneros.’ Bernal Diaz, Hist. Verdad., 55.
[352] In order to obtain by them a race of heroes. Most writers, following Bernal Diaz and the less explicit chroniclers, allow Xicotencatl to give only one daughter, but Ixtlilxochitl names two, Hist. Chich., 294. and Juarros, in his biography of the Alvarados, enumerates their different wives, and among them the two sisters, with their full names and their descendants. Pedro de Alvarado’s only surviving issue, he says, was a daughter Leonor, by Luisa, who married first Pedro Puertocarrero and afterward Francisco de la Cueva, nephew of the Duke of Alburquerque. The other sister also left a daughter. Hist. Guat., 347-8. Bernal Diaz mentions also a son, Pedro, by Luisa. Hist. Verdad., 54; Clavigero, Storia Mess., iii. 54. According to Camargo, 300 young and pretty slave girls, destined for the sacrifices, were the first women offered. They were at first declined, but finally accepted for the suite of Marina. Finding that they were well treated, the lords offered their own daughters in marriage. Hist. Tlax., 148-50. A number of women were added to the suite of Marina and of the new wives, from the first families in the state, another authority intimates. Gomara, Hist. Mex., 86; Herrera, dec. ii. lib. vi. cap. xi.
[353] Camargo, Hist. Tlax., 150-1. They opened a road to Cempoala, and brought effects from Villa Rica, including presents for the lords. Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., 294.
[354] Tapia writes, ‘Yo que esto escribo pregunté á Muteczuma y á otros sus capitanes,’ and was told that the Mexicans could readily have subdued little Tlascala, but they preferred to use her as a means, close at hand, for exercising their youth and armies in warfare, and for supplying war captives for the sacrifices! Tapia, Rel., in Icazbalceta, Col. Doc., ii. 572. ‘Juntaua dozientos y trezientos mil hombres para vna batalla.’ Gomara, Hist. Mex., 89. The Tlascaltecs spoke of their descent from giants, and produced gigantic bones in evidence thereof. Some of these were sent to Spain by Cortés, together with the report. Bernal Diaz, Hist. Verdad., 55.
[355] Torquemada places the arrival of this embassy immediately after Cortés’ entry into Tlascala, Monarq. Ind., i. 433, while Clavigero dates it at Tecohuatzinco. Storia Mess., iii. 51-2. Brasseur de Bourbourg calls it the second embassy, Hist. Nat. Civ., iv. 165, for he accepts the statement of Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., 288, that the first envoys saw Cortés at his camp by San Juan de Ulua. For Ixtlilxochitl’s career, see Native Races, v. 474-7.
[356] Bernal Diaz relates that Cortés detained these men as hostages, while he sent Alvarado and Bernardino Vazquez de Tapia to Mexico to communicate with Montezuma, and to examine the route and approaches to the city. They had hardly left before the company began to censure the rashness of sending two valuable men on so risky a mission, and Cortés accordingly sent to recall them. Tapia having fallen sick on the road, they gladly returned, but left the guides to proceed to Mexico.
[357] ‘Me dijeron ... que para ello habia enviado Muteczuma de su tierra ... cincuenta mil hombres, y que los tenia en guarnicion á dos leguas de la dicha ciudad ... é que tenian cerrado el camino real por donde solian ir, y hecho otro nuevo de muchos hoyos, y palos agudos hincados y encubiertos para que los caballos cayesen y se mancasen, y que tenian muchas de las calles tapiadas, y por las azoteas de las casas muchas piedras.’ Cortés, Cartas, 70. The stream within the temple was a myth, which the Cholultecs sought to maintain in order to frighten their enemies. Oviedo and Gomara relate that Xicotencatl junior was concerned in these plots, and that, warned by his sister, the wife of Alvarado, Cortés had him quietly seized and choked to death, iii. 497; Hist. Mex., 90. Whoever may have been throttled, it certainly was not the general, for he met his fate at a later date. According to Bernal Diaz the whole army was consulted as to whether all were prepared to start for Mexico. Many of those owning estates in Cuba raised objections, but Cortés firmly declared that there was no other way open than the one to Mexico, and so they yielded. Hist. Verdad., 56.
[358] ‘Y dar la obediencia â nuestro Rey, y Señor, sino que los ternia por de malas intenciones.’ Bernal Diaz, Hist Verdad., 56. According to Camargo, Patlahuatzin of Tlascala was sent with the message. The Cholultecs seized and flayed his face and arms, cutting off the hands, so that they were left dangling by the skin from the neck. In this guise they sent him back with the reply that thus would they receive the white gods whose prowess he had extolled. The Tlascaltecs demanded that Cortés should avenge the cruelty and the insult, and he did so in the massacre of Cholula. This, continues the narrator, is commemorated in Tlascalan song, but the account is evidently mixed, and probably refers chiefly to some earlier occurrence. Hist. Tlax., 161-2. Brasseur de Bourbourg assumes that Patlahuatzin is merely insulted and ill-treated. The two peoples had once been friends and allies, but during the last battle which they fought against their common enemy, the Aztecs, the Cholultecs had suddenly changed sides and fallen on the rear of their unsuspecting allies, inflicting great slaughter. Herrera, dec. ii. lib. vi. cap. xviii.
[359] Three of the members are imprisoned for favoring an alliance with the Spaniards, but they escape and come to Cortés, says Herrera, Id.
[360] Cortés, Cartas, 71, says that he sent this message by the Cholultec messengers.
[361] ‘É así lo asentó un escribano.’ Id., 72. ‘Otro dia vinieron muchos señores y capitanes de Chololla.’ Gomara, Hist. Mex., 91. According to Brasseur de Bourbourg, Cortés is already en route for Cholula when the friendly council members appear to bring excuses and invitations. Hist. Nat. Civ., iv. 169-70. Bernal Diaz, indeed, appears to say that the Cholultecs sent to excuse themselves from appearing before Cortés so long as he remained in hostile territory. Hist. Verdad., 57.
CHAPTER XIV.
SUBJUGATION OF CHOLULA.
October, 1519.
Departure from Tlascala—Description of Cholula—The Welcome—Army Quarters in the City—Intimations of a Conspiracy between the Mexicans and Cholultecs—Cortés Asks for Provisions and Warriors—He Holds a Council—Preparations for an Attack—The Lords Enter the Court with the Required Supplies—Cortés Reprimands them in an Address—The Slaughter Begins—Destruction of the City—Butchery and Pillage—Amnesty finally Proclaimed—Xicotencatl Returns to Tlascala—Reconciliation of the Cholultecs and Tlascaltecs—Dedication of a Temple to the Virgin—Reflections on the Massacre of Cholula.
The Spaniards had been three weeks beneath the hospitable roofs of the Tlascaltecs, and now they departed amid expressions of good-will mingled with grief.[362] A crowd as large as that which had welcomed their arrival followed them for a considerable distance, and this included all the available warriors of the districts,[363] who would gladly have joined the handful of heroes in their quest for wealth and glory amongst the hated Aztecs. Cortés did not think it well, however, to trammel his movements, or to intrude on his various hosts with too large a force of undisciplined and unmanageable men, whom he had not learned to trust, and only about five thousand were allowed to attach themselves to his army.[364]
Late in the afternoon the army reached the southern border of Tlascala, and camped by a river two leagues from Cholula. The city stood in a vast fertile plain, so thickly covered with plantations and gardens “that not a span of land remained uncultivated.” A network of ditches irrigated the fields wherein maize and agave, cochineal and chile, swelled the resources of the owners. “No city in Spain,” exclaims Cortés, “presents a more beautiful exterior, with its even surface and mass of towers,” interspersed with charming gardens and fringed with alluring groves. Its six sections were marked by fine, straight streets, lined with buildings, the neatness and substantial appearance of which fully corresponded to the reputed wealth of the occupants. Cortés estimates the number of houses at twenty thousand, with as many more in the suburbs, which implies a population of two hundred thousand.[365]
Cholula was one of the most ancient settlements in the country, with traditions reaching far back into the misty past. It was here that Quetzalcoatl had left the final impress of his golden age as ruler and prophet, and here that a grateful people had raised to him the grandest of his many temples, erected upon the ruins of a tower of Babel which had been stayed in its growth by divine interference. Notwithstanding the vicissitudes of war, during which the frenzy of the moment had overcome religious scruples to wreak destruction, or during which reckless invaders less imbued with veneration came to desecrate this western Rome, she had maintained herself, ever rising from the ashes with renewed vigor and fresh splendor, and she was at this time the commercial centre for the great Huitzilapan plateau, famous beside for her pottery and delicate fabrics. The warlike Tlascaltecs referred to her contemptuously as a city of cunning and effeminate traders, and there was doubtless a good deal of truth in this; but then her merchants rivalled those of Mexico in wealth, while her citizens were not behind the dwellers on the lake in refinement.
But the chief renown of Cholula consisted in being the holy city of Anáhuac, unequalled for the frequency and pomp of her festivals and sacred pageantry; in being the religious centre for countless pilgrims who journeyed from afar to worship at the shrines here maintained, not only by the citizens, but by princes of different countries. Her temples were estimated to equal the number of days in the year, and as some possessed more than one chapel, fully four hundred towers rose to bewilder the eye with their gleaming ornamentation. Chief among them was the semispherical temple, with its vestal fire, devoted to Quetzalcoatl, which stood upon a quadrilateral mound of nearly two hundred feet in height, ascended by one hundred and twenty steps, and with a larger base than any old-world pyramid.[366]
The government was aristocratic republican, directed by a council of six nobles, elected in the six wards. At their head sat two supreme magistrates, the tlachiach and aquiach, chosen respectively from the priesthood and nobility, and corresponding to pontiff and captain-general,[367] the latter office held at this time by Tecuanhuehuetzin.[368]
At the command of these chiefs a number of Cholultec nobles appeared at the camp to offer welcome and to bring provisions.[369] In the morning the army advanced toward the city and was met by a crowd of fully ten thousand people, preceded by a stately procession, at the head of which appeared the lords. They showed themselves most obsequious, but requested that the Tlascaltecs, as their enemies, should not be allowed to enter the city, and Cortés accordingly persuaded these warriors to camp outside. Some of their carriers alone entered with the Cempoalans and Spaniards to receive a share in the proffered hospitality. If the troops found no arches and floral festoons, as at Tlascala, to honor them, nor the same jubilant shouts of welcome, they were at least heralded by clashing music, and dense crowds of spectators lined the streets and roofs, while priests in white robes went chanting by their side, swinging the censers whence the copal rose to shed a halo on the heroes. Cortés was struck with the superior quality and quantity of dresses worn, the higher classes being noticeable in their embroidered mantles, not unlike the Moorish cloak. He also observed that beggars abounded, as they did in “Spain and other parts inhabited by civilized people.”
The courts of one of the temples[370] were offered as quarters for the army, and presently servants appeared with provisions, which, if not abundant, were at least good.[371] Cortés did not omit to vaunt the grandeur of his king and to impress the advantages of the true faith, but although the lords bowed admission to the first they held firmly to their idols. The following day they failed to appear, and the supply of food dwindled perceptibly, while none was furnished on the third day, the populace even appearing to avoid the Spanish quarters. Cortés sent to remind the chiefs of their neglect, but received only the scantiest provisions, with the excuse that the stock was nearly exhausted.[372]
The same day came envoys from Montezuma, unprovided with the usual presents, who, after some words with the confrères acting as guides to the Spaniards, represented that to proceed to Mexico would be useless, since the roads were impassable and the food supply insufficient.[373] Finding that these and other statements had no effect on Cortés, they left, taking with them the leading envoy stationed with the Spaniards.[374] All this was far from reassuring, taken in connection with the warning of the Tlascaltecs still ringing in their ears, and with the report brought by Cempoalans of barricades, of stone piles upon the roofs, and of excavations in the main street set with pointed sticks and loosely covered over.[375]
Now came messengers from the allied camp to announce that women and children had been leaving the city with their effects, and that unusual preparations seemed to be going on. Scarcely had this set Cortés pondering when Marina appeared with the still more startling information that a native woman of rank, won by her beauty and evident wealth no doubt, had just been urging her in a most mysterious manner to transfer herself and her effects to the house of the woman, where she should be married to her son.[376] By expressing gratitude and pretending acquiescence, Marina elicited that envoys had been coming and going between Mexico and Cholula for some time, and that Montezuma had prevailed on the chiefs, by means of bribes and promises,[377] to attack the Spaniards that very night or in the morning. Aztec troops were stationed close to the city, to the number of twenty or even fifty thousand, to aid in the work and to carry the Mexican share of the captives to their capital.[378] Cortés at once secured the communicative woman, who was awaiting the return of Marina with her valuables, and ascertained further that the covered excavations, the stone piles, and the barricades were no fiction.
He also secured two apparently friendly priests,[379] and by bribing them with chalchiuite stones, and showing that he was aware of the plot, obtained a revelation which agreed substantially with the account already given. It appeared that Montezuma had proposed to quarter his troops in the city, but this the lords had objected to, fearing that once within the walls the Aztecs would retain possession.[380] The Cholultecs intended to do the deed themselves, and it was only in case the Spaniards left the city, or escaped, that the confederate Aztecs were to take an active part.
Only three of the wards had consented to share in the treachery,[381] and the priests of the others had that very day sacrificed ten children[382] to the god of war, and received assurances of victory. So confident were they of securing the encaged guests that ropes and stakes had been prepared to bind the captives.
Cortés called his counsellors, and placing before them the state of affairs asked their views. A few of the more cautious advised retreat to Tlascala, whose friendly hospitality seemed alluring. Others suggested an immediate departure by way of the friendly Huexotzinco, while the majority inclined to a prompt and effective chastisement of the treachery as a warning to others. This was what Cortés had determined upon. He showed them how well the arrangement of the courts would answer for the plan he had evolved, and how strong they were in case of a siege.
Summoning the lords, he expressed his displeasure at the inconsiderate treatment received, and said that he would rid them of his presence on the morrow. He reminded them of the allegiance they had tendered, and declared that if loyal they would be rewarded; if not, punishment would follow. Finally he demanded provisions for the journey, and two thousand warriors, beside carriers, to accompany the army.[383] This appeared to suit their plans, for they exchanged a look of intelligence, and at once promised compliance, protesting at the same time their devotion. “What need have these of food,” they muttered with a laugh, “when they themselves are soon to be eaten cooked with chile?”[384] That very night preparations were made, the Spaniards planting guns at the approaches to the streets and courts, looking to the horses and accoutrements, and sending a message to the Tlascaltecs to enter the city and join them on hearing the first shot.
In the morning, so early indeed as to indicate a decided eagerness, came the lords and leading priests, with an immense throng. A force even larger than had been demanded followed them into the Spanish quarter, and was allowed to file into the court, which was commanded at all points by the soldiers and the cannon, the latter as yet innocent-looking instruments to the Cholultecs.[385] The lords and leading men, to the number of thirty or forty, were invited to Cortés’ rooms to receive his farewell. He addressed them in a severe tone, in the presence of the Aztec envoys, representing that he had sought to win their friendship for himself and their adhesion for his king, and to further this he had treated them with every consideration. They had withheld the necessary supplies, yet he had respected their property and persons, and for their sake he had left his stanch allies outside the city. In return for this they had, under the mask of friendship, plotted against the lives of his party, the invited guests of themselves and of Montezuma, with the intention of assassinating them. But they had been caught in their own trap. The amazement of the chiefs deepened into terror as he concluded. “Surely it is a god that speaks,” they murmured, “since he reads our very thoughts.” On the impulse of the moment they admitted their guilt, but cast the blame on Montezuma. This, rejoined Cortés, did not justify treachery, and the excuse should avail them naught. The lords who had been opposed to the plot, and a few others less guilty or less responsible chiefs and priests, were now taken aside, and from them further particulars were obtained, which implicated the Mexicans only the more.
Returning to the envoys, who protested that their emperor was wholly blameless, he reassured them by saying that he believed not a word of the accusation. Montezuma was too great a prince, he continued, to stoop to such baseness, and had beside, by means of presents and messages, shown himself to be his friend. The Cholultecs should suffer the penalty not only of their treason but of their falsehood. The fact was that it did not suit Cortés to quarrel with Montezuma for the present, but rather to lull him into fancied security.[386] A terrible punishment was now in store for the Cholultecs.
The signal being given, volleys poured from cannon, arquebuses, and cross-bows upon the warriors confined in the court, and then the Spaniards rushed in with sword and lance thrusting and slashing at the packed masses. The high walls permitted no escape, and at the gates gleamed a line of lances above the smoking mouths of the guns. Pressing one upon another, the victims offered only a better mark for the ruthless slayers, and fell in heaps, dead and dying intermingled, while many were trampled underfoot. Not one of those who had entered the court remained standing. Among the slain were the captain-general and the most inimical of the lords and leading men.[387]
Meanwhile other guns had belched destruction along the approaches from the streets, as the crowd rushed forward in response to the cries and groans of their butchered friends. Terrified by the fiery thunder and its mysterious missiles, they fell back; and now the cavalry charged, trampling them underfoot, and opening a way for the infantry and allies, who pressed onward to take advantage of the confusion and to repeat the scene enacted within. Panic-stricken as the natives were by the strange arms and tactics of the Spaniards, they offered little or no resistance, though armed with intent to attack. Being also without leaders, they had none to restrain their flight, but pressed one on the other, down the streets and into buildings, anywhere out of the reach of the cutting blades and fierce-tramping horses. The Tlascaltecs[388] were at the same time falling on their flanks, glorying in the opportunity to repay their enemies the treachery of years ago. A bloody track they left. Unprepared for such an onslaught the people of Cholula found little opportunity to make use of the barricades and the stone piles, and where they attempted it the fire-arm and cross-bow aided the fire-brand. The strongest resistance was met at the temples, wherein the fugitives mostly gathered, but even these did not hold out long, for stones and arrows availed little against armor.
All who could sought to gain the great temple of Quetzalcoatl, which offered not only the best defence from its height, but was held to be impregnable through the special protection extended over it by the deity. Within its walls lay confined a mighty stream, so it was said, which by the removal of a few stones could be let loose to overwhelm invaders. Now, if ever, in the name of all the gods, let it be done! Reverently were removed, one by one, the stones of the sacred wall, but no flood appeared, not even a drop of water. In their despair the besieged hastened to hurl the stones, and arrows, and darts[389] upon the enemy as they climbed the sides of the pyramid. But there was little use in this. Quickly they were driven by the sword from the platform into the chapel tower. Not caring to lose time in a siege, the Spaniards offered them their lives. One alone is said to have surrendered. The rest, inspired by the presence of the idols, spat defiance. It was their last effort, for the next moment the torch was applied, and enfolding the building, the flames drove the besieged, frenzied with terror and excitement, upon the line of pikes inclosing them, or head-foremost down the dizzy heights. To the last could be seen a priest upon the highest pinnacle, enveloped in smoke and glare, declaiming against the idols for having abandoned them, and shouting: “Now, Tlascala, thy heart has its revenge! Speedily shall Montezuma have his!”[390]
During the first two hours of the slaughter over three thousand men perished, if we may believe Cortés, and for three hours more he continued the carnage, raising the number of deaths according to different estimates to six thousand or more.[391] The loss of life would have been still greater but for the strict orders issued to spare the women and children, and also the less hostile wards,[392] and for the eagerness of the Tlascaltecs to secure captives as well as spoils, and of the Spaniards to hunt for treasures. The hostile wards had besides been pretty well cleared of inhabitants by the time Cortés returned to his quarters forbidding further butchery. When the amnesty was proclaimed, however, numbers appeared from hiding-places, even from beneath the heaps of slain, while many who had pretended death, to escape the sword, arose and fled.
The pillage was continued for some time longer,[393] and as the Tlascaltecs cared chiefly for fabrics, feathers, and provisions, particularly salt, the Spaniards were allowed to secure all the gold and trinkets they could, though these were far less in amount than had been expected.[394] When the real work was over, Xicotencatl appeared with twenty thousand men and tendered his services; but Cortés could offer him only a share in the booty for his attention, and with this he returned to Tlascala to celebrate the downfall of the hated and boastful neighbor.[395]
The prayers of the chiefs who had been spared, supported by the neighboring caciques, and even by the Tlascalan lords, prevailed on Cortés to stop the pillage after the second day, and to issue a pardon, although not till everything of value had been secured. Some of the chiefs were thereupon sent forth to recall the fugitive inhabitants, and with such good effect that within a few days the city was again peopled. The débris and gore being removed, the streets speedily resumed their accustomed appearance, and the shops and markets were busy as before, though blackened ruins and desolated homes long remained a testimony of the fearful blow.[396] Impressed no less by the supposed divine penetration of the white conquerors than by their irresistible prowess and terrible revenge, the natives were only too ready to kiss with veneration the hand red with the blood of their kindred. To this they were also impelled by finding that the Spaniards not only allowed no sacrifice of captives, but ordered the Tlascaltecs to release the prisoners they had hoped to carry into slavery. This was a most trying requirement to the allies, but at the instance of Maxixcatzin and other lords they obeyed in so far as to restore the greater proportion of the thousands who had been secured.
The intervention of the Tlascaltec lords and chiefs in behalf of the Cholultecs tended to promote a more friendly feeling between the two peoples, particularly since the one had been satiated with revenue and the other humbled, and Cortés took advantage of this to formally reconcile them. Whatever may have been their sincerity in the matter, they certainly found no opportunity to renew their feud.
The captain-general having fallen, the people, with Cortés’ approval, chose a successor from the ranks of the friendly chiefs.[397] Cortés assured them of his goodwill and protection so long as they remained the loyal subjects they now promised to be, and he hoped that nothing would occur hereafter to mar their friendly intercourse. He explained to them the mysteries of his faith, and its superiority over the superstitious worship of the idols which had played them false during the late conflict, counselling them to cast aside such images, and let their place be occupied by the redeeming emblems of Christianity. The terrified natives could only promise obedience, and hasten to aid in erecting crosses, but the idols nevertheless retained their places. Cortés was quite prepared to take advantage of his power as conqueror to compel the acceptance of his doctrines by the now humbled people, but Padre Olmedo representing the futility of enforced conversion, he contented himself with breaking the sacrificial cages and forbidding the offering of human victims. As it was, idolatry had suffered a heavy blow in this terrible chastisement of the holy city, rich as she was in her sanctuaries and profound in her devotion. The gods had proved powerless! Although a number of temples were speedily restored to their worship, the great pyramid was never again to be graced by pagan rites. Twice had this temple shared in the destruction of the city, only to rise more beautiful than ever in its delusive attractions; now a simple stone cross stood upon the summit, erected by Cortés to guard the site on behalf of the church which was there to rise a few years later. This was dedicated to the Vírgen de los Remedios, whose image is said to have been left in the city by her conquerors.[398]
The massacre of Cholula forms one of the darkest pages in the annals of the conquest, and has afforded much ground for reproach against Cortés, but it is to be regarded from different stand-points. The diabolical doctrines of the day may be said to have forced on adventurers in America the conquest of her nations, and cruel deeds were but the natural result, particularly when the task was undertaken with insufficient forces. According to their own admission, made also before the later investigating committee, the Cholultecs had plotted to destroy their invited guests, whom they sought first to lull into fancied security, and in this they acted as treacherously and plotted as cruelly as did their intended victims in retaliating. True, they had been forced by threats, and by the exhibition of an apparently superior force, into a submission which they could ill brook, and were justified in striking a blow for liberty, especially when encouraged, or bidden, by the great monarch; but they had no right to complain if they suffered the penalty everywhere affixed to treachery; and the Cholultecs did bear an unenviable reputation in this respect. The native records naturally assert their innocence; but even if we ignore the confession of the Indians, as prompted by fear of their judges and masters, or as colored by Franciscans whose patron Cortés was, and if we disregard all official testimony, we must still admit that there was evidence enough to justify the general in a measure which he regarded as necessary for the safety of his men.[399]
It might be claimed that by holding captive the chiefs their safety would have been assured; but treason was rife everywhere, and a lesson was needed. Here among the greatest plotters, and in the holy city, the lesson would be most effective. It might also be claimed that the chiefs were the guilty ones, and should alone have suffered, not the citizens and soldiers; but they were also in arms, even if subordinate, and such discrimination is not observed in our own age.
Outrages equally as cruel are to-day exculpated throughout Christendom as exigencies of war. If we, then, overlook such deeds, how much more excusable are they in the more bloody times of Cortés? But neither now nor then can war, with any of its attendant atrocities, be regarded by right-thinking, humane men as aught but beastly, horrible, diabolical.