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The Mexican theology indulged in two kinds of sacrifice, one of which was an ordinary offering of a common victim, while the other, or gladiatorial sacrifice, was only used for captives of extraordinary courage and bravery.
When we recollect the fact that the Aztec tribe was an intruder into the valley of Anahuac, and that it laid the foundations of its capital in the midst of enemies, we are not surprised that so hardy a race, from the northern hive, was both warlike in its habits and sanguinary in its religion. With a beautiful land around it on all sides,—level, fruitful, but incapable of easy defence,—it was forced to quit the solid earth and to build its stronghold in the waters of the lake. We can conceive no other reason for the selection of such a site. The eagle may have been seen on a rock amid the water devouring the serpent; but we do not believe that this emblem of the will of heaven, in guiding the wanderers to their refuge in the lake of Tezcoco, was known to more than the leaders of the tribe until it became necessary to control the band by the interposition of a miracle. Something more was needed than mere argument, to plant a capital in the water, and, thus, we doubt not, that the singular omen, in which the modern arms of Mexico have originated, was contrived or invented by the priests or chiefs of the unsettled Aztecs.
Surrounded by enemies, with nothing that they could strictly call their own, save the frail retreat among the reeds and rushes of their mimic Venice, it undoubtedly became necessary for the Aztecs to keep no captives taken in war. Their gardens, like their town, were constructed upon the Chinampas, or floating beds of earth and wicker work, which were anchored in the lake. They could not venture, at any distance from its margin, to cultivate the fields. When they sallied from their city, they usually left it for the battle field; and, when they returned, it is probable that it seemed to them not only a propitiation of their gods, but a mercy to the victims, to sacrifice their numerous captives, who if retained in idleness as prisoners would exact too large a body for their custody, or, if allowed to go at large, might rise against their victors, and, in either case, would soon consume the slender stores they were enabled to raise by their scant horticulture. In examining the history of the Aztecs, and noticing the mixture of civilization which adorned their public and private life, and the barbarism which characterized their merciless religion, we have been convinced that the Aztec rite of sacrifice originated, in the infancy of the state in a national necessity, and, at length, under the influence of superstition and policy, grew into an ordinance of faith and worship.
The Common Sacrifice, offered in the Aztec temples was performed by a chief priest, and six assistants. The principal flamen, habited in a red scapulary fringed with cotton, and crowned with a circlet of green and yellow plumes, assumed, for the occasion, the name of the deity to whom the offering was made. His acolytes,—clad in white robes embroidered with black; their hands covered with leathern thongs; their foreheads filleted with parti-colored papers; and their bodies dyed perfectly black,—prepared the victim for the altar, and having dressed him in the insignia of the deity to whom he was to be sacrificed, bore him through the town begging alms for the temple. He was then carried to the summit of the Teocalli, where four priests extended him across the curving surface of an arched stone placed on the sacrificial stone, while another held his head firmly beneath the yoke which is represented elsewhere. The chief priest,—the topiltzin or sacrificer, then stretched the breast of the victim tightly by bending his body back as far as possible, and, seizing the obsidian knife of sacrifice, cut a deep gash across the region of the captive's heart. The extreme tension of the flesh and muscles, at once yielded beneath the blade, and the heart of the victim lay palpitating in the bloody gap. The sacrificer immediately thrust his hand into the wound, and, tearing out the quivering vital, threw it at the feet of the idol,—inserted it with a golden spoon into its mouth,—or, after offering it to the deity, consumed it in fire and preserved the sacred ashes with the greatest reverence. When these horrid rites were finished in the temple, the victim's body was thrown from the top of the Teocalli, whence it was borne to the dwelling of the individual who offered the sacrifice, where it was eaten by himself and his friends, or, was devoted to feed the beasts in the royal menagerie.
Numerous cruel sacrifices were practised by the Indians of Mexico, and especially among the Quauhtitlans, who, every four years, slew eight slaves or captives, in a manner almost too brutal for description. Sometimes the Aztecs contented themselves with other and more significant oblations; and flowers, fruits, bread, meat, copal, gums, quails, and rabbits, were offered on the altars of their gods. The priests, no doubt, approved these gifts far more than the tough flesh of captives or slaves!
The Gladiatorial Sacrifice was reserved, as we have already said for noble and courageous captives. According to Clavigero, a circular mass, three feet high, resembling a mill stone, was placed within the area of the great temple upon a raised terrace about eight feet from the wall. The captive was bound to this stone by one foot, and was armed with a sword or maquahuitl and shield. In this position, and thus accoutred, he was attacked by a Mexican soldier or officer, who was better prepared with weapons for the deadly encounter. If the prisoner was conquered he was immediately borne to the altar of common sacrifice. If he overcame six assailants he was rewarded with life and liberty, and permitted once more to return to his native land with the spoils that had been taken from him in war. Clavigero supposes that for many years, twenty thousand victims were offered on the Mexican teocallis, in the "common sacrifice;" and in the consecration of the great temple, sixty thousand persons were slain in order to baptise the pyramid with their blood.
SACRIFICIAL STONE.