History of Mexico, Volume 1, 1516-1521

by Hubert Howe Bancroft

This development awoke to consciousness in the forms of the Nahua and Maya civilizations, the former occupying the northern portion of that tropical table-land which rises to salubrious heights between latitudes 22° and 11°, and the latter the southern portions. Round the opaque lowland edges of this heaven-enlightened interior the mind of man seemed also dark and low, dwarfed by sandy sweeps, or overshadowed by redundant foliage; yet it was not altogether free from the influence of its neighbors, for the people of the tierras calientes bordering this elevation were further removed from savagism than their more northern and southern brethren. The valley of Mexico, the Anáhuac of the Aztecs, was situated between the two principal ranges, the Pacific branch and the Atlantic branch of the Sierra Madre, under which name the great cordillera here presents itself, coming in from the north-west, flattening near the centre, and reuniting before reaching Tehuantepec. Eventually Anáhuac overspreads the whole plateau. Cross the continent on the nineteenth parallel and you will reach the greatest elevation and see the highest mountains in this vicinity. Indeed, from the plain of Puebla, whereabout lay the walled town of Tlascala, you may take in Popocatepetl, Iztaccihuatl, and Orizaba at one view. Within seventy leagues from Vera Cruz inland, through the temperate valley of Orizaba, you may pass from a region of palms to a region of pines. The plains of Tabasco, upon whose border we have already landed and fought our battle, form the north-eastern part of the broad isthmus valley of Tehuantepec. This is bordered on the south by the sierra connecting the elevation of Anáhuac with the table-land of Guatemala, whose western declivity breaks into parallel wooded ridges running due south-west. North of Anáhuac the surface settles into wide plains between short sierras, until monotonous quietude is attained in the prairies of Texas and New Mexico. Crossing the isthmus of Tehuantepec at a diminished altitude the cordillera rises again and stretches out into the broad and lofty ranges of Central America, where the Maya nations made their home.

Earliest among the Nahua nations to stand forth upon the mythic record are the Toltecs, whose first supremacy in Anáhuac is placed in the sixth century. Endowed by tradition with a culture surpassing that of their successors, the halo surrounding their name has been kept bright by monuments, such as the pyramids of Teotihuacan and Cholula. For five centuries this people flourish, sustained by a confederation of kings whose capitals become in turn famous as seats of learning and of imperial splendor. Religious strife, developing gradually into civil war, with attendant famine and pestilence, opens the door to ruder tribes, and the Toltecs pass off the stage. Throwing off the Toltec veil so long shielding them, a number of tribes now rise into distinct political existence, and the stronger, in connection with somewhat ruder yet more energetic incomers, form the new ruling combination, the Chichimec empire. Of the leading power, denominated the Chichimec, nothing is known; but the permanency of Nahua language and civilization leads to the supposition that it is of the same race as its predecessors. In later times the name is also applied to the wild border tribes of the north. For several centuries Anáhuac becomes the scene of intrigues and struggles between the different branches of the combination for the balance of power, during which a number of towns figure as dominating centres, and a number of tribes rise to prominence under the traditional term of conquerors and immigrants. Among these are the Aztecs, the representative nation of the Nahua civilization at the coming of the Spaniards.

Upon opposite sides of the largest of a cluster of lakes which illuminate the oval valley of Mexico have stood, since the beginning of the fourteenth century, three cities, Tezcuco, Mexico, and Tlacopan, capitals of three confederate nations, the Acolhuas, the Aztecs, and the Tepanecs. To the first belonged the eastern portion of the valley, to the second the southern and western, and to the third a small portion of the north-west. Of this confederation, Tezcuco was for a time the most powerful; Tlacopan was least. While keeping to their respective limits within the valley, beyond its classic precincts the three powers made common cause against the barbarians. About the middle of the fifteenth century, under the warlike Montezuma I., Mexico attained the supremacy, and during the next sixty years extended her empire to the shores of either ocean. Within this circuit, however, were several nations which she never conquered; instance the Tlascaltecs, the Tarascos, and the Chiapanecs. Many there were—for example, the people of Tehuantepec, of northern Guatemala, and Soconusco, and the Miztecs and Zapotecs of Oajaca, whose conquest by the Aztecs was temporary—who either paid tribute for a time only, or who threw off the yoke the moment the invader’s back was turned. The Matlaltzincas, west of the lakes, and the Huastecs and Totonacs of Vera Cruz, were subjugated but a few years prior to the appearing of the Spaniards. These coast-dwellers had not yet become reconciled to the rule of the interior lords, but hated them as inveterate foes; and herein lay one of the chief causes of success accompanying the Castilian arms. Indeed, Aztec supremacy was maintained in every quarter only by constant war; rebellion, as soon as checked in one quarter, breaking out in another. Further than this, the Aztecs, by their overbearing spirit, had become obnoxious to their allies; yet their aggressive policy was continued in full force by the predecessor of Montezuma II., Ahuitzotl, with whom war was an absorbing passion.

In the civil polity of the Aztecs were elements which, if given free play, would by elevating the people raise the nation yet higher in the scale of domination. This did not escape the observant neighbors, upon whom the prospect fell with chilling fear, a fear by no means mitigated by the ever increasing tendency of the Mexicans for the immolation of human beings. Nor were the Aztec nobles pleased to see political power slipping from their grasp and falling into the hands of the people, among whom the spirit of republicanism and equality was regarded as having already gained too great ascendancy. The result was a struggle, not unlike that at the same time going on in Europe, between the nobility and the commonalty, the clergy taking sides with the former. And at the death of Ahuitzotl the higher class succeeded in raising to the throne a person of extreme aristocratic and religious tastes, though humble withal, as Coriolanus could not be, to catch the common herd; for when tidings of his election were brought him he was found sweeping the temple.

Montezuma, he was called, and surnamed Xocoyotzin, the younger, to distinguish him from the first Montezuma, known as Huehue, the elder. He was the son of Axayacatl and Xochicueitl, and nephew of the late king; and had reached only his thirty-fourth year when selected for the throne, in preference to an elder brother. The reasons alleged for this distinction were the possession of high qualities as a warrior, whose bravery had been tested on more than one field of battle; as an adviser, whose words, uttered in clear, dignified tones, had been heard in the council with respect; and as high priest, whose gravity and circumspection had won him favor among all classes. Upon occasions he could observe the taciturnity which so often attracts a reputation for wisdom; and, moreover, he possessed a fine figure and a majestic presence, such as admirably suited the monarch. He was proficient in astronomy, picture-writing, and in certain esoteric branches, for which he showed a natural bent; likewise he was well read in the history of his people, and familiar with all their traditions.

This second Montezuma was a born prince, and might have been a pattern for Niccolo Machiavelli, with whom he was contemporary. For, like the Florentine’s ideal, he was talented, learned, crafty, and unscrupulous. Had he studied in his own language that immaculate manual of political ethics, The Prince, he could not have more faithfully followed its precepts. No sooner had he assumed the sceptre than, throwing off the mask by which he had deceived the plebeians, he dismissed every person of that class employed about the palace, and filled all vacancies, civil and military, from the ranks of the nobles. He applied himself with energy to war and diplomacy, in both of which he was eminently successful, and raised himself and his throne to the highest pinnacle of grandeur; whereupon he did not disdain the title of Emperor of the World. Notwithstanding his talents and accomplishments, he was exceedingly superstitious, surpassing in this respect many of his followers, and was dependent on diviners and astrologers, appealing also to the counsels of Nezahualpilli and other prominent personages. Men, whom he knew, he did not fear; but the gods, whom he did not know, he feared exceedingly. And because he practised human sacrifice to propitiate them he has been called cruel, but the actions of a blind devotee of religion must not be measured by a too critical standard. There was nothing cruel in the wish of Caligula, however hateful and vindictive it might be, that the Roman people had but one head, so that he might strike it off at a single blow; but when he tortured men and women for amusement while at his meals, that was the quintessence of cruelty. As for honor, integrity, and all those virtues which go to make a man, we must not expect them in princes or in politicians; yet we may safely say that in all the generous qualities of mind and heart the Aztec monarch was no whit behind contemporary European rulers.

From all which it is safe to say that Montezuma, though most magnificent and lordly among his lords, was not popular with the masses, and his position at this juncture was not of the safest. His extravagance exceeded all bounds; his continuous wars were expensive; and to meet the heavy draughts upon the treasury required excessive taxation. This was made to weigh with special heaviness on the subjugated provinces, on which likewise was laid with peculiar aggravation the horrible burden of furnishing victims for human sacrifices. The successful resistance to his arms of several states enclosed by his conquests, or bordering on his domain, caused him no small unhappiness. There was the little republic of Tlascala, on the very border of the Mexican valley, which often he had tried to conquer, and failed. Then there was the Tarascan kingdom of Michoacan, on the western side, whose people boasted as high a culture as any of the lake region, which stood firm against all efforts of the confederation.

With nations beyond their border little intercourse existed, yet Aztec traders, likewise playing spies, were often as far south as Nicaragua, and along the coasts of Honduras and Yucatan. There is no doubt, therefore, that the presence in those parts of the Spaniards was known to Montezuma from the first. It might have been like a voice from behind the clouds, the reports of Columbus and Pinzon, but the appearing of Córdoba and Grijalva, who talked and drew blood, was something more tangible. The people of Tuito, on the west coast of Mexico, held that before the conquest a vessel was lost there, from which had landed more than forty persons, dressed like Spaniards, and whom the natives received kindly, but finally slew because they insisted on the worship of the cross.[138] A box thrown up by the waves, and containing peculiar clothing, gold rings, and a sword which no one could break, was said to have been in Montezuma’s possession. Vague as were these appearings, there was something painfully portentous in them.

For the chief divinity of the Nahua nations was Quetzalcoatl, the gentle god, ruler of the air, controller of the sun and rain, and source of all prosperity. In the palmy days of the Toltecs he had been their king, the creator of their golden age, giving them metals, improved government, and products of spontaneous growth; after which he was their god, with his chief shrine at Cholula, where surrounding peoples, even those inimical to the city, maintained temples for his worship. From toward the rising sun Quetzalcoatl had come; and he was white, with large eyes, and long black hair, and copious beard. After a final rule of twenty years at Cholula he set out for the country whence he came, and on reaching the seaboard of Goazacoalco he sailed away on a craft of snakes. His last words were that one day bearded white men, brethren of his, perhaps he himself, would come by way of the sea in which the sun rises, and would enter in and rule the land;[139] and from that day, with a fidelity befitting Hebrews waiting the coming of their Messiah, the Mexican people watched for the fulfilment of this prophecy, which promised them a gentle rule, free from bloody sacrifices and oppression; but to their sovereign the thought gave rise to deep apprehension, for then his own reign must terminate.

Thus it was that the tidings of strange sails and bearded white men on their eastern border were received at the gay capital with mingled fear and joy. And marvel-mongers went about the streets talking of the good Quetzalcoatl and his pedigree, of the signs and wonders that had been seen, the prodigies, oracles, and occult divinations, as in ancient Athens the old families of Olympus, with their ape-gods and bull-gods of Memphis, and the dog-headed monster Anubis, were discussed; and as for Rome, Lucan has recorded no omens which the sages of Mexico could not now match. To what extent the Spanish chroniclers have assisted the natives in the manufacture of marvels I leave the reader to judge, simply recommending to his consideration the accompanying lengthy note; neither, however, fell into the madness of Canute, who chose the time the tide was rising, instead of when it was falling, to order the stay of waters.