How alike, and yet how different, these men! Cortés was impetuous and extravagant; Columbus calm, calculating, and prudent. One was full of joyous activity, the simple exercise of which was his greatest pleasure; obligations of every sort sat lightly on him; the other was but an instrument in the hands of providence. Both were ambitious, both excessively religious; but Cortés, in the main, made religion subservient to advancement, as before noted, while mundane glories to Columbus were hollow indeed beside his heavenly aspirations. Both were exceedingly great men; both became eminent by a selfish adventure of self; but Columbus saw the New World through the glorious haze of immortality, while Cortés viewed Mexico under the lightly woven covering of personal ambition.
Cortés was an Antony rather than a Cæsar, nor did he lack that one great gift of Antony’s, subordination, as we have seen. He was not so greatly in love with himself, stood not so greatly in awe of himself, as Cæsar; he was possessed of finer perceptions and feelings, and with consummate versatility could drop himself out of his plans as occasion required. Nor was Cortés without imagination and the æsthetic sense, though of a grosser and sensual kind; but it is not in great men that we are to look for the swelling harmonies of nature.
A turning-point was now reached in the campaign. The brigantines were completed, and the siege could begin. The day for the entry of the vessels into the lake was a gala day, inaugurated with the communion and festive with the concourse of gayly attired spectators.[1113] After prayer and a discourse the flags with name and royal arms were hoisted on each vessel,[1114] amid salvos and cheers, and the dams being broken, the gallant fleet floated down the canal to the placid lake.
While the mute bunting was thus proclaiming Spanish supremacy over these inland waters, a Te Deum, in which joined a thousand voices, echoed aloud the gratitude of every heart. Each vessel was placed in charge of a captain[1115] with twenty-four Spaniards, of whom about six were cross-bowmen and arquebusiers, some artillerists to manage the bronze gun, and twelve rowers, six to each side. The boats were evidently half-decked.[1116]
Active preparations were now made to begin the siege. Tlascaltecs, Huexotzincas, Cholultecs, Chalcans, and other allies were summoned to send in contingents by Whitsunday, the latter to assemble at Chalco, and the Tlascaltecs at Tezcuco. Though but ten days’ notice was given, the last named presented themselves in the camp before the appointed time to the number of over fifty thousand, which was increased by later reënforcement.[1117]
As they approached Tezcuco under the guidance of Ojeda, and commanded notably by Chichimecatl and Xicotencatl junior, they spread out in one long serpentine file, bristling with iztli points and brilliant with shields and armor covered with variegated devices and flowing plumage, while at intervals waved high the banners of the different corps. Cortés went forth to meet them with grand demonstrations, and as they marched past loud vivas[1118] rent the air.
On the 28th of April Cortés had mustered his forces and found that, with the several reënforcements lately arrived, there were present over nine hundred Spaniards, of whom eighty-six were horsemen and one hundred and eighteen cross-bowmen and arquebusiers;[1119] the rest being armed with swords and shields and the more formidable pikes. They were well protected with cotton armor, many having cuirasses and corselets, and small weapons were not wanting. The artillery consisted of three heavy iron guns, fifteen smaller pieces of bronze, mostly distributed among the vessels, with ten quintals of powder and a quantity of shot, while some fifty thousand arrows had been furnished by the Tezcucan towns, all fitted according to pattern with copper tips.[1120]
Not only had the Spaniards, particularly the new recruits, been well exercised in cavalry movements, target practice, fencing, and pike drill, but the allies had been trained to a certain extent in European tactics. For efficiency and good conduct this army rose far above any yet mustered in the Indies. In the usual speech before the ranks, Cortés pointed out how God had favored them with constant victories and with reënforcements which had nearly doubled their number and resources. They might indeed be hopeful, for holy was their cause. Full of confidence they could march against the only stronghold yet opposed to them, avenge their slaughtered comrades, and win riches and glory for themselves.
On Whitmonday, the 20th of May, an apportionment of the troops was made to Alvarado, Olid, and Sandoval, who led the cavalry in person, but directed the movements of the infantry through captains, and of the allies through native chiefs. Each received from twenty-four to thirty horsemen, and one hundred and fifty infantry, divided into two or three battalions, with a proportionate number of arquebusiers, cross-bowmen, guns, and ammunition, besides from twenty to forty thousand allies. To Sandoval was given the smallest number of horse and the largest number of allies, those gathered at Chalco having orders to await him, while Alvarado received a full half of the Tlascaltec force, with whom the Tonatiuh was a great favorite. To this leader Tlacopan was assigned for head-quarters; to Olid, Coyuhuacan; and Sandoval received orders to complete the destruction of Iztapalapan, and then to advance through Coyuhuacan and along one of the southern causeways, and there to select his head-quarters, under the protection of the brigantines. These appointments and orders underwent several changes during the siege. For himself Cortés selected the management of the fleet, whereon so much depended during the opening of the siege, and in addition to its ships’ companies of three hundred men he was supported by several thousand allies, chiefly Tezcucans under Ixtlilxochitl, who attended in a large number of canoes. This selection hardly pleased the army, which considered their operations the most important and dangerous, and therefore in need of Cortés’ supervision. But he evidently never intended to remain with the fleet except at the beginning.[1121]
The following day the allied forces apportioned to Alvarado and Olid were ordered to march in advance, for greater convenience, to the border of Tezcuco province and there await the Spaniards. Not many hours after their departure a messenger appeared with the announcement that Xicotencatl, the companion general of Chichimecatl, had disappeared. Inquiries revealed that shortly before his cousin Piltecuhtli had been severely and wantonly struck by a soldier during a quarrel over some carriers. In order to save the soldier from the wrath of Cortés, Ojeda, the Spanish inspecting officer over the allied forces, smoothed the matter and sent the injured nobleman home. It was claimed by some that this outrage had so wounded Xicotencatl that he followed his cousin. Others assumed that both chiefs were in love with the same woman, and that Xicotencatl could not bear to leave his rival alone in the field. But the true reason lay no doubt in his dislike to fight for the Spaniards, whom he had never ceased to oppose, openly and in secret, as invaders bent on the enslavement of the whole country. This idea, if faint at first, had become more fixed with every fresh blow against his personal ambition, such as the first series of defeats which plucked from him his just renown; the equal or perhaps superior position assigned in the native army to Chichimecatl, of whom he appears to have been deeply jealous;[1122] and the prospect of a wearisome and unprofitable campaign, wherein he must be content to figure as a subordinate, not only of Alvarado, but subject perhaps to the orders of petty Spanish officers. All this became too galling to his proud spirit, and with a few followers he turned toward his mountain home.