This being so, O our lord, see that thou girdest thyself for thy task, that thou puttest thy shoulder to the burden which has been imposed upon thee. Let the will of God be obeyed. Perchance thou wilt carry this load for a space, or it may be that death will cut thee off, and thy election be as a dream. Take heed, therefore, that thou art not ungrateful, setting small store by the benefits of God. Be assured that he sees all secret things, and that he will afflict thee in such manner as may seem good to him. Peradventure he will send thee into the mountains and waste places, or he will cast thee upon dirt and filthiness, or some fearful and ugly thing will happen to thee; perchance thou shalt be defamed and covered with shame, or discord and revolt shall arise in thy kingdom, so that thou shalt fall into contempt and be cast down; perhaps other kings, thine enemies, may rise up against thee and conquer thee; or possibly the Lord may suffer famine and want to desolate thy kingdom. What wilt thou do if in thy time thy kingdom should be destroyed, and the wrath of our God should visit thee in a pestilence? Or if the light of thy splendor should be turned into utter darkness, and thy dominions laid waste? Or if death should come upon thee while thou art yet young, or the Lord God should set his foot upon thee before thou hast fully gathered up the reins of government? What wilt thou do if God on a sudden should send forth armies of enemies against thee, from the wilderness or from the sea, from the waste and barren places where men wage war and shed blood that the thirst of the sun and the earth may be slaked? Manifold are the punishments of God for those that offend him. Wherefore, O our king, it behoves thee with all thy strength to do that which is right in the fulfilment of thine office, taking care that this be done with tears and sighs, and continual prayer to the Lord our God, the invisible, the impalpable. Draw near to him, Sire, weeping, and in all sincerity, that he may help thee to govern in peace. Beware that thou receivest with kindness and humility those that approach thee in grief and despair. Neither speak nor act rashly, but hear calmly and to the end all complaints brought before thee; do not harshly interrupt the words of the speaker, for thou art the image of the Lord God, in thee is represented his person, thou art his reliance, with thy mouth he speaks, with thine ear he listens. Be no respecter of persons, Sire, but punish all alike, and justly, for thou hast thy power of God, thy right hand to punish is as the claws and teeth of God, for thou art his judge and executioner. Do justice, therefore, heeding the wrath of none; this is the command of God, who hath given the doing of these things into thine hand. Take care that in the high places of the lords and judges there be nothing done snatchingly nor in haste, that there be no hot words nor deeds done in anger. Say not now in thine heart, I am the lord, my will is law, but rather let this be an occasion for the humbling of thy valor and the lowering of thy self-esteem. Look to it that thy new dignities be not the means of puffing thee up with pride and haughtiness, but in place thereof ponder often on thy former lowly estate, from which, without desert, thou wast taken and placed where thou now art. Say to thine heart, Who was I? Who am I? Not by mine own deserts did I attain this high place, but by the will of God; verily all this is a dream, and not sober truth. Be watchful, Sire, that thou dost not rest free from care, that thou dost not grow heedless with pleasure, and become a glutton and wine-bibber, spending in feasting and drunkenness that which is earned by the sweat of thy subjects; let not the graciousness which God has shown in electing thee king, be repaid with profanity, folly, and disturbances.
O King and grandchild of ours, God watches over those that govern his kingdoms, and when they do wrong he laughs at them; he mocks and is silent; for he is the Lord our God, he does what he pleases, he scoffs at whom he pleases; we are the work of his hand, in the hollow of his palm he tosses us to and fro even as balls and playthings, he makes a mockery of us as we stumble and fall, he uses us for his ends as we roll from side to side. Strive hard, O king, to do what thou hast to do little by little. Perchance the number of our sins has rendered us unworthy, and thy election will be to us a vision that passes; or perchance it may be the will of the Lord that thou possess the royal dignity for a time; perchance he will prove thee, and put thee to the test, and, if thou art found wanting will set up another in thy place. Are not the friends of the Lord great in number? Art thou the only one whom he holds dear? Many are the friends of the Lord; many are those that call upon him; many are those that lift up their voices before him; many are those that weep before him; many are those that tearfully pray to him; many are those that sigh in his presence; verily all these are uncountable. There are many generous and prudent men of great ability and power, who pray to the Lord and cry aloud to him; behold, therefore, there are not lacking others beside thyself on whom to confer the dignity of king. Peradventure as a thing that endures not, as a thing seen in sleep, the Lord gives thee this great honor and glory; peradventure he gives thee to smell of his tender sweetness, and passes it quickly over thy lips. O king, most fortunate, bow down and humble thyself; weep with sadness and sigh; pray fervently and do the will of the Lord by night as well as by day, during the time he sees fit to spare thee. Act thy part with calmness, continually praying on thy throne with kindness and softness. Take heed that thou givest none cause for pain or weariness or sorrow, that thou settest thy foot upon none, that thou frightest none with angry words or fierce looks. Refrain also, O our king, from all lewd jests and converse, lest thou bring thy person into contempt; levity and buffoonery are not fit for one of thy dignity. Incline not thine ear to ribaldry, even though it come from a near relative, for though as a man thou art mortal, yet in respect to thine office thou art as God. Though thou art our fellow-creature and friend, our son and our brother, yet are we not thine equals, nor do we look upon thee as a man, in that thou now art the image of the Lord God; he it is that speaks within thee, instructing us and making himself heard through thy lips; thy mouth is his mouth, thy tongue is his tongue, thy face is his face. Already he has graced thee with his authority, he has given thee teeth and claws that thou mayest be feared and respected. See to it, Sire, that thy former levity be now laid aside, that thou take to thyself the heart of an old man, of one who is austere and grave. Look closely to thine honor, to the decency of thy person, and the majesty of thine office; let thy words be few and serious, for thou art now another being. Behold the place on which thou standest is exceeding high, and the fall therefrom is perilous. Consider that thou goest on a lofty ridge and upon a narrow path having a fearful depth sheer down on either side, so that it is impossible to swerve to the right or to the left without falling headlong into the abyss. It also behoves thee, Sire, to guard thyself against being cross-grained and fierce and dreaded as a wild beast by all. Combine moderation with rigor, inclining rather to mercy than to pitilessness. Never show all thy teeth nor put forth the full length of thy claws. Never appear startled or in fear, harsh or dangerous; conceal thy teeth and claws; assemble thy chief men together, make thyself acceptable to them with gifts and kind words. Provide also for the entertainment of the common people according to their quality and rank; adapt thyself to the different classes of the people and ingratiate thyself with them. Have a care and concern thyself about the dances, and about the ornaments and instruments used at them, for they are the means of infusing a warlike spirit into men. Gladden the hearts of the common people with games and amusements, for thus wilt thou become famous and be beloved, and even after death thy fame will live and the old men and women who knew thee will shed tears of sorrow for thine absence. O most fortunate and happy king, most precious treasure, bear in mind that thou goest by a craggy and dangerous road, whereon thou must step with firmness, for in the path of kings and princes there are many yawning gulfs, and slippery places, and steep, pathless slopes, where the matted thorn-bushes and long grass hide pitfalls having pointed stakes set upright in them. Wherefore it behoves thee to call upon thy God with moanings and lamentations, to watch constantly, and to shun the harlot, who is a curse and a sickness to man. Sleep not lightly in thy bed, Sire, but rather lie and ponder the affairs of thy kingdom; even in thy slumbers let thy dreams be of the good things in thy charge, that thou mayest know how best to distribute them among thy lords and courtiers, for there are many who envy the king, and would fain eat as he eats and drink as he drinks, wherefore is it said that kings 'eat the bread of grief.' Think not, Sire, that the royal throne is a soft and pleasant seat, for there is nothing but trouble and penitence. O blessed and most precious king, it is not my wish to cause pain to thine heart nor to excite thy wrath and indignation; it is sufficient for me that I have many times stumbled and slipped, aye, and have even fallen, during this discourse of mine; enough for me are the faults of the speech which I have spoken, going, in a manner, with jumps like a frog before our Lord God, the invisible, the impalpable, who is here and listening to us, who has heard distinctly the slightest of the words which I have spoken stammeringly and with hesitation, in bad order and with unapt gestures; but in doing this I have complied with the custom which obliges the aged men of the state to address a newly elected king. In like manner have I done my duty to our God who hears me, to whom I make an offering of this my speech. Long mayest thou live and reign, O lord and king. I have spoken.
CHAPTER IV.
PALACES AND HOUSEHOLDS OF THE NAHUA KINGS.
Extent and Interior of the Great Palace in Mexico—The Palace of Nezahualcoyotl, King of Tezcuco—The Zoölogical Collections of the Nahua Monarchs—Montezuma's Oratory—Royal Gardens and Pleasure-Grounds—The Hill of Chapultepec—Nezahualcoyotl's Country Residence at Tezcozinco—Toltec Palaces—the Royal Guard—The King's Meals—An Aztec Cuisine—The Audience Chamber—After-dinner Amusements—The Royal Wardrobe—The King Among his People—Meeting of Montezuma II. and Cortés—the King's Harem—Revenues of the Royal Household—Policy of Aztec Kings.
RELIABILITY OF AUTHORITIES.
In the preceding chapter we have seen how the monarchs were chosen, and anointed, and crowned, and feasted, and lectured; now let us follow them to their homes. And here I must confess I am somewhat staggered by the recitals. It is written that as soon as the new king was formally invested with the right of sovereignty, he took possession of the royal palaces and gardens, and that these abodes of royalty were on a scale of magnificence almost unparalleled in the annals of nations. How far we may rely on these accounts it is difficult to say; how we are to determine disputed questions is yet more difficult. In the testimony before us, there are two classes of evidence: one having as its base selfishness, superstition, and patriotism; the other disaffection, jealousy, and hatred. Between these contending evils, fortunately, we may at least approximate to the truth. To illustrate: there can be no doubt that much concerning the Aztec civilization has been greatly exaggerated by the old Spanish writers, and for obvious reasons. It was manifestly to the advantage of some, both priests and adventurers, to magnify the power and consequence of the people conquered, and the cities demolished by them, knowing full well that tales of mighty realms, with countless man-eaters and fabulous riches, would soonest rouse the zeal and cupidity of the Spaniards, and best secure to them both honors and supplies. Gathered from the lips of illiterate soldiers little prone to diminish the glory of their achievements in the narration, or from the manuscripts of native historians whose patriotic statements regarding rival states no longer in existence could with difficulty be disproved, these accounts passed into the hands of credulous writers of fertile imagination, who drank in with avidity the marvels that were told them, and wrote them down with superhuman discrimination—with a discrimination which made every so-called fact tally with the writings of the Fathers. These writers possessed in an eminent degree the faculty called by latter-day scholars the imaginative in history-writing. Whatever was told them that was contrary to tradition was certainly erroneous, a snare of the devil; if any facts were wanting in the direction pointed out by doctrines or dogmas, it was their righteous duty to fill them in. Thus it was in certain instances. But to the truth of the greater part of these relations, testimony is borne by the unanimity of the authors, though this is partly owing to their copying each from the writings of the others, and, more conclusively, by the architectural remains which survived the attacks of the iconoclastic conquerors, and the golden and bejeweled ornaments of such exquisite workmanship as to equal if not surpass anything of the kind in Europe, which ornaments were sent to Spain as proofs of the richness of the country. At this distance of time it is impossible to draw a definite line between the true and the false; nor do I feel it my duty to dogmatize in these matters, but rather to tell the tale as I find it, at the same time laying every shade of evidence before the reader.
ROYAL PALACE AT MEXICO.
The principal palace in the city of Mexico was an irregular pile of low buildings, enormous in extent, constructed of huge blocks of tetzontli, a kind of porous stone common to that country, cemented with mortar. The arrangement of the buildings was such that they enclosed three great plazas or public squares, in one of which a beautiful fountain incessantly played. Twenty great doors opened on the squares, and on the streets, and over these was sculptured in stone the coat of arms of the kings of Mexico,—an eagle gripping in his talons a jaguar.[23] In the interior were many halls, each of immense size, and one in particular is said by a writer who accompanied Cortés, known as the Anonymous Conqueror, to have been of sufficient extent to contain three thousand men; while upon the terrace that formed its roof thirty men on horseback could have gone through the spear exercise.[24] In addition to these there were more than one hundred smaller rooms, and the same number of marble baths, which together with the fountains, ponds, and basins in the gardens, were supplied with water from the neighboring hill of Chapultepec. There were also splendid suites of apartments retained for the use of the kings of Tezcuco and Tlacopan, and their attendants, when they visited Mexico, and for the ministers and counselors, and the great lords and their suites, who constantly resided at the capital. Besides these, the private attendants of the king—and their name was legion—had to be provided for; so that when we consider the other extensive buildings, such as the harem, in which, according to some authorities, were nearly three thousand women; the armory, the granaries, storehouses, menageries, and aviaries, which either formed part or were in the immediate vicinity of the palace buildings, we are prepared somewhat to credit the Anonymous Conqueror aforesaid when he affirms that, although he four times wandered about the palace until he was tired, with no other purpose than to view its interior, yet he never succeeded in seeing the whole of it.[25] The walls and floors of halls and apartments were many of them faced with polished slabs of marble, porphyry, jasper, obsidian, and white tecali;[26] lofty columns of the same fine stones supported marble balconies and porticoes, every niche and corner of which was filled with wondrous ornamental carving, or held a grinning grotesquely sculptured head. The beams and casings were of cedar, cypress, and other valuable woods, profusely carved and put together without nails. The roofs of the palace buildings formed a suite of immense terraces, from which a magnificent view of the whole city could be obtained. Superb mats of most exquisite finish were spread upon the marble floors; the tapestry that draped the walls and the curtains that hung before the windows were made of a fabric most wonderful for its delicate texture, elegant designs and brilliant colors; through the halls and corridors a thousand golden censers, in which burned precious spices and perfumes, diffused a subtle odor.[27]