Neither were the rulers themselves, nor their families, exempt from observance of the law, and instances are not wanting where fathers have, Brutus-like, condemned their children to death, rather than allow the law to be violated, and the offender to go unpunished. Nezahualcoyotl caused four of his own sons to be publicly executed because they had sinned with their step-mothers, the wives of their father.[513] A very touching incident is narrated by Torquemada, showing to what an extent this love of impartial justice was carried by a Tezcucan sovereign.
Nezahualpilli, king of Tezcuco, had married two sisters, whom he dearly loved, and especially did he dote upon the younger, whose name was Xocotzincatzin. By her he had several children, the eldest being a son, named Huexotzincatzin, who was beloved by all who knew him, on account of his amiable disposition and noble qualities, and who was besides a very valiant young man and a great warrior. No wonder that he was the king's pride, and beloved even more than his brothers and sisters, for his own and his mother's sake. So much had Huexotzincatzin distinguished himself, that, although he was but a young man, his father determined to bestow upon him the office and title of tlacatecatl, which was a post of the highest honor and importance.[514] For this purpose the king one day ordered that the prince be sent for and brought into his presence. With a light heart, and much elated, Huexotzincatzin, accompanied by his suite, and the nobles who were his tutors, set out for the royal palace. As he was about to enter, the prince met one of his father's concubines, attended by her ladies. This concubine was a very beautiful and proud woman, yet withal of a free and easy carriage, that encouraged Huexotzincatzin, who perhaps did not know who she was, to address her in a familiar and disrespectful manner. The woman, who, the historian remarks, could not have been possessed of much sense, either because she felt offended at his conduct towards her, or because she dreaded the consequence if the king should discover what had happened, turned from the prince without a word, and entered the palace. The king's concubines, as we have seen in a former chapter, were always accompanied by certain elderly women, whose duty it was to instruct them in discreet behavior and to watch continually over their actions. One of these women, who had been with the concubine at the time of her meeting with Huexotzincatzin, and had overheard the prince's remarks, went straightway to the king, and informed him of all that had happened. The king immediately sent for his concubine, and inquired of her if the prince had spoken lewdly to her publicly and in the presence of the ladies and courtiers, or if he had intended his words to reach her ear alone; for Nezahualpilli would fain have discovered some excuse for his son, the punishment for speaking lewdly in public to the king's concubines being, according to law, death; but the frightened woman replied that Huexotzincatzin had spoken openly to her, before all that were present. Then the king dismissed the concubine, and retired, mourning, into certain apartments which were called the 'rooms of sorrow.'
PUNISHMENT OF THE KING'S SON.
When these things came to the ears of the friends and tutors of the prince, they were much troubled on his account, because the severity of the king, and his strict adherence to the law were as a proverb among the people, and their apprehensions increased when, upon arriving at the royal apartments, the prince was denied admission, although his attendants were ordered to appear at once before the king. There they were closely questioned by him, and although they would willingly have saved the prince from the consequences of his folly, yet they dared not speak anything but truth, for he who was convicted of wilfully deceiving the king, suffered death. All they could do was to make excuses for the prince, and ask pardon for his crime, and this they did with many prayers and entreaties, advancing, as extenuating circumstances, his youth, his previous good conduct, and his possible ignorance of the fact that the lady was his father's concubine. The king listened patiently to the end, answering nothing, and then he commanded that Huexotzincatzin be forthwith arrested and placed in confinement. Later in that same day he pronounced sentence of death against his son. When it became known that Huexotzincatzin was to die, all the powerful nobles who were at court went in a body to the king and earnestly conjured him not to insist upon carrying out his sentence, telling him that it was barbarous and unnatural, and that future generations would hold in horror and hatred the memory of the man who had condemned his own son to death. Their prayers and arguments seemed, however, to render the old king only the more implacable, and he dismissed them, saying that if the law forbade such things, and if that law was inviolably observed throughout the kingdom, how could he justify his conduct to his subjects, were he to allow the same to be infringed upon in his own palace, and the offender to remain unpunished merely because he was his son; that it should never be said of him that he made laws for his subjects which did not apply to his own family.
When Xocotzincatzin, the prince's mother, heard that he was condemned to death, she gathered the rest of her sons about her, and coming suddenly before her husband, she fell on her knees and besought him with many tears, to spare the life of her darling son, the first pledge of love that she, his favorite wife had given him. Finding all her entreaties fruitless, she then implored him for the sake of the love he had once borne her, to slay her and her other sons with Huexotzincatzin, since life without her first-born was unbearable. But the stern old king still sat to all appearance unmoved and immovable, and coldly directed the attendant ladies to convey the wretched mother to her apartments.
The execution of the prince was delayed in every possible manner by those who had charge of it, in the hope that the king might even yet relent; but Nezahualpilli having been informed of this, immediately ordered that the sentence should be carried out without further delay. So Huexotzincatzin died. As soon as the news of his son's death was carried to the king, he shut himself up in certain apartments called the 'rooms of sorrow,' and there remained forty days, mourning for his first-born and seeing no one. The house of the late prince was then walled up, and none were allowed to enter it, and so all tokens of the unhappy young man were destroyed.[515]
MONTEZUMA AND THE FARMER.
Another anecdote, which is written in execrable Spanish by the native historian, Tezozomoc, may not be out of place here. It is told of the emperor Montezuma of Mexico, and the reader will at once recognize a resemblance between this and many other anecdotes with which he is familiar, where a bold and merited rebuke from a subject to his sovereign is received with respect and even favor.
It happened one summer, that the king, being wearied with the cares of government, went for rest and recreation to his country palace at Tacubaya. One day, when out shooting birds, he came to an orchard, and having told his attendants to remain outside, he entered alone. He succeeded in killing a bird, and as he was returning, bearing his game in his hand, he turned aside into a field where a remarkably fine crop of corn was growing. Having plucked a few ears, he went towards the house of the owner of the field, which stood hard by, for the purpose of showing him the ears that he had plucked, and of praising his crop, but as by law it was death to look upon the king's face, the occupants of the house had fled, and there was no one therein. Now the owner of the field had seen the king pluck the corn from afar off, and, notwithstanding it was against the law, he ventured to approach the monarch in such a way as to make the meeting appear accidental. Making a deep obeisance, he thus addressed the king: "How is it, most high and mighty prince, that thou hast thus stolen my corn? Didst thou not thyself establish a law that he who should steal one ear of corn, or its value, should suffer death?" And Montezuma answered: "Truly I did make such a law." Then said the farmer: "How is it then, that thou breakest thine own law?" And the king replied: "Here is thy corn, take back that which I have stolen from thee." But the owner of the field began to be alarmed at his own boldness, and tried to excuse himself, saying that he had spoken merely in jest, for, said he: "Are not my fields, and myself, and my wife, and my children, all thine, to do with as thou wilt;" and he refused to take back the ears of corn. Then the king took off his mantle of net-work and precious stones, which was called xiuhayatl and was worth a whole city, and offered it to the farmer, who at first was afraid to accept so precious a gift, but Montezuma insisted, so he took the mantle, promising to preserve it with great care as a remembrance of the king. When Montezuma returned to his attendants, the precious mantle was at once missed, and they began to inquire what had become of it; which the king perceiving, he told them that he had been set upon by robbers, when alone, who had robbed him of his mantle, at the same time he ordered them, upon pain of death, to say nothing more about the matter. The next day, having arrived at his royal palace in Mexico, when all his great nobles were about him, he ordered one of his captains to repair to Tacubaya, and inquire for a certain Xochitlacotzin, whom they should at once bring to his presence, but under penalty of death they should not injure or abuse him in any way. When the king's messengers told Xochitlacotzin their errand, he was greatly alarmed, and tried to escape, but they caught him, and telling him to fear nothing, for that the king was kindly disposed towards him, they brought him before Montezuma. The king, having bidden him welcome, asked him what had become of his mantle. At this the nobles who were present became much excited, but Montezuma quieted them, saying: "This poor man has more courage and boldness than any of you who are here, for he dared to speak the truth and tell me that I had broken my laws. Of such men have I greater need, than of those who speak only with honeyed words to me." Then having inquired what principal offices were vacant, he ordered his attendant lords to shelter and take care of Xochitlacotzin, who was henceforth his relative and one of the chief men of the realm. Afterwards he who had so lately been a poor farmer was given a principal house of Olac for his own, and it was long the boast of his descendants that they were relatives of Montezuma.[516]