[X-6] Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 175-7; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 37. Sahagun calls them Quetzalcoatl Teoteztlamacazqui, who was also high-priest of Huitzilopochtli, and Tlaloctlamacazqui, who was Tlaloc's chief priest; they were equals, and elected from the most perfect, without reference to birth. Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. iii., pp. 276-7. There are two inconsistencies in this, the only strong contradiction of the statement of the above, as well as several other authors, who form the authority of my text: first, Sahagun calls the first high-priest Quetzalcoatl Teotectlamacazqui, a name which scarcely accords with the title of Huitzilopochtli's high-priest; secondly, he ignores the almost unanimous evidence of old writers, who state that the latter office was hereditary in a certain district. 'Al Summo Pontìfice llamaban en la lengua mexicana Tehuatecolt.' Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. cxxxiii. 'El mayor de todos que es superlado, Achcauhtli.' Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 323. But this was the title of the Tlascaltec high-priest. 'A los supremos Sacerdotes ... llamauan en su antigua lengua Papas.' Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., p. 336. See also Chaves, Rapport, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série ii., tom. v., pp. 303-4.
[X-7] Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 177, 180; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 41; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iii., cap. xv.; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. cxxxiii.
[X-8] Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., pp. 218-19. Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., pp. 549-51, whose chief authority is Hernandez, and who is not very clear in his description, holds that the Mexicatlteohuatzin was the supreme priest, and that he also bore the title of Teotecuhtli, the rank of chief priest of Huitzilopochtli, and was the right hand minister of the king. Quetzalcoatl's high-priest he places next in rank, but outside of the political sphere. On one page he states that the high-priest was elected by the two chief men in the hierarchy, and on another he distinctly implies that the king made the higher appointments in order to control the church. The sacrificing priest, whom he evidently holds to be the same as the high-priest, he invests with the rank of generalissimo, and heir to the throne.
[X-9] Carbajal states that a temple bearing the name of the people, or their chief town, was erected in the metropolis, and attended by a body of priests brought from the province. Discurso, p. 110. This may, however, be a misinterpretation of Torquemada, who gives a description of a building attached to the chief temple at Mexico, in which the idols of subjugated people were kept imprisoned, to prevent them from aiding their worshipers to regain their liberty.
[X-10] Some authors seem to associate this office with that of the pontiff, but it appears that the high-priest merely inaugurated the sacrifices on special occasions. 'Era esta vna dignidad suprema, y entre ellos tenida en mucho, la qual se heredaua como cosa de mayorazgo. El ministro que tenia oficio de matar ... era tenido y reuerenciado como supreme Sacerdote, o Pontifice.' Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., p. 352. 'Era como decir, el Sumo Sacerdote, al qual, y no à otro, era dado este oficio de abrir los Hombres por los pechos, ... siendo comunmente los herederos, de este Patrimonio, y suerte Eclesiastica, los primogenitos.' Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 117. It is difficult to decide upon the interpretation of these sentences. The expression of his being 'held or reverenced as pontiff' certainly indicates that another priest held the office, so does the sentence, 'it was inherited by the first-born' of certain families. But the phrase, 'el Sumo Sacerdote, al qual y no à otro, era dado este oficio,' points very directly to the high-priest as the holder of the post.
[X-11] Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 178-9; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 37-9; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., pp. 218-26; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 551.
[X-12] Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 323-4. He describes the dress as 'vna ropa de algodon blanca estrecha, y larga, y encima vna manta por capa añudada al hombro.... Tiznaunse los dios festiuales, y quando su regla mandaua de negro las piernas,' etc.
[X-13] Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 39-40; Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., pp. 369-71. Brasseur de Bourbourg thinks that the teopatli was the ointment used at the consecration of the high-priest, but it is not likely that a preparation which served monks and invalids as body paint, would be applied to the heads of high-priests and kings. Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 558. Every priestly adornment had, doubtless, its mystic meaning. The custom of painting the body black was first done in honor of the god of Hades. Boturini, Idea, p. 117.
[X-14] See vol. ii., pp. 242, et seq.
[X-15] Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 189-91; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. vi., pp. 223-31; Motolinia, Hist. Indios, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., pp. 53-4. 'Sustentábanse del trabajo de sus manos ó por sus padres y parientes.' Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., p. 107.