MEETING OF CORTES AND MONTEZUMA
The entry was now made with his guest. The city was large and populous. According to the Spanish historians it had twenty thousand flat houses or adobes and a multitude of temples and palaces which in size and splendor exceeded anything ever seen before in the New World. One of the largest of these so-called palaces was assigned to Cortes as his headquarters, and Montezuma accompanied him there. As soon as they arrived he left, in order to have time for rest, as he said, and, as he was going away, begged Cortes to make himself as much at home as if he were among his own brethren.
Cortes stationed sentinels as usual and placed cannon at all the approaches to the palace and ordered his officers and soldiers not to relax their vigilance.
Chapter VIII
Religious Rites of the Mexicans—Human Sacrifices—The Natives Discover that the Spaniards are not Divine but Human
On the evening of the same day Montezuma and his brilliant retinue returned to make the first visit to their much honored guest. As soon as Cortes was notified of his approach, he went to the courtyard, received him with a low bow, and conducted him to his apartment. The Mexican Emperor seated himself familiarly and requested the general to be seated also. His attendants ranged themselves at the side of the room and the Spaniards did the same. Marina, the interpreter, was stationed near by, and the Emperor began a ceremonious address, in which he made a strenuous effort to remove any prejudice which Cortes might entertain against him, growing out of harmful reports. “Some have said,” he stated, “that I belong to the immortal gods, others have striven to calumniate me, representing me as a haughty and cruel tyrant. The first of these reports is as false as the other. The refutation of the one will expose the falsity of the other.” With these words, he bared his arm and requested Cortes to convince himself by sight and touch that he was made of flesh and blood like other men—a fact of which Cortes had no doubt. After this he continued his assurances that the reports of his tyranny, with which his enemies had sought to prejudice Cortes against him, were unfounded. After these preliminaries he expressed his sentiments as to the arrival of the Spaniards and the object of their visit in the following words:
“We know from traditions which have come down to us from old times that our ancestors came from a distant region and conquered those countries which are to-day subject to my authority. Their leader was the great Quetzalcoatl,[14] who, after he had established our Empire, left this part of the world again to take possession of other regions toward the east. But he prophesied that some time a people descended from him would come to us and change our laws and whole system of government. Now I see from all that has been told of your coming here, and from what I myself have observed, that you are the descendants of that great ancestor. For this reason I have received you not as strangers but as kindred, and declare to you that we recognize you as the representative of the great Eastern ruler and that your authority will not be disputed by me or my people.”
Cortes rejoiced at this news which was favorable to his intentions. He confirmed the superstitious Montezuma in his belief and satisfied him that the prophecy of the great Quetzalcoatl had been fulfilled and that he and his Spaniards were his descendants. “In the meantime,” he added, “while it is evident that the exalted monarch of the East, whose most humble servant I have the honor to be, has a just claim upon all your countries, yet he is too far away personally to assert his claim. He only desires of you and your people that you shall abandon your errors and accept the true faith which he has commissioned me to announce. You are living under a false religion. You are worshipping senseless blocks, made by your own hands. There is but one true God, and He has created and governs everything that is. This one Being, who is without beginning and without end, has made out of nothing the whole universe, the flaming sun which shines upon all, the earth and all that is in it, and the first man, from whom we are all descended. We are all obliged to recognize the First Cause of all things, and for that reason the King, my master, invites you, great Emperor, and all your people to accept these sentiments and maintain affectionate and brotherly relations with him. He desires you to enter into a friendly alliance which will always be of great advantage to you.”
Montezuma was visibly excited by Cortes’ address. It was so intolerable to hear his deities insulted that it was with difficulty he could restrain his impatience until Cortes ended. Then he arose somewhat hastily and replied that while he gratefully accepted the offer of friendly relations with a prince descended from Quetzalcoatl, these relations might be maintained without giving up his own deities for the God whom the Spaniards worshipped. With these words he closed the interview and, after bestowing some costly gifts, made his way back to his palace.
On the next day, accompanied by his leading officers, Cortes went with much ceremony for another interview with the Emperor. This one lasted longer than the first. Montezuma asked a hundred questions about the European mode of life, habits, and customs, but Cortes, who had not these matters so much at heart as the work of conversion, seized every opportunity to give the conversation a religious turn, and specially inveighed against the cruel custom of human sacrifices. At the close of the interview Montezuma exhibited to his guests the splendors of the temples. He conducted them to the largest of these, and the priests offered no objection to their admission upon condition that nothing unseemly should be done. Montezuma himself exhibited and explained everything to them. He told the names of the deities, the highest of which was called Bitzliputzli, and described the worship which was paid to each of them. As these heathenish rites were inexpressibly shocking, Cortes asked permission to place the Cross of Christ in the temple, thinking that it would soon convince them that their deities were powerless. Montezuma listened to the proposal with the greatest displeasure, and the priests with amazement. The Emperor soon recovered his composure, however, and merely replied that he had expected his guests would show the same respect for the place where they were that they had shown to him. With these words he passed out, telling the Spaniards they were at liberty to repair to their own quarters, but as for himself he would remain to ask pardon of his deities for his extraordinary patience.