[13-14.] Iztaccíhual and Popocatepec are the popular names of these mountains, but their official names are Iztaccíhuatel and Popocatépetel. These words are of Nahuatlan origin: see in Vocab.
[16—18.] do... teñirse = donde el indio ledo los mira teñirse en púrpura ligera y oro.
[181.—3.] This poem was written in the fourth decade of the nineteenth century, when Mexico was torn by civil war. There was peace only when some military leader assumed despotic power.
[21.] Note that the moon set behind Popocatepec, a little to the south of west from Cholula, while the sun sank behind Iztaccíhual, a little to the north of west from the city. This might well occur in summer.
[182.—14.] Fueron (lit. they were), they are no more. In this Latinism the preterit denotes that a thing or condition that once existed no longer exists. Cf. fuit Ilium (Æneid, II, 325), "Troy is no more."
[186.—4-5.] Que... seguir = que, en su vuelo, la turbada vista quiere en vano seguir.
[190.]—"Plácido": see note to p. 179.
[Plegaria á Dios]: this beautiful prayer was written a few days before the poet's death. It is said that "Plácido" recited aloud the last stanza on his way to the place of execution, and that he slipped to a friend in the crowd a scrap of cloth on which the prayer was written.
[191.—4]. del... transparencia = á (in) la clara transparencia del aire.
Avellaneda: see [Introduction], p. xxxviii.