When the city could no longer hold out against its besiegers, Guatimozin, moved by the tears and entreaties of his nobles, attempted to escape, but was taken and brought back to the capital. When led before his conqueror, he addressed him in a speech, breathing a Roman heroism: “I have done what became a monarch. I have defended my people to the last extremity. Nothing now remains but to die. Take this dagger—plant it in my breast, and put an end to a life which can no longer be of use.” It would have been well for him if this request had been complied with; but he was reserved for further indignities.
The quantity of gold and silver found in the conquered city was very small. The soldiers murmured loudly at their disappointment, and accused Guatimozin of having thrown his treasures into the lake, in order to baulk their well-known avarice. They demanded that he should be compelled by torture, if necessary, to point out the place in which they had been cast; and to this, Cortez was base enough to accede. The captive monarch, together with one of his chief favorites, was put to the torture; but he remained inflexible. The favorite, in the extremity of his anguish, turned an imploring eye towards his master, as if to entreat permission to reveal the secret. “Am I now reposing on a bed of flowers?” returned the suffering prince, darting at him a look of scorn, mingled with authority. The obedient servant bowed his head in silence, and expired; and Cortez, ashamed of his cruelty, ordered the monarch to be released from further torture.
But the sufferings of the unhappy Guatimozin were not yet terminated: not long after the capture of the city, the natives, driven to desperation by the cruelties of their conquerors, rose to regain their freedom; and Cortez, suspecting the king of being concerned in these attempts, barbarously ordered him to be hanged; and thus, by a deed which will forever stain the memory of his great actions, he put an end to the Mexican empire, which had existed for nearly 200 years. After this period, the vast territories of Mexico were reduced to Spanish provinces, in which condition they remained nearly 300 years, when the people formed independent governments. The republics of Mexico, Texas, and Guatemala, are all within the territories of Montezuma.
Rebekah and the servant of Abraham.
Isaac and Rebekah.
Among the many beautiful things in the Bible, there are few stories more interesting than that of Isaac and Rebekah, as it is told in the twenty-fourth chapter of Genesis.
Isaac was the son of Abraham, who had left his native place in Mesopotamia, and settled in the land of Canaan. Abraham was unwilling that his son should marry a Canaanite woman; so he sent his servant to his own native land, to find a wife for Isaac. The man set out with ten camels, and a great variety of things for presents, and at last came near to the city of Nahor, in Mesopotamia.
He stopped at a well without the city, and made his camels kneel by the side of it. He knew that the daughters of the men of the city would come out to draw water at the well, for this was the custom of the country; so he waited, and prayed to the Lord that the damsel to whom he should say, “Let down thy pitcher, I pray thee, that I may drink,” should be the woman designed to be the wife of Isaac.
Pretty soon a beautiful girl came to the well, and the servant spoke to her, and she let down her pitcher, and gave him some water; and she also gave water to his camels. She told him that her name was Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel, son of Milcah. The servant then gave her some golden ear-rings and some bracelets; and, upon her invitation, went, with his whole party, to her father’s house. Here he was kindly received; and after a space, he told the errand on which he had come. He closed his story in the following words: “And now, if ye will deal kindly and truly with my master, tell me: and if not, tell me; that I may turn to the right hand, or to the left.”