[145] “Multi restiterunt lapidibus et iaculis confossi, fuit et Cortesius grauiter percussus, pauci evaserunt incolumes, et hi adeò languidi, vt neque lacertos erigere quirent. Postquam vero se in arcem receperunt, non commode satis conditas dapes, quibus reficerentur, inuenerunt, nec forte asperi maiicii panis bucellas, aut aquam potabilem, de vino aut carníbus sublata erat cura.” (Martyr, De Orbe Novo, dec. 5, cap. 6.) See also, for the hard fighting described in the last pages, Oviedo, Hist. de las Ind., MS., lib. 33, cap. 13,—Rel. Seg. de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, pp. 140-142,—Carta del Exército, MS.,—Gonzalo de las Casas, Defensa, MS., Parte 1, cap. 26,—Herrera, Hist. general, dec. 2, lib. 10, cap. 9, 10,—Gomara, Crónica, cap. 107.
[146] The sentiment is expressed with singular energy in the verses of Voltaire:
“Mais renoncer aux dieux que l’on croit dans son cœur,
C’est le crime d’un lâche, et non pas une erreur;
C’est trahir à la fois, sous un masque hypocrite,
Et le dieu qu’on préfère, et le dieu que l’on quitte;
C’est mentir au Ciel même, à l’univers, à soi.”
Alzire, acte 5, sc. 5.
[147] Camargo, the Tlascalan convert, says he was told by several of the Conquerors that Montezuma was baptized at his own desire in his last moments, and that Cortés and Alvarado stood sponsors on the occasion. “Muchos afirman de los conquistadores que yo conocí, que estando en el artículo de la muerte, pidió agua de batismo é que fué batizado y murió Cristiano, aunque en esto hay grandes dudas y diferentes paresceres; mas como digo que de personas fidedignas conquistadores de los primeros desta tierra de quien fuímos informados, supímos que murió batizado y Cristiano, é que fuéron sus padrinos del batismo Fernando Cortés y Don Pedro de Alvarado.” (Hist. de Tlascala, MS.) According to Gomara, the Mexican monarch desired to be baptized before the arrival of Narvaez. The ceremony was deferred till Easter, that it might be performed with greater effect. But in the hurry and bustle of the subsequent scenes it was forgotten, and he died without the stain of infidelity having been washed away from him. (Crónica, cap. 107.) Torquemada, not often a Pyrrhonist where the honor of the faith is concerned, rejects these tales as irreconcilable with the subsequent silence of Cortés himself, as well as of Alvarado, who would have been loud to proclaim an event so long in vain desired by them. (Monarch. Ind., lib. 4, cap. 70.) The criticism of the father is strongly supported by the fact that neither of the preceding accounts is corroborated by writers of any weight, while they are contradicted by several, by popular tradition, and, it may be added, by one another.
[148] “Respondió, Que por la media hora que le quedaba de vida, no se queria apartar de la religion de sus Padres.” (Herrera, Hist. general, dec. 2, lib. 10, cap. 10.) “Ya he dicho,” says Diaz, “la tristeza que todos nosotros huvímos por ello, y aun al Frayle de la Merced, que siempre estaua con él, y no le pudo atraer á que se bolviesse Christiano.” Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 127.
[149] Aunque no le pesaba dello; literally, “although he did not repent of it.” But this would be rather too much for human nature to assert; and it is probable the language of the Indian prince underwent some little change as it was sifted through the interpretation of Marina. The Spanish reader will find the original conversation, as reported by Cortés himself, in the remarkable document in the Appendix, No. 12. The general adds that he faithfully complied with Montezuma’s request, receiving his daughters, after the Conquest, into his own family, where, agreeably to their royal father’s desire, they were baptized, and instructed in the doctrines and usages of the Christian faith. They were afterwards married to Castilian hidalgos, and handsome dowries were assigned them by the government. See note 36 of this chapter.
[150] I adopt Clavigero’s chronology, which cannot be far from truth. (Stor. del Messico, tom. iii. p. 131.) And yet there are reasons for supposing he must have died at least a day sooner.
[151] “De suerte que le tiráron una pedrada con una honda y le diéron en la cabeza, de que vino á morir el desdichado Rey, habiendo gobernado este nuevo Mundo con la mayor prudencia y gobierno que se puede imaginar, siendo el mas tenido y reverenciado y adorado Señor que en el mundo ha habido, y en su linaje, como es cosa pública y notoria en toda la maquina deste Nuevo Mundo, donde con la muerte de tan gran Señor se acabáron los Reyes Culhuaques Mejicanos, y todo su poder y mando, estando en la mayor felicidad de su monarquía; y ansí no hay de que fiar en las cosas desta vida sino en solo Dios.” Hist. de Tlascala, MS.
[152] “Y Cortés lloró por él, y todos nuestros Capitanes, y soldados: é hombres huvo entre nosotros de los que le conociamos, y tratauamos, que tan llorado fué, como si fuera nuestro padre, y no nos hemos de maravillar dello, viendo que tan bueno era.” Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 126.
[153] “He loved the Christians,” says Herrera, “as well as could be judged from appearances.” (Hist. general, dec. 2, lib. 10, cap. 10.) “They say,” remarks the general’s chaplain, “that Montezuma, though often urged to it, never consented to the death of a Spaniard, nor to the injury of Cortés, whom he loved exceedingly. But there are those who dispute this.” (Gomara, Crónica, cap. 107.) Don Thoan Cano assured Oviedo that during all the troubles of the Spaniards with the Mexicans, both in the absence of Cortés and after his return, the emperor did his best to supply the camp with provisions. (See Appendix, No. 11.) And, finally, Cortés himself, in an instrument already referred to, dated six years after Montezuma’s death, bears emphatic testimony to the good will he had shown the Spaniards, and particularly acquits him of any share in the late rising, which, says the Conqueror, “I had trusted to suppress through his assistance.” (See Appendix, No. 12.)—The Spanish historians, in general,—notwithstanding an occasional intimation of a doubt as to his good faith towards their countrymen,—make honorable mention of the many excellent qualities of the Indian prince. Solís, however, the most eminent of all, dismisses the account of his death with the remark that “his last hours were spent in breathing vengeance and maledictions against his people; until he surrendered up to Satan—with whom he had frequent communication in his lifetime—the eternal possession of his soul!” (Conquista de México, lib. 4, cap. 15.) Fortunately, the historiographer of the Indians could know as little of Montezuma’s fate in the next world as he appears to have known of it in this. Was it bigotry, or a desire to set his own hero’s character in a brighter light, which led him thus unworthily to darken that of his Indian rival?