Page:Letters of Cortes to Emperor Charles V - Vol 1.djvu/365

Rh legend recounts further, that, in a war brought on by the same evil-spirit, the Toltecs were worsted. A universal famine followed upon the war, only to be succeeded by a terrible pestilence. Signs and portents foretold the destruction of the race, and Quetzalcoatl burned his house, buried his treasures in a secret place, and, despite the opposition of his adherents, left, called as he declared, by his master, to the mystic land of Tlapallan. His progress through the country was attended by prodigies and miracles until he reached Cholula, where he rested for twenty years, teaching the people, and pontificating in their great temple. But the enemy, hearing of this, prepared again to make war on the friends of Quetzalcoatl, who, to prevent this disaster, left with four disciples for the sea-coast. Here according to some versions, the waves parted, allowing him to pass, and according to others, he made himself a raft of serpents, and, spreading his mantle for a sail, was wafted away to the unknown east. Another legend describes him as causing his funeral pyre to be erected, from which his heart ascended into the skies, where it figures as the planet Venus.

The belief in his prophecy, that he or his representatives would one day return to re-establish and render triumphant his religious teachings, was wide-spread, and furnishes something of a parallel to the Messianic hope prevalent amongst the Jews, or to the expectation of a second visible coming of Christ on which the early Christians counted. He was to return as an avenger, and hence his coming was dreaded by the Aztecs, who believed in it so firmly that they carried on a cult to propitiate him, though their religious practices did violence to his humaner teachings.

The mysterious disappearance of the Toltecs from Anáhuac may have been caused by the war, famine, and pestilence, of this legend, and the remnant of the people may have made an exodus with their priestly leader, leaving their city to the victors, and thus might be explained the sudden disappearance of that people. While the material benefits which Quetzalcoatl brought to the Toltecs and Cholulans were readily enough assimilated, it is probable that his religious teachings were not widely diffused or properly understood by the mass of the people, and after his departure they rapidly became mixed with ancient superstitions. Christian doctrines became denaturalised and blended with pagan traditions, thus losing their significance and efficacy. The original, national cult of the Toltecs reasserted itself with the addition of some beliefs and ritual forms. The passage through Mexico of a few Christians under the leadership of one possessing the superior character and intelligence attributed to Quetzalcoatl would suffice to introduce new moral and religious ideas, and produce great changes in the beliefs of the more cultivated people; for the indubitable unity of all mankind is essentially a unity of spirit, which draws together widely diversified races, whose physical features are dissimilar, and whose customs are alien to one another.