Page:Mexico, Aztec, Spanish and Republican, Vol 1.djvu/121

Rh and seducer of their race bore the inauspicious title of Tlaleatecolototl, or the "Rational Owl." The dark, nocturnal deeds of this ominous bird, probably indicated its greater fitness for the typification of wickedness than of wisdom, of which the Greeks had flatteringly made it the symbol, as the pet of Minerva. These supreme spiritual essences were surrounded by a numerous court of satellites or lesser deities, who were perhaps the ministerial agents by which the behests of Teotl were performed. There was Huitzilopotchtli, the god of war, and Teoyaomiqui, his spouse, whose tender duties were confined to conducting the souls of warriors who perished in defence of their homes and shrines, into the "house of the sun," which was the Aztec heaven. The image in the plate, presented in front and in profile, is alleged to represent this graceful female, though it gives no idea of her holy offices. Tetzcatlipoca was the shining mirror, the god of providence, the soul of the world, creator of heaven and earth, and master of all things. Ometcuctli and Omecihuatl, a god and goddess presided over new born children, and, reigning in Paradise, benignantly granted the wishes of mortals. Cihuacohuatl, or, woman-serpent, was regarded as the mother of human beings. Tonatricli and Meztli were deifications of the sun and moon. Quetzalcoatl and Tlaloc were deities of the air and of water, whilst Xiuhteuctli was the god of fire to whom the first morsel and the first draught at table were always devoted by the Aztecs. Mictlanteuctli and Joalteuctli were the gods of hell and night, while the generous goddess of the earth and grain who was worshipped by the Totonacos as an Indian Ceres, enjoyed the more euphonious title of Centeotl. Huitzilopotchtli or Mexitli, the god of war, was an especial favorite with the Aztecs, for it was this divinity according to their legends who had led them from the north, and protected them during their long journey until they settled in the valley of Mexico. Nor did he desert them during the rise and progress of their nation. Addicted as they were to war, this deity was always invoked before battle and was recompensed for the victories he bestowed upon his favorite people by bloody hecatombs of captives taken from the enemies of the empire. We have already spoken of this personage in the portion of this work which treats of the Spanish conquest of Mexico.

If the Mexicans had their gods, so also had they their final abodes of blessedness and misery. Soldiers who were slain in conflict for their country or who perished in captivity, and the