Page:The Conquest of Mexico Volume 1.djvu/475



Page 50 (1).—The Tezcucan priest would fain have persuaded the good king Nezahualcoyotl, on occasion of a pestilence, to appease the gods by the sacrifice of some of their own subjects, instead of his enemies; on the ground that, no only they would be obtained more easily, but would fresher victims, and more acceptable.—(Ixtlixochitl, Hist. Chich., MS. Cap. 41.) This writer mentions a cool arrangement entered into by the by the allied monarchs with the republic of Tlascala and her confederates. A battlefield was marked out, on which the troops of the hostile nations were to engage at stated seasons, and thus supply themselves with subjects for sacrifice. The victorious party was not to pursue his advantage by invading the others' territory and they were to continue, in all other respects, on the most amicable footing.—(Ubi supra.) The historian, who follows in the track of the Tezcucan chronicler, may often find occasion to shelter himself, like Ariosto, with

Page 51 (1).—Rel. d'un gent., ap. Ramusio, tom. iii. fol. 307. Among other instances, is that of Chimalpopoca, third king of Mexico, who doomed himself, with a number of his lords, to his death, to wipe off an indignity offered him by a brother monarch.—(Torquemada, Monarch. Ind. lib. 2, cap. 28.) This was the law of honour with the Aztecs.

Page 51 (2).—Voltaire, doubtless intends this when he says, "Ils n'étaient point anthropophages, comme un tres petit nombre de peuplades Américaines."—(Essai sur les lei Mœurs, chap. 148.)

Page 52 (1).—No doubt the ferocity of character engendered by their sanguinary rites greatly facilitated their conquests. Machiavelli attributes to a similar cause, in part, the military successes of the Romans. (Diacorsi topra T. Livio, lib. 2, cap. 2.) The same chapter contains some ingenious reflections—much more ingenious than candid—on the opposite tendencies of Christianity.

Page 55 (1).—"An Egyptian temple," says Denon, strikingly, "is an open volume, in which the teachings of science, morality, and the arts are recorded. Everything seems to speak one and the same language, and breathes one and the same spirit." The passage is cited by Herrera, Hist. Res., vol. V. p. 178.

Page 56 (1).—Divine Legation, ap. Works (London, 1811), vol. iv. b. 4, sec. 4. The bishop of Gloucester, in his comparison of the various hieroglyphical systems of the world, shows his characteristic sagacity and boldness by announcing opinions little credited then, though since established. He affirmed the existence of an Egyptian alphabet, but was not aware of the phonetic property of hieroglyphics,—the great literary discovery of our age.

Page 57 (1).—It appears that the hieroglyphics on the most recent monuments of Egypt contain no larger infusion of phonetic characters than those which existed eighteen centuries before Christ; showing no advance, in this respect, for twenty-two hundred years!—(See Champollion, Précis du Système Hiéroglyphique des Anciens Egyptiens [Paris, 1824], pp. 242, 281.) It may seem more strange that the enchorial alphabet, so much more commodious, should not have been substituted. But the Egyptians were familiar with their hieroglyphics from infancy, which, moreover, took the fancies of the most illiterate, probably in the same manner as our children are attracted and taught by the picture-alphabets in an ordinary spelling-book.

Page 57 (2).—Descripcion Histórica y Cronológica de las Dos Piedras (Mexico, 1832), Parte 2, P-39

Page 58 (1).—Ibid., pp. 32, 44.—Acosta, lib. 6, cap. 7. The continuation of Gama's work, recently edited by Bustamente, in Mexico, contains, among other things, some interesting remarks on the Aztec hieroglyphics. The editor has rendered a good service by this further publication of the writings of this estimable scholar, who has done more than any of hit countrymen to explain the mysteries of Aztec science.