Page:The Conquest of Mexico Volume 1.djvu/517



Page 324 (1).—This was not the sentiment of the Roman hero: "The gods approved the cause of the conquerors, but Cato was on the side of the conquered."—Lucan, lib. I, v. 128.

Page 327 (1).—"We were astonished," exclaims Diaz, with simple wonder, "and said that they were like the houses of faery which are mentioned in the book of Amadis!" (Ibid., loc. cit.) An edition of this celebrated romance in its Castilian dress had appeared before this time, as the prologue to the second edition of 1521 speaks of a former one in the reign of the "Catholic Sovereigns."—See Cervantes, Don Quixote, ed. Pellicer (Madrid, 1797), tom. i. Discurso Prelim.

Page 328 (1).—M. de Humboldt has dotted the conjectural limits of the ancient lake in his admirable chart of the Mexican Valley (Atlas Géographique et Physique de la Nouvelle Espagne [Paris, 1811] carte 3.) Notwithstanding his great care, it is not easy always to reconcile his topography with the itineraries of the Conquerors, so much has the face of the country been changed by natural and artificial causes. It is still less possible to reconcile their narratives with the maps of Clavigero, Lopez, Robertson, and others, defying equally topography and history.

Page 328 (2).—Several writers notice a visit of the Spaniards to Tezcuco on the way to the capital. (Torquemada, Monarch. Ind., lib. 4, cap. 42.—Solis, Conquista, lib. 3, cap. 9.—Herrera, Hist. General, dec. 2, lib. 7, cap. 4.—Clavigero, Stor. del Messico, tom. iii. p. 74.) This improbable episode,—which, it may be remarked, has led these authors into some geographical perplexities, not to say blunders,—is altogether too remarkable to have been passed over in silence in the minute relation of Bernal Diaz, and that of Cortés, neither of whom alludes to it.

Page 330 (1).—The earliest instance of a Garden of Plants in Europe is said to have been at Padua, in 1545.—Carli, Lettres Américaines, tom. i. let. 21.

Page 330 (2).— There Aztlan stood upon the farther shore; Amid the shade of trees its dwellings rose, Their level roofs with turrets set around, And battlements all burnished white, which shone Like silver in the sunshine. I beheld The imperial city, her far-circling walls, Her garden groves and stately palaces. Her templet mountain size, her thousand roofs; And when I saw her might and majesty, My mind misgave me then."

Page 331 (1).—He took about 600 warriors from Tlascala; and some few of the Cempoallan and other Indian allies continued with him. The Spanish force on leaving Vera Cruz amounted to about 400 foot and 15 horse. In the remonstrance of the disaffected soldiers, after the murderous Tlascalan combats, they speak of having lost fifty of their number since the beginning of the campaign.

Page 334 (1).—Among these towns were several containing from three to five or six thousand dwellings, according to Cortés, whose barbarous orthography in proper names will not easily be recognised by Mexican or Spaniard.—Rel. Seg., ap. Lorenzana, p. 78.

Page 334 (2).—It is not necessary, however, to adopt Herrera's account of 50,000 canoes, which, he says, were constantly employed in supplying the capital with provisions! (Hist. General, dec. 2, lib. 7, cap. 14.) The poet-chronicler Saavedra is more modest in his estimate: "More than two thousand canoes every day brought to the great city of Mexico every variety of provisions necessary for human sustenance."—El Peregrino Indiano, canto 11.