Page:The Native Races of the Pacific States, volume 2.djvu/169



by one of the high-priests, or by a noble noted for his eloquence, or by some delegate from the provinces who was an eloquent speaker, or possibly by some learned senator, or other person well versed in the art of speech-making. The language is constrained and quaint, and possibly tiresome, but as a specimen of Aztec oratory I give it in full, adhering to the sense, and as clearly as possible to the words of the original:

O king, most pitiful, most devout, and best beloved, more worthy to be esteemed than precious stones or choice feathers, thou art here by the will of the Lord our God, who has appointed thee to rule over us in the place of the kings thy ancestors, who, dying, have let fall from their shoulders the burden of government under which they labored, even as one who toils up a hill heavy-laden. Perchance these dead ones still remember and care for the land which they governed, now, by the will of God, a desert, in darkness, and desolate without a king; peradventure they look with pity upon their country, which is become a place of briars and barren, and upon their poor people who are orphans, fatherless and motherless, knowing not nor understanding those things which are best; who are unable to speak for dumbness, who are as a body without a head. He who has lately left us was strong and valorous: for a few short days he was lent to us, then like a vision he slipped from our midst, and his passing was as a dream, for the Lord our God hath called him to rest with the dead kings, his ancestors, who are to-day in a manner shut from our sight in a coffer. Thus was he gathered to his people, and is even now with our father and mother, the God of Hell, who is called Mictlantecutli. Will he, peradventure, return from the place to which he is gone? May it not be that he will come back to us? Gone is he forever, and his kingdom has lost him. Never again, through all coming time, may we see his face, nor those who come after us. He is gone from our sight forever. Our light is put out; we, whom he