Page:Vol 1 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/460

340 kept in his own palace, regretting that he had not more to give; but previous offerings had diminished what he possessed. "When you transmit it to your king," he said, "tell him that it comes from his good

its glories as inherited by his ancestors, the kings of Tezcuco. The remaining 19 chapters relate to the conquest by the Spaniards, and are incomplete. It is the most carefully written of the series, elaborated partly from previous manuscripts, partly from fresh researches, while the account of the conquest rests also on the testimony of eye-witnesses, reinforced by additions from Gomara and other sources, as he admits on pp. 300, 303. An allusion to

Torquemada shows that it could not have been completed before 1615, and it was probably his last work. More than one copy is extant, from one of which Ternaux-Compans printed a French translation, while the best issue, that of Kingsborough, is after a copy from Veytia. The material has been largely used, and Veytia's ''Hist. Ant. Mej''. may be said to rest upon it. The more important of the other writings are, Sumaria Relacion de todas las cosas en la Nueva-España, y que los tultecas alcanzaron, in 5 relations, which treat of the mythical period from the creation of the world, according to native tradition, to the fall of the Toltecs; Historia de los Señores Chichimecas, in 12 relations, which brings the history down to the Spanish conquest; Noticias de los pobladores y naciones de Nueva España, in 13 relations; the first 12 quite short, and relating to native peoples; the last of considerable length, and dwelling on the conquest. Cárlos María de Bustamante published the 13th relation in separate form, to which, under an excess of patriotic zeal, he gave the abnormal title of Horribles Crueldades de los Conquistadores, Mexico, 1829. Notes were appended, and considerable liberties taken with text, so as to increase the odium against the conquerors. Ternaux-Compans included a French translation of it in his collection. Kingsborough has printed eleven shorter pieces by Ixtlilxochitl, and a few more are attributed to his pen, as a translation of Nezahualcoyotl's poems, a fragment of the same king's biography, and a history of the Virgin of Guadalupe; but the last two are doubtful. Several of the pieces are mere repetitions and summaries under different titles, connected with the author's pleadings, while the 13th relation may be termed a cleverly prepared biography of his great namesake, from the exaggerated prominence given to his services for the Spanish cause. Prescott's several blunders on this and other points are probably due as much to a want of access to sufficient material as to a hasty study.

Throughout these writings are evidences of the patriotic spirit which prompted Ixtlilxochitl in the study and translation of the painted records of his people; and every now and then gleams forth a very natural hatred of the Spanish oppressor, so marked indeed as once to call forth the condemnation of an official censor. Otherwise the narrative of events connected with the conquerors are closely masked; for the sake of private aims and the common fear of the white masters. As a consequence many troublesome facts are hidden and many questions smoothed to the detriment of history. The narratives are also extremely confusing in dates, and to a great extent in arrangement, while the interest is diminished by trivial details and improbable stories. But these were the faults of his time rather than of himself. He did wonderfully well in grappling with misty traditions, enveloped as they were in the intricate mazes of hieroglyphics. And he is justly entitled to our admiration, and to the gratitude of his countrymen, for rescuing from now unattainable sources so large a mass of material to illustrate the glories of his race. His style indicates a scholar from whom even his Spanish contemporaries might have taken lessons, for the language is exceedingly clear for this period, and full of graceful sentences and striking descriptions, rendering him not unworthy to be called the Livy and the Cicero of Anáhuac, as Prescott and Bustamante respectively entitle him.