The Native Races [of the Pacific states], Volume 5, Primitive History

The Chalcas whom we have often found fighting, now on the side of the Acolhuas, now on the side of the Tepanecs, but always hating the Mexicans most bitterly, seem to have managed their alliances so shrewdly up to this time, as to have avoided becoming involved in the ruin that at different times had overwhelmed the leading powers of Anáhuac. Since the formation of the new alliance, in which they had no part, their soldiers had fought many skirmishes with the allied forces, but the latter had made no united effort to conquer them. Having become numerous and powerful, the Chalcas now dared, in 1443, to measure their strength against the allies, their chief purpose being to humble Mexico. They provoked hostilities by seizing and putting to death a party of noble young men who were hunting near their frontier. The party included some members of the Mexican royal family, and two sons of Nezahualcoyotl. The dead bodies of the latter were embalmed and made to do service in the palace of Toteotzin, lord of Chalco, as torch-bearers. The effect of such an indignity was immediate, and brought upon the perpetrators the whole strength of the allied kings. The Mexicans and Tepanecs approached by water, the Acolhuas by land; they were met by the Chalca army, and for several weeks the conflict raged fiercely without decisive advantage on either side. Kings Montezuma and Totoquihuatzin commanded in person; Nezahualcoyotl's forces were under his two eldest sons. Another son, Axoquentzin, only about seventeen years old, performed prodigies of valor and turned the tide of victory. Visiting his brothers in camp, he was about to eat with them, when they ridiculed his youth and told him that was no place for a boy who had done no deed of valor. Ashamed and angry, he seized arms and rushed alone against the enemy, taking captive one of their mightiest warriors – their aged lord Toteotzin himself, Ixtlilxochitl says – and creating a panic which caused ultimate defeat. The victory was complete, the Chalca army was scattered, the city taken and made tributary to the central powers, although these people were able subsequently to cause the victors much trouble. Nezahualcoyotl was so angry at the murder of his sons that for once he shared to some extent the bloodthirsty spirit of the Aztecs, and gladly gave up the Chalca captives, among whom was their chief, to the sacrificial block.⁶⁶⁸

CONQUEST OF TLATELULCO

The exact status of Tlatelulco under the tri-partite alliance is not clearly recorded; but the inferior position accorded that city had doubtless caused much jealousy and dissatisfaction, which had already produced some trouble, though not open rupture, between the two kings, if we may suppose Quauhtlatohuatzin to have been at this date considered as a king. During Montezuma's absence in the Chalca war, the Tlatelulca chief ventured so far as to engage in plots against the existing state of things; Montezuma, on his return declared war; the people were reduced to submission, their ruler was killed, and Moquihuix, supposed to be in the interests of the Mexicans, was put in his place.⁶⁶⁹ On his return from the Chalca war, and while Montezuma was punishing the treason of the Tlatelulca chief, Nezahualcoyotl was engaged in quelling a revolt in the northern province of Tulancingo, where the rebels had burned some towns and driven out the Acolhua garrisons. The province was now finally conquered and joined to the domain of Acolhuacan under royal governors. Nezahualcoyotl is also said to have founded a new town in this region, and sent colonists from Tezcuco to dwell in it.⁶⁷⁰

The rich provinces of Cohuixco and Mazatlan, just south of Anáhuac and of the province of Quauhnahuac, at the time the southern limit of Mexican conquest, had long been coveted by the Aztec kings; and in 1448 the desired opportunity presented itself. The Cohuixcas attacked and put to death a large number of traveling merchants from Mexico, provoked to the outrage doubtless by the arbitrary conduct of the latter, who deemed that the great power of their own nation freed them from all obligation to obey the laws of nations which they visited. The murder of the traders was more than a sufficient cause of war to the belligerent allies, and by a campaign concerning which no details are recorded, the two provinces, or at least most of their towns, were conquered and annexed as tributaries to the Aztec domains.⁶⁷¹ During the following years the Aztecs were called upon to suspend their foreign conquests and to struggle at home against water and snow and frost and drought and famine, foes that well nigh gained the mastery over these hitherto invincible warriors. In 1449 heavy and continuous rains so raised the waters of the lake as to inundate the streets of Tenochtitlan, destroying many buildings and even causing considerable loss of life. The misfortune was bravely met; the genius of Nezahualcoyotl, the engineering skill of the valley, and the whole available laboring force of the three kingdoms were called into requisition to guard against a recurrence of the flood. A dike, stretching from north to south in crescent form, was constructed for a distance of seven or eight miles, separating the waters of the lake into two portions, that on the Mexican side being comparatively independent of the fresh water flowing into the lake in the rainy season. The dike was built by driving a double line of piles, the interior space being filled with stones and earth, the whole over thirty, or, as many authors say, sixty feet wide, and forming a much-frequented promenade. This work may be considered a great triumph of aboriginal engineering, especially when we consider the millions spent by the Spaniards under the best European engineers in protecting the city, hardly more effectually, against similar inundations. The Chalcas seem to have taken advantage of the troubles in Mexico to revolt, but were easily brought into subjection by an army under Montezuma.⁶⁷²

FAMINE AND PLAGUES

The famine and other plagues already alluded to began two years later, and continued for a period of six years.⁶⁷³ The authorities do not altogether agree respecting the exact order of the visitations, but severe frosts, a heavy fall of snow, long-continued drought, consequent failure of all crops, famine, and epidemic pestilence are mentioned by all. All the valley and many provinces without its limits were visited by the famine; indeed, Totonacapan, or northern Vera Cruz, is reported to have been the only part of the country that entirely escaped its effects. The suffering and mortality among the lower classes were terrible; the royal granaries were thrown open by order of Nezahualcoyotl and Montezuma, but the supply of maize was soon exhausted, and the fish, reptiles, birds, and insects of the lakes were the only sources of food. Thousands of the poor sold themselves into slavery, some at home, others in foreign provinces, to obtain barely food enough to sustain life. Several Mexican colonies attribute their origin to this period of want. The rulers could not prevent the sale of slaves, but they forbade children to be sold at less rates than four or five hundred ears of corn each, according as they were boys or girls. This national disaster was, of course, attributed to the anger of the gods, and the utmost efforts were made to conciliate their irate divinities by the only efficacious means known, the sacrifice of human victims. But since fighting and conquest had ceased, such victims were exceedingly scarce. Nezahualcoyotl would allow none but prisoners of war to be sacrificed in his dominions, arguing that such forfeited their lives by being defeated, and that it made but little difference to them whether they died on the field of battle or on the sacrificial altar. Moreover, only strong soldiers were believed to be acceptable to the gods in such an emergency; the sickly and famishing plebeians and slaves could not by their worthless lives avert the divine wrath. The result of this difficulty was one of the most extraordinary compacts known in the world's history. It was agreed in a solemn treaty that between the Mexicans, Tepanecs, and Acolhuas in the valley, and the Cholultecs, Tlascaltecs, and Huexotzincas of the eastern plateaux, battles should take place at regular intervals, on battle-grounds set apart for this purpose, between foes equal in number, for the sole purpose of obtaining captives for sacrifice. Such battles were actually fought during the years of famine, and perhaps in later years, although the almost constant wars rendered such a resort rarely necessary. In the last years of the famine Nezahualcoyotl laid the foundations of a great teocalli at Tezcuco, in 1455 the tying-up of the cycle and the renewal of the sacred fire were celebrated, and the following year of 1456 was one of great abundance. The time of want and disaster was at last completed; a period of plenty and prosperity ensued.⁶⁷⁴

CONQUEST OF MIZTECAPAN

With returning plenty and prosperity at home, came back the spirit of foreign conquest. The first to fall before the allied forces was the province of Cohuaixtlahuacan, or Upper Miztecapan, lying in the south-west, in what is now Oajaca, and adjoining that of Mazatlan, which had already been added to the Aztec domain. As in the case of the last-mentioned province and of many others, ill-treatment of Mexican traders was the alleged motive of the war. The Miztec king, called Dzawindanda in his own country and Atonaltzin by the Mexicans, had caused many of the traveling merchants to be put to death and had finally forbidden the whole fraternity to trade in or to pass through his territory. There is every reason to believe that this prohibition was merited by the conduct of the Mexicans. At this time, and still more so in later years, the monarchs of Anáhuac made use of their merchants as spies to report upon the wealth and power of different provinces, to ascertain the best methods of attack, and to provoke a quarrel when the conquest had once been determined upon. The province of Miztecapan was a rich field of traffic and was moreover on the route to the rich commercial towns on the southern coast of Anáhuac Ayotlan, where the products of the countries both north and south of the isthmus were offered for sale at the great fairs. The Mexicans attended these fairs in companies which were well armed and were little less than small armies, trusting in their own strength and that of their sovereign, and showing but little respect for the laws of provinces traversed. Atonaltzin was a proud and powerful ruler, and was not at all unwilling to measure his strength against that of the central nations. Montezuma sent an embassy to hear his complaints; Atonaltzin sent back by the same embassy a great quantity of valuable gifts, samples, as he said, of the tribute the Mexicans might expect if they should succeed in conquering his armies in the war which must decide which king was to pay tribute to the other. Montezuma's reply was to march at the head of a large army towards Tilantongo, the capital of Cohuaixtlahuacan. The result was that the allied forces were utterly routed and driven back with great loss to their home. Montezuma had underrated the strength of his adversary and had undertaken the conquest without sufficient preparation.

A few months were now spent in new preparations on both sides for a renewal of the struggle. The Aztecs in some way formed a secret alliance with the lord of Tlachquiauhco, near Tilantongo, who was an enemy to Atonaltzin. The Miztecs on the other hand obtained aid from the Tlascaltecs and Huexotzincas, who before the Aztec alliance had been the leading traders of the country, and who were jealous of the commercial enterprise shown and success achieved by their rivals. The war began with an assault by the Miztec leader and his eastern allies on Tlachquiauhco; but the Mexicans, Acolhuas, and Tepanecs, under Montezuma, inflicted this time as severe a defeat as they had suffered before; Atonaltzin was forced to surrender, and the whole province was annexed to the domain of the victors, as were Tochtepec, Zapotlan, Tototlan, and Chinantla, soon after. The auxiliary army of the Tlascaltecs and Huexotzincas was almost annihilated. The record closes with a romantic episode of Montezuma's love for Atonaltzin's queen; the Miztec king was killed shortly after by his own subjects, not improbably at the instigation of the Aztecs, and the assassins brought his queen with the news of his death to Mexico. A palace was built for her, but she is said to have resisted the Aztec monarch's ardor, and to have remained faithful to her first husband. The conquest of Cozamaloapan and Quauhtochco, also in the Miztec region, followed during the same year and the following, provoked as before by the pretended murder of traveling merchants.⁶⁷⁵

CONQUEST OF CUETLACHTLAN

Elated by their success in the south-west, the allied kings next turned their attention toward the south-eastern province of Cuetlachtlan, in what is now central Vera Cruz, lying between the Aztec possessions and the thriving commercial towns of the Xicalancas on the gulf coast in the Goazacoalco region. According to Veytia, Torquemada, and Clavigero, the chiefs of the province, incited by the Tlascaltecs and promised aid by them and the other cities of the eastern plateau, declared or adopted measures to provoke the war. Duran and Tezozomoc, on the contrary, represent the Mexicans as having sent an embassy to the south-eastern provinces, demanding a tribute of rare shells, or even of live shell-fish, and threatening war as an alternative. The ambassadors were to include the Totonac territory in their demands, but were seized and murdered in Cuetlachtlan, their dead bodies being subjected to great indignities, at the instigation of the Tlascaltecs. The army immediately dispatched from the lake cities was one of the strongest which had yet fought for the glory of the Aztec alliance, and numbered among its leaders three Mexican princes, Ahuitzotl, Axayacatl, and Tizoc, who afterwards occupied the throne, and Moquihuix the ruler of Tlatelulco. The alliance of the Olmec province with Tlascala and the other cities seems not to have been known at Mexico when the army began its march, and when it became known excited so much apprehension that orders were sent to the generals in command to fall back and postpone the conflict until further preparations could be made. All were disposed to obey the royal command, save Moquihuix, who bravely announced his purpose to attack and defeat the enemy with his Tlatelulca soldiers unaided. His enthusiasm had an electric effect on the whole army; there was no longer any thought of retreat; the battle was fought in disobedience of orders, near Ahuilizapan, now Orizava; the army of the enemy was defeated; the Aztecs were masters of a broad tract, extending from Anáhuac south-eastward to the sea; and over six thousand captives were brought back to die on the sacrificial block. Duran and Tezozomoc state that the nations of the eastern plateau did not give the aid they had promised, treacherously leaving the province of Cuetlachtlan to its fate; but this is consistent neither with the character nor interests of the Tlascaltecs, and it is more likely that their army shared the defeat. The victors were received at Mexico with the highest honors, the kings, priests, and nobles marching out to meet them; the leaders were rewarded for their bravery with lands and honors, particularly Moquihuix, who received besides the hand of a Mexican princess nearly related to the royal family; and the blood of the six thousand captives furnished an offering most acceptable to the gods at the dedication of a temple that had just been completed.

A revolt of the province of Cuetlachtlan is recorded by Duran and Tezozomoc at a later date not definitely fixed, when the Mexican governor was murdered, the payment of tribute suspended, and the ambassadors sent to ascertain the cause of such suspension, shut up in a tight room and suffocated with burning chile. The Tlascaltecs, as before, offered aid which was not forthcoming; the guilty parties were put to death by order of the Aztec monarchs, and the tributes of the province were doubled.⁶⁷⁶

REVOLT OF THE CHALCAS

The Chalcas never missed an opportunity for revolt, and did not fail to take advantage of the events which obliged the hated Aztecs to give their whole attention to foreign wars. During the war in Cuetlachtlan, they are said to have defied the Aztec power by refusing certain blocks of stone from their quarries needed for building-purposes in the capital, and also to have seized and imprisoned several Mexicans of high rank. Among the latter was a brother of Montezuma, whom, according to several authorities, they offered to make king of Chalco; he refused to betray his country, but at last, influenced by entreaties and threats, pretended to consent. At his request a high platform was erected for the performance of certain ceremonies designed to fire the hearts of the Chalcas in the new cause; but from its summit the captive prince denounced the treachery of his captors, called upon the Mexicans to avenge him, predicted the defeat and slavery of the people of Chalco, and threw himself headlong to the earth below. The total annihilation of this uncontrollable people was determined upon by the kings of Mexico, Tezcuco, and Tlacopan; and a peculiar air of mystery enshrouds the war which followed. During the whole period of preparation, of conflict, and of victory, the people of the capital engaged in solemn processions, chants, prayers, sacrifices, and other rites in honor of the Aztecs who had perished in past Chalca wars. Signal fires blazed on the hills and in the watch-towers; and it is even said that the gods sent an earthquake to warn the Chalcas of their impending doom. The battle raged for a whole day before the fated city and the Aztecs were at last victorious, as they had been in a previous war against the same city. Great numbers of the enemy fell in battle or were put to the sword during the pursuit; the almost deserted town was entered by the Aztec army; surviving Chalcas were scattered in all directions; many took refuge in the cities of the eastern plateau, others perished in the mountains rather than to submit to their hated foe; but enough were finally pardoned by Montezuma and allowed to return to their city to cause not a little trouble in later years.⁶⁷⁷

Other events recorded as having occurred before 1460 are few in number. The most important was the conquest and annexation to the Tezcucan domain of many towns in the north-eastern provinces of Tziauhcohuac, Atochpan, and Cuextlan, the home of the Huastecs in the Pánuco region on the gulf coast. In this campaign the allied troops were under two of Nezahualcoyotl's sons, and this was the only important addition to the Acolhua possessions since the date of the tri-partite alliance; yet there is no evidence that Nezahualcoyotl expressed or felt any dissatisfaction at the rapid growth of the Mexican domain; he was not ambitious of conquest, and doubtless received his full share of other spoils and of tribute. At about the same time the Mexicans conquered several strong cities on the southern edge of the Cholultec plateau, such as Tepeaca, Quauhtinchan, and Acatzingo, thus threatening the independence of the eastern republics; outrages on traveling merchants were as usual the real or pretended excuse for these conquests. Tenochtitlan and Tlatelulco had now grown so far beyond their original limits as to form really but one city, the boundary line being a narrow and shallow ditch. This ditch was now deepened and widened at the joint expense of the two powers, and formed into a navigable canal. Great improvements were also made, particularly in the market buildings of Tlatelulco, which had now become the commercial headquarters of the whole country north of Tehuantepec. The commercial interests of the empire had been most jealously promoted by the reigning monarchs, and the Aztec merchants had contributed no less than the Aztec armies to the glory and prosperity of their nation.⁶⁷⁸

BIRTH OF NEZAHUALPILLI

In 1463 Nezahaulcoyotl married a daughter of the king of Tlacopan, obtaining her hand, if we may credit Ixtlilxochitl and Torquemada, in a manner that reflected no credit on his honor. She had been from an early age the wife of Temictzin, a Tlatelulca general, somewhat advanced in years, but the marriage had not yet been consummated on account of her youth. The Acolhua monarch desiring by marriage to leave a legitimate heir to the throne, and becoming enamored of the young Azcaxochitl's charms, sent her husband away to the wars, and managed to have him killed. After her period of mourning was past, the fair Azcaxochitl was made queen of Tezcuco; the nuptial feasts lasted eighty days among great rejoicings of nobles and people; and within a year the queen gave birth to Nezahualpilli, the emperor's only legitimate son and his successor.⁶⁷⁹ The year 1465 is given as the date of the final submission of the Chalcas; that is the surrender and return to the city of the last bands that had since their defeat lived under chieftains of their own choice in the mountains, and kept up some show of hostility to Mexico.⁶⁸⁰ In 1466, the causeway and aqueduct extending from Chapultepec to Mexico, and supplying the capital with pure water through a pipe of burned clay, were completed. This work had been planned by Nezahualcoyotl during his residence at Mexico, and had been commenced by Itzcoatl. Work was continually pushed forward on the grand temple of Huitzilopochtli, and many teocallis were built at this period in each of the three allied capitals. One in Tezcuco is particularly mentioned, which was very richly decorated with gold and precious stones, and was dedicated by Nezahualcoyotl to the invisible god of the universe. This pyramid was completed in 1467, but, according to the Codex Chimalpopoca, fell as soon as finished. It was necessary to rebuild the structure, and that it might be done rapidly, the Tezcucan monarch called upon Montezuma for laborers from his tributary city of Zumpango and other northern towns. The permission was given, but the people of Zumpango refused to send workmen, and raised a revolt, which was, however, quelled by the Acolhua forces in a short campaign.⁶⁸¹

MISSION TO CHICOMOZTOC

A remarkable story told by Duran and attributed to the reign of Montezuma I., may be introduced here as well as anywhere, although it is more than doubtful whether it should receive any credit as a historic record. In the midst of the glory acquired by his valor, Montezuma determined to send an armed force to the region of the Seven Caves whence his people came. Though armed they were to bear rich presents, with orders to explore the country and search for the mother of Huitzilopochtli, who if yet alive would be pleased to know of her son's prosperity and glory, and would gladly receive the gifts of his chosen people. The intention was made known to Tlacaeleltzin – a famous prince who seems to be identical with Montezuma before the latter became king, but of whom many wondrous tales are told even after the latter ascended the throne – who gave his approval, but recommended that a peaceful embassy of wise men and sorcerers be sent on this mission. At Coatepec in the region of Tollan, after performing various religious rites, the sixty sorcerers chosen for the expedition were transformed into different animal forms and transported with their treasure to the land of their fathers, to the lake-surrounded hill of Culhuacan. Here they found certain people who spoke their language and to them announced their purpose. The priests of this people remembered well the departure of the Aztec tribes, and were surprised to learn that their original leaders were dead, for their companions left behind were yet alive. The messengers were promised an interview with Coatlicue, mother of their god, and had a most tiresome journey up the sandy hill with their gifts, much to the wonder of the guiding priests, who wondered what they could live upon in their new home to have become so effeminate. At last they found the aged mother of Huitzilopochtli weeping bitterly, and stating that since her son's departure she had neither washed her body and face, combed her hair, nor changed her garments; neither did she propose to attend to her toilet until his return. The old woman expressed, however, considerable interest in the affairs of Mexico, and made known some prophecies of her son about the coming of a strange people to take the land from the Mexicans. The messengers were finally dismissed with presents of fowls, fish, flowers, and clothing, for Montezuma; and, re-adopting their disguises, were brought back in eight days to Coatepec, where they discovered that twenty of their number were missing. These lost members of the company were never heard of more.⁶⁸²

Montezuma died in 1469,⁶⁸³ leaving his country in a more flourishing condition than it had ever known, notwithstanding the six years' famine that had occurred during his reign. He left to his people or to his nobles the choice of his successor from among his three grandsons – by his daughter Atotoztli and Tezozomoc, son of Itzcoatl – Tizoc, Axayacatl, and Ahuitzotl, expressing, however, a preference for the second, who was now commander of the Mexican armies. His remains were enclosed in an urn and deposited in the walls of the grand temple now approaching completion, and his wishes were followed in the choice of a successor.⁶⁸⁴

RAID IN TEHUANTEPEC

Before the coronation of the new monarch could be celebrated with fitting solemnity, and in a manner worthy of his predecessors, victims for sacrifice must be captured in large numbers; and it had now become an established custom for each newly elected king to undertake in person a campaign with the sole object of procuring captives. Axayacatl, in complying with the usage, distinguished himself by the most daring raid yet undertaken by Aztec valor. Passing rapidly southward by mountain routes at the head of a large force, and avoiding the Miztec and Zapotec towns of Oajaca, he suddenly presented himself before the city of Tehuantepec, routed the defending army, drawing them into an ambush by a pretended retreat, entered and pillaged the city, captured the rich commercial city of Guatulco some distance above on the coast, left a strong garrison in each stronghold, and returned to Mexico laden with plunder and with thousands of captives in his train, almost before his departure was known throughout the country. Brasseur tells us that he crossed the isthmus in this campaign, and for the time subjected to Aztec rule the province of Soconusco, even reaching the frontiers of Guatemala; but Torquemada is given as the authority for this statement, and this author implies nothing of the kind, consequently we may doubt it. The sacrifice of captives from distant and strange lands, together with the rich spoils brought back from the south-sea provinces, imparted unusual éclat to the coronation ceremonies; the successful warrior was congratulated by his colleagues at Tezcuco and Tlacopan; and the people felt assured that in Axayacatl they had a monarch worthy of his subjects' admiration.⁶⁸⁵

During the same year, perhaps, a battle was fought against Huexotzinco and Atlixco on the frontier, in which the three kings took part personally; and it is recorded that in the midst of the conflict Tezcatlipoca appeared to the Aztec armies, cheering them on to victory. On the return of the victors, Axayacatl and Moquihuix of Tlatelulco each erected a new temple to the gods of Huexotzinco to propitiate those divinities in case of the war being resumed, which was foretold by the oracles. The Mexican temple was called Coatlan, and that in Tlatelulco Coaxolotl; the latter was a grander structure than the former and its erection in a spirit of rivalry excited some ill-feeling on the part of the Mexicans, and was not without an influence in fomenting the troubles that broke out between the cities a few years later.⁶⁸⁶ An eclipse of the sun which took place about the time the temples were completed, was thought to portend disaster, and was followed within a period of two years by the death of the Tepanec and Acolhua monarchs. Totoquihuatzin, king of Tlacopan, died in 1470 at an advanced age and after a long and prosperous reign, during which he had gained the respect of his subjects and colleagues, fighting bravely in the wars of the empire and accepting without complaint his small share of the spoils as awarded by the terms of the alliance. He was succeeded by his son Chimalpopoca.⁶⁸⁷

DEATH OF NEZAHUALCOYOTL

The burning of an immense tract of forest lying to the west of Azcapuzalco toward the Matlaltzinco region, is recorded by one authority as having occurred in 1471;⁶⁸⁸ and in the next year took place the death of Nezahualcoyotl, the king of Acolhuacan, and considered as the greatest and wisest of the Chichimec monarchs. His adventures in early life while deprived of his ancestral throne have cast a glamour of romance about his name; and the fortitude with which he supported his misfortunes, his valor in regaining the Tezcucan throne, and the prominent part taken by him in the wars of the allies, are enthusiastically praised by his biographers. His chief glory, however, depends not on his valor as a warrior, but on his wisdom and justice as a ruler. During his reign his domain had been increased in extent far less than that of Mexico; but he had made the city of Tezcuco the centre of art, science, and all high culture – the Athens of America, as Clavigero expresses it, of which he was the Solon – and his kingdom of Acolhuacan a model of good government. Such was his inflexibility in the administration of justice and enforcement of the laws, that several of his own sons, although much beloved, were put to death for offenses against law and morality. Official corruption met no mercy at his hands, but toward the poor, the aged, and the unfortunate, his kindness was unbounded. He was in the habit of traveling incognito among his subjects, visiting the lower classes, relieving misfortune, and obtaining useful hints for the perfection of his code of laws, in which he took especial pride. Ever the promoter of education and culture, he was himself a man of learning in various branches, and a poet of no mean talent.⁶⁸⁹ His religious views, if correctly reported by the historians, were far in advance of those of his contemporaries or of the Europeans who in the cause of religion overthrew Tezcucan culture; he seems to have been unable to resist the Aztec influence in favor of human sacrifices, but he deserves the credit of having opposed the shedding of blood and ridiculed the deities that demanded it. The only dishonorable action of his life is the method by which he obtained his queen, and that may have received a false coloring at the hands of unfriendly annalists. Some of his poems were afterwards regarded as prophecies, in which was vaguely announced the coming of the Spaniards. He died in 1472, leaving over a hundred children by his concubines, but only one legitimate son.⁶⁹⁰