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

MARRIAGE OF PELAXILLA

It seems not to have been stipulated which one of the Mexican princesses should be given to the Zapotec king; and a strange version is given of the manner in which this matter was settled. Cociyoeza was bathing one evening in one of the miniature lakes connected with his royal gardens. After he had removed his clothing, a beautiful female form appeared by his side in the moonlight, and announced herself as the sister of Montezuma of Mexico, who had heard of his valor, and had caused herself to be miraculously transported to his side by the magic arts of the Aztec enchanters. She assisted him in his bath, left with him the bathing utensils of her brother which she had brought, showed a peculiar mark on the palm of her hand, by which she might be identified, and disappeared as mysteriously as she had come. Cociyoeza had before looked forward to his marriage with some misgivings, but now, violently enamored with the charms of his nocturnal visitor, he made haste to send an embassy with the richest gifts his kingdom could afford to bring back his Aztec bride. A grand display was made in Mexico at the reception of this embassy, doubtless intended to impress upon its members an idea of Mexican power and wealth. The Zapotec nobles were brought into the presence of the assembled court beauties, and noticed that one princess had frequent occasion to arrange her tresses in such a manner as to show her palm and its peculiar mark. They were thus enabled at once to select the fair sister of Montezuma, Pelaxilla, or Cotton-Flake, who was borne in a litter on the shoulders of noblemen with great pomp to the court of Teotzapotlan the Zapotec capital, where a succession of brilliant fêtes were given in her honor; and soon after the nuptial ceremonies were performed at Tehuantepec amid great popular rejoicings.⁷¹⁷

It was, perhaps, not without hidden motives of future treachery that Ahuitzotl had insisted on a matrimonial alliance between the Aztecs and Zapotecs; at any rate, he is reported to have made an attempt some years later to assassinate Cociyoeza through the assistance of his wife. Ambassadors were sent to communicate with her on this matter, but Pelaxilla revealed the plot to her husband, who immediately sent back the embassy laden with gifts, and prepared his forts and his armies for war. The Aztecs, however, knowing that their plot was discovered, made no attack; they demanded permission to send troops through Zapotec territory for the conquest of Amaxtlan and Xuchiltepec, south of the isthmus, which was granted; but Cociyoeza, suspecting treachery, took the precaution to furnish a large army to attend the Aztecs through his territory, both coming and going, under pretense of furnishing an escort. Ahuitzotl's forces seem to have been successful, although no particulars are recorded.⁷¹⁸

The events related bring the history of the Aztec empire down to the year 1497, and about the same time the province of Zacatollan on the Pacific, south-west of Michoacan, was annexed to the domain of Tezcuco – a fact which does not seem to agree with any version of the terms of the tri-partite alliance – by the exploit of an Acolhuan officer named Teuhchimaltzin. It seems that some efforts had already been made by Nezahualpilli's orders for the conquest of this province, but without success, when Teuhchimaltzin, stimulated perhaps by the achievements of the Tlatelulca merchants at Quauhtenanco, obtained permission to enter the country disguised as a merchant, with a few companions, promising to subdue the province by taking the king, dead or alive. He was, however, soon recognized and captured, and the day was appointed for his sacrifice; but while the king Yopicatl Atonal with his nobles was drinking and dancing on the night before the sacrificial festivities, Teuhchimaltzin escaped from his prison, joined the dancers, and at last, when all were overcome with frequent libations, cut off the king's head and escaped with it to the frontier where an army seems to have been in waiting. When the nobles awoke and found what had taken place, they forthwith dispatched an embassy after the escaped prisoner, and for some reason that Ixtlilxochitl does not make very clear, offered to surrender the province to the Tezcucan monarch. Thus Zacatollan was added to Nezahualpilli's possessions, Teuhchimaltzin was honored as a hero, and an addition was made to the stock of tales by which sober Tezcucans were wont to illustrate the evils of intemperance.⁷¹⁹

PUNISHMENT OF CHALCHIUHNENETZIN

In 1498 took place in Tezcuco the public execution of one of Nezahualpilli's wives. This monarch had a great many wives and concubines – more than two thousand, if we may believe Ixtlilxochitl, his descendant. Among the former were three nieces of Tizoc, one of them a daughter of Axayacatl, and a sister of Montezuma II., and very likely all three sisters, although there is great confusion on this point. Axayacatl's daughter was named Chalchiuhnenetzin; she was very young, and was assigned a secluded palace while awaiting the consummation of the marriage. She soon showed an extraordinary fondness for decorating her apartments with richly decked statues, the king noticing new ones at each visit; she said they were her gods, and her future husband was willing to humor her tastes, strange though they appeared. But one day he noticed a noble of the court wearing a ring that he had seen in the hands of Chalchiuhnenetzin, and the following night went to visit her. The maids in waiting said she had retired and was sleeping, but he insisted on seeing her, and found her couch occupied by a sort of puppet counterfeit of herself. His suspicions now fully roused, he ordered all the attendants arrested, pushed his search farther, and at last found his virgin bride dancing in very primitive costume with three noble lovers, one of whom was he who wore the tell-tale ring. Further investigation revealed that this Aztec Messalina had been in the habit of giving herself up to every young man that struck her fancy, and when weary of her lovers had caused them to be put to death, and represented in her apartments by the statues above referred to. After the parties had been tried and found guilty by the proper courts, the king sent to all the cities round about Anáhuac and summoned all the people to witness the punishment of his false wife. With her three surviving lovers and about two thousand persons who had in some way abetted the deception of the king, the amorous queen was publicly strangled. All acknowledged the justice of the act, but the Mexican royal family, it is said, never forgave the public execution of the sentence.⁷²⁰

ANECDOTES OF NEZAHUALPILLI

Nezahualpilli is said to have inherited all the good qualities of his father. Like Nezahualcoyotl he was a patron of the arts and sciences, but is reported to have given his chief attention to astrology, passing many nights in reading the stars from a lofty observatory erected for the purpose in the grounds of his palace. Sorcerers and magicians were always welcome at his court, whither they were often summoned both to advise the monarch on affairs of state and to impart to him a knowledge of their arts. Like his father he was famed for his inflexibility in the administration of justice and his kindness toward the poor and unfortunate. A small window in one part of his palace overlooked the market-place, and at this window the king was wont to sit frequently, watching the actions of the crowd below, noting cases of injustice for future punishment, and of distress and poverty that they might be relieved. How he condemned to death a judge for deciding unjustly against a poor man and in favor of a noble, and how he had his favorite son Huexotzincatzin executed for having publicly addressed his concubine, the lady of Tollan, has been related in a preceding volume.⁷²¹ Many other anecdotes are told to illustrate the king's love of what he deemed justice. One of his sons began the construction of a palace somewhere in the Tezcucan domains without having either consulted his father or complied with the law requiring some brilliant deed in battle before a prince was entitled to a palace of his own. The guilty son was put to death. Members of the royal family seem to have had the greatest faith in the king's judgment and to have accepted his decisions without complaint. There was great rivalry between his two brothers Acapipioltzin and Xochiquetzal respecting the credit of a certain victory in the province of Cuextlan. Each had a band of partisans who were accustomed on public occasions to celebrate the deeds of their favorite by songs and dances. So far did the rivalry proceed that a resort to arms was imminent, when Nezahualpilli appeared on the scene on the occasion of some festivity and joining the dance on the side of his oldest brother Acapipioltzin, decided the dispute in his favor without complaint on the part of the younger brother. The condemnation of two men, a musician and a soldier, for adultery, was on one occasion brought to the king for his approval. He ordered the musician to be executed, but the soldier to be sent for life to do duty in the frontier garrisons, declaring that such thereafter should be a soldier's punishment for the fault in question. Nezahualpilli could also on occasion be most indulgent towards his children; for instance, his son Ixtlilxochitl early displayed an extraordinary fondness for having his own way. At the age of three years he expressed his emphatic disapproval of his nurse's views and conduct by pushing that lady into a deep well, and then amused himself by throwing stones upon her. When seven years old he raised a company of boy soldiers and skirmished about the city much to the terror of peaceful citizens. Hearing that two members of the royal council had advised his father to kill so unmanageable a child, he proceeded one night with a selected detachment of his juvenile veterans to the house of the counselors and assassinated them both. Nezahualpilli seems to have looked with much leniency upon these youthful irregularities of his son, who at fourteen distinguished himself in battle and at seventeen was a captain. We shall hear of him again in the last years of Aztec history. The king on another occasion demanded from a brother a very excellent teponaztli in his possession and his daughter for a royal concubine; on his refusal the teponaztli was taken by force, and his disobedient brother's house was razed as the property of a rebel. Two sons were strangled for having appropriated captives actually taken by their soldiers; a daughter for having spoken to the son of a lord; and two concubines for drinking pulque. A judge was hung for hearing a case in his own house instead of in the appointed hall of justice; and another for unduly prolonging a trial was condemned to have the front door of his residence walled up. This king is accredited with having abrogated the law which condemned the children of slaves to the condition of their parents, and with many other reforms calculated to ameliorate the condition of his people. The possession of supernatural powers was popularly attributed to him, and often in infancy he astonished his nurses by appearing before them in the form of a bird or beast.⁷²²

In the years 1498 and 1499 it is recorded that Ahuitzotl attacked Atlixco without warning, and was defeated by the Huexotzincas who, under a famous general Tultecatl sent re-inforcements to aid the armies of Atlixco; and also that, by aiding Cholula in a quarrel with Tepeaca, the same king greatly increased his power on the eastern plateau. The following year Tultecatl, before whose valor the Aztecs had been forced to retreat, was driven from his own country in consequence of certain religious dissensions, and applied at one of the Mexican towns for protection. He was put to death, however, with all his companions, by Ahuitzotl's order, and the dead bodies were forwarded to Huexotzinco to show the rebellious inhabitants of that city with what relentless zeal the Aztec ruler pursued his foes.⁷²³

INUNDATION OF MEXICO

Ahuitzotl, finding the water supplied by the Chapultepec aqueduct insufficient for the use of the city, and moreover desirous of accomplishing during his reign some great work of practical utility, determined to conduct to his capital the waters of a spring called Acuecuexatl, near Huitzilopochco, in the province of Coyuhuacan. Tzotzomatzin, the lord of the province, was unwilling that the spring should be thus used, but his opposition was effectually overcome by strangling him. Many tales are told by different writers about his opposition to the scheme, and his death. Some say that he wished the water for the supply of his own cities; others, that he told Ahuitzotl the spring was liable at any time to overflow and flood the city, and was killed by the latter in a fit of passion at his persistence in that opinion; and still others represent him as a great magician, who frightened away the Mexican king's ambassadors who were sent to negotiate with him in the matter, by appearing before them in the form of a ferocious beast, or serpent. Tezozomoc says he put the cord round his own neck to save his people from the wrath of the Aztecs; and Duran, that he did not die, but simply left Coyuhuacan at this time. Difficulties being thus removed, the aqueduct was constructed of stone and mortar, in a very short time, owing to the number of workmen employed, and its completion was celebrated with the proper ceremonies and sacrifices. But soon – some say in the midst of the ceremonies – so great was the volume of water introduced, that the city was inundated by the rising of the lake, and immense damage resulted to public and private buildings. It is, of course, impossible that the waters of any spring in Anáhuac could have caused this effect; indeed, Torquemada says the catastrophe was preceded by heavy rains for a year, and Ortega also tells us that the rains came down in torrents at the completion of the aqueduct; it is, therefore, altogether probable that the flood was not caused by the waters of the canal, but was simply attributed to that cause from superstitious motives, perhaps resulting from the predictions of Tzotzomatzin, and his death. So rapid was the rise of the waters, that king Ahuitzotl, who was in the lower part of his palace, had great difficulty in escaping, and in his haste struck his head against a door-post, receiving a wound which, a few years later, proved fatal. The engineering skill of Nezahualpilli, with the laboring force of the whole empire, was at once called into requisition to stop the flood and repair damages. The old dike that had before saved the city was strengthened and raised; the city was repaired and paved with tetzontli, or porous amygdaloid, the use of which is said to date from this period; but to stop the waters of the unruly spring human efforts were unavailing, and the aid of the gods was invoked with magic rites. First the priests, whose bodies were painted blue in honor of the Tlalocs, stood round the fountain and uttered prayers, burned incense, and scattered perfumes; then the divers plunged into the waters, each with a young child whose heart was torn out, and whose blood stained the waters; and finally the priests entered the water, and, as some say, Nezahualpilli with them. Half an hour after their emergence the waters became so quiet that the laborers were able to wall up the spring and stop the overflow. Other cities about the lake had suffered as much, or even more, than Mexico, particularly Cuitlahuac, which is said to have been uninhabitable for two years. Much damage was also done to the crops in the valley, and the next year was one almost of famine. The flood occurred in 1500, and at least two years passed before Anáhuac had recovered from its effects.⁷²⁴

ACCESSION OF MONTEZUMA II

Campaigns against Cuextlan, Tlacuilollan, and Xaltepec, are vaguely reported during the last two years of Ahuitzotl's life, and may be distinct from any of the wars that have been mentioned, but no details are given, save that from Tlacuilollan twelve hundred captives were brought back to Mexico.⁷²⁵ The king died in 1503,⁷²⁶ as is generally supposed from the effects of the blow mentioned above; although Tezozomoc attributes his death to chagrin and remorse at the misfortune of the flood, and Duran hints that he was poisoned. His likeness is said to have been sculptured with those of his predecessors on the cliff at Chapultepec. Ahuitzotl's leading passion was his love of war, so strong as to amount almost to a hatred of peace. He was also passionately fond of music, of display, and of women. He was cruel, vindictive, and superstitious; and the quality of generosity attributed to him was probably closely connected with his reputed love of display and flattery. Immediately after his death Montezuma II., son of Axayacatl, was called to the throne; although, according to Ixtlilxochitl, his elder brother Macuilmalinatzin was the first choice of the electors, but was rejected by the advice of Nezahualpilli, who doubted his possession of the requisite qualities for the ruler of a great nation. Montezuma had already distinguished himself on many occasions in battle, and was at the time of his election high-priest of Huitzilopochtli. When the news of his election reached him he is said to have been employed in sweeping the temple, from a spirit of real or feigned humility. The usual campaign for captives was successfully directed against Atlixco, and foreign nobles from hostile as well as friendly provinces came in crowds by invitation to witness the coronation ceremonies.⁷²⁷

POLICY OF MONTEZUMA

Ahuitzotl left the Aztec empire in the height of its power and glory, yet even before his death the seeds of future disaster may be said to have been sown or even to have taken root, since the hitherto unparalleled sacrifice of human victims on the altars of the capital had filled the whole country with terror and added much to the hatred of which the Aztecs had been the objects from the date of their first appearance in the valley; the rapid increase of the Mexican power and their well-known greed of conquest had added to the hatred of the conquered the jealous fears of such nations as still retained their independence; and finally the reverses suffered in Tehuantepec, in Michoacan, and in several battles against the eastern nations, had taught the peoples of North America that the allied armies of the central plateaux were not altogether invincible. The dangers that thus began to threaten the empire, however, were all external, and might perhaps have been averted or long deferred by a series of successful wars under brave but wise kings. Under the preceding kings, the common interests of all classes in the success of the government, had been a prominent element of national glory. Commercial enterprise had done as much as valor in war to promote the conquests of kings and to build up the capitals; the common soldier might by bravery and brilliant achievements in battle hope to reach the highest military rank; the menial service of the royal palace with many posts of honor had been entrusted largely to plebeian hands; and in fact Aztec policy had been strikingly analogous to that which distinguished the French nation under the first Napoleon. The granting of titles and honors to the merchants had naturally excited much opposition among those who derived their titles of nobility from a long line of Chichimec or Toltec ancestors; and what made the matter even more galling to their pride, was the fact that these parvenu nobles by reason of their wealth were able to completely outshine their confrères of purer blood but slender purses, in all public displays as well as in their palaces and style of living. Montezuma II. from the first days of his reign openly espoused the cause of the ancient nobility against the merchants and plebeians. What is known of his character renders it probable that he was prompted to this course chiefly by his own extremely aristocratic tastes; but it is not impossible that he gained his election by committing himself to such a policy. He began by dismissing all plebeians employed about the royal palaces and appointing youths of noble blood in their places. He was warned that such a course would separate the interests of the common people from those of royalty and prove dangerous in the future; but he replied that he wished nothing in common with plebeians, who must be taught to keep their place and give up their absurd aspirations. His policy toward the merchants and the army was more cautious but equally decided. Advantage was taken of every opportunity to humble and oppress the hated class, by constantly clogging with new restrictions the wheels of trade, and by the promotion whenever practicable of noble officers. Montezuma was, however, a valiant and skillful warrior, and sacrificed oftener his inclinations to his interests in the treatment of his armies than in other cases. His policy of course gradually alienated the classes on which the prosperity of the empire chiefly rested, and ensured the fall of the Aztec power whenever disaffection should have an opportunity to ally itself with foreign foes. The bursting of the storm was averted for some fifteen years by the strength of the Acolhua and Tepanec alliance, and by the strength of the Mexican army. Montezuma's reign was a succession of campaigns against revolting provinces, interspersed with the erection of magnificent temples, frequent and extensive immolations of human victims, and omens of disaster sent by the gods to trouble the mind of the superstitious monarch. When at last the day drew near when Mexico must struggle single-handed for the retention of her supremacy against a combination of all the Nahua powers, the last chance for success in such an unequal contest disappeared with the re-inforcement of the enemy by Spanish valor, Spanish armor, and Spanish horses; and Montezuma personally had not even the melancholy satisfaction of seeing his foes fall before the same wave of foreign invasion which had destroyed forever his own power.⁷²⁸

WAR AGAINST TLASCALA

Tlascala had thus far never been the object of an invasion by the united forces of the allies, although, as we have seen, frequent battles had been fought on the frontier, and the Tlascaltec armies as allies of other nations had been several times defeated. During the reigns of Montezuma I. and Axayacatl, however, the Tlascaltec territory had become completely surrounded by Aztec possessions, through the conquest of Cuetlachtlan, Cuextlan, and Totonacapan. Their communication with the coast having thus been cut off, the Tlascaltec commerce had been almost entirely destroyed, and for a period extending down to the Conquest, this brave people were obliged to do without many luxuries, and even necessities of life. Their lack of salt is particularly recorded; a small supply was occasionally smuggled into the state by the nobles, but the common people are said to have abstained entirely from its use, and to have completely lost their relish for this article. The other cities of the eastern plateau had in the meantime become either the subjects or allies of the Mexicans. Immediately after his accession to the throne, Montezuma II. determined to direct his armies against this last unsubdued territory in the east. The excuse was an embassy sent by the Tlascaltecs, probably to Axayacatl, complaining of the oppression to which their merchants were subjected on the coast, the claims of the embassy having been received with insulting indifference, and threats having been freely uttered on both sides. Huexotzinco and Cholula seem both to have allied themselves with Mexico in this affair; but, on the other hand, Tlascala had received constant additions to her population and armies in the refugees from all parts of Anáhuac, who were continually applying for protection to the only nation beyond the power of the Aztecs. The war was begun by the Huexotzincas and Cholultecs, who invaded Tlascala, killed in battle one of their chief leaders, Tizatlacatzin, and penetrated to within one league of the capital; but they were driven back, and the Huexotzinca towns were in turn ravaged by the Tlascaltecs, sending couriers to Montezuma to hasten the march of his forces. The Tlascaltecs, hearing of the approach of the Aztecs, fell upon them before they could effect a junction with their allies, and defeated them, inflicting heavy losses, and killing among others Tlacahuepantzin, the son of the Mexican king.⁷²⁹ After the funeral ceremonies in honor of his son, Montezuma made another attempt to subdue the Tlascaltecs, sending against them the whole available force of the empire; but after a hard-fought battle the invaders were again driven back, and although skirmishes, and even battles, took place afterwards between the two nations, yet the Aztec allies never repeated their attempt to crush Tlascala, and the brave little republic retained her independence until by the aid of Cortés she was able to take her revenge on the tyrannical Mexicans and treacherous Cholultecs.⁷³⁰

In 1505 the crops were destroyed by the excessive heat, and although the public granaries were generously opened to the public by Nezahualpilli and Montezuma – for the latter, notwithstanding his aristocratic tendencies, was generous towards his people so long as they claimed nothing more than a right to exist – many perished of starvation or sold themselves and children as slaves. Totonacapan was again apparently the only province unaffected by the famine. Another plague in the form of rats which over-ran the country in immense numbers is recorded at about the same time; but the volcano of Popocatepetl ceased for twenty days to emit smoke, a good omen, as the wise men said and as it proved, for the next year was one of great plenty.⁷³¹ During the year of the famine a campaign against Guatemala, or as some authors say Quauhnelhuatlan, which may have been a Guatemalan province, is recorded as having yielded many captives for the inauguration of the temple of Centeotl, built in recognition of her services in staying the drought and sending a year of plenty. The festivities on the completion of certain repairs to the causeway and aqueduct of Chapultepec at about the same time were marred by the burning of a temple in Mexico. It is related that the Tlatelulcas seeing the flames, thought the city was invaded by an enemy and rushed in to help protect it, but that Montezuma chose to regard this as an act of rebellion and temporarily removed all Tlatelulcas from their positions at court.⁷³²

REVOLT OF THE MIZTECS

Before the end of 1506, two campaigns were made against the Miztecs by the last of which the whole province was permanently subdued. The pretext of the first was the refusal of Malinalli, lord of Tlachquiauhco, to give Montezuma for his royal gardens a very rare plant in his possession. An army was dispatched to bring the plant and punish the people; Tilantongo, Achiuhtla, and Tlachquiauhco fell before the Mexican soldiers; and the rare tlapalizquixochitl, or 'red flower,' was transplanted to Mexico, although the Oajacan records insist, according to Burgoa, that it died on the way. The Miztecs next determined upon a final effort to shake off the Mexican yoke, which well nigh succeeded. Cetecpatl, king of Cohuaixtlahuacan, invited the garrison of the impregnable Huaxyacac and other Aztec fortresses to a grand banquet, and on their return they were set upon by the ambushed troops of Nahuixochitl, lord of Tzotzolan, and all put to death, save one that escaped to tell the news. The Miztecs, now thoroughly aroused, adopted the tactics that had proved so effective in Tehuantepec, fortified their positions in the mountains near Tzotzolan, and awaited the attack. The first army sent by Montezuma was defeated and driven back with great loss. A second army representing the whole strength of the Aztec allies now marched southward under Cuitlahuatzin, Montezuma's brother; but the Miztec forces could not be dislodged from their strong position until Cozcaquauhtli, lord of Huauhtlan and a brother of Cetecpatl, betraying his people, or faithful to his ruler Montezuma as the Mexican writers put it, opened his city to the enemy, revealed all Cetecpatl's plans, and led Cuitlahuatzin by secret paths to a commanding position whence the attack was made and the Miztecs routed. Nahuixochitl soon came up with a fresh army from Tututepec, but was in his turn defeated. The whole province, including Tututepec and other cities on the shores of the Pacific, was then over-run and permanently subjected to Mexican authority. The captives included the leaders, and were brought back to Mexico in time to grace with their blood the festival of tlacaxipehualiztli, or 'flaying of men,' although according to some authorities the leaders, Cetecpatl and Nahuixochitl, were reserved for a later occasion.⁷³³

TYING-UP OF THE LAST CYCLE

Also in 1506 the Huexotzincas and Cholultecs had a quarrel, in which the former had the advantage and by a raid burned a few houses in the city of the latter. Knowing that Montezuma had great veneration for the city of Quetzalcoatl, the Huexotzincas thought it best to send ambassadors to explain the matter. The envoys for some reason not made clear greatly exaggerated the matter, representing Cholula as having been utterly destroyed and the inhabitants driven to the mountains. Greatly enraged the allied kings sent an army to chastise the perpetrators of such an outrage on the holy city; but the Huexotzincas escaped their punishment by stating the truth of the matter and delivering up for sacrifice the envoys with their ears and noses cut off. An expedition at the same time against Itztitlan and Itzcuintepec, and another according to Ortega and Torquemada against Atlixco, together with a war in Tecuhtepec, furnished a large number of captives, some of whom were sacrificed at the dedication of the Tzompantli⁷³⁴ or 'place of skulls,' while the rest were reserved for the tying-up of the cycle and lighting of the new fire which took place the following year, accompanied by ceremonies that have been described in a preceding volume. This was the last ceremony of the kind the Mexicans ever had the opportunity to perform; before another cycle had elapsed, the native gods had lost their power, their rites had been abolished, and replaced by others that did not include human sacrifices. The rites of the Inquisition were as cruel as those they replaced, but the number of victims in America was comparatively small.⁷³⁵