Religious Rites of the Mexicans—Human Sacrifices—The Natives Discover
that the Spaniards are not Divine but Human
On the evening of the same day Montezuma and his brilliant retinue
returned to make the first visit to their much honored guest. As soon as
Cortes was notified of his approach, he went to the courtyard, received
him with a low bow, and conducted him to his apartment. The Mexican
Emperor seated himself familiarly and requested the general to be seated
also. His attendants ranged themselves at the side of the room and the
Spaniards did the same. Marina, the interpreter, was stationed near by,
and the Emperor began a ceremonious address, in which he made a
strenuous effort to remove any prejudice which Cortes might entertain
against him, growing out of harmful reports. “Some have said,” he
stated, “that I belong to the immortal gods, others have striven to
calumniate me, representing me as a haughty and cruel tyrant. The first
of these reports is as false as the other. The refutation of the one
will expose the falsity of the other.” With these words, he bared his
arm and requested Cortes to convince himself by sight and touch that he
was made of flesh and blood like other men—a fact of which Cortes had no
doubt. After this he continued his assurances that the reports of his
tyranny, with which his enemies had sought to prejudice Cortes against
him, were unfounded. After these preliminaries he expressed his
sentiments as to the arrival of the Spaniards and the object of their
visit in the following words:
“We know from traditions which have come down to us from old times that
our ancestors came from a distant region and conquered those countries
which are to-day subject to my authority. Their leader was the great
Quetzalcoatl,[14] who, after he had established our Empire, left this
part of the world again to take possession of other regions toward the
east. But he prophesied that some time a people descended from him would
come to us and change our laws and whole system of government. Now I see
from all that has been told of your coming here, and from what I myself
have observed, that you are the descendants of that great ancestor. For
this reason I have received you not as strangers but as kindred, and
declare to you that we recognize you as the representative of the great
Eastern ruler and that your authority will not be disputed by me or my
people.”
Cortes rejoiced at this news which was favorable to his intentions. He
confirmed the superstitious Montezuma in his belief and satisfied him
that the prophecy of the great Quetzalcoatl had been fulfilled and that
he and his Spaniards were his descendants. “In the meantime,” he added,
“while it is evident that the exalted monarch of the East, whose most
humble servant I have the honor to be, has a just claim upon all your
countries, yet he is too far away personally to assert his claim. He
only desires of you and your people that you shall abandon your errors
and accept the true faith which he has commissioned me to announce. You
are living under a false religion. You are worshipping senseless blocks,
made by your own hands. There is but one true God, and He has created
and governs everything that is. This one Being, who is without beginning
and without end, has made out of nothing the whole universe, the flaming
sun which shines upon all, the earth and all that is in it, and the
first man, from whom we are all descended. We are all obliged to
recognize the First Cause of all things, and for that reason the King,
my master, invites you, great Emperor, and all your people to accept
these sentiments and maintain affectionate and brotherly relations with
him. He desires you to enter into a friendly alliance which will always
be of great advantage to you.”
Montezuma was visibly excited by Cortes’ address. It was so intolerable
to hear his deities insulted that it was with difficulty he could
restrain his impatience until Cortes ended. Then he arose somewhat
hastily and replied that while he gratefully accepted the offer of
friendly relations with a prince descended from Quetzalcoatl, these
relations might be maintained without giving up his own deities for the
God whom the Spaniards worshipped. With these words he closed the
interview and, after bestowing some costly gifts, made his way back to
his palace.
On the next day, accompanied by his leading officers, Cortes went with
much ceremony for another interview with the Emperor. This one lasted
longer than the first. Montezuma asked a hundred questions about the
European mode of life, habits, and customs, but Cortes, who had not
these matters so much at heart as the work of conversion, seized every
opportunity to give the conversation a religious turn, and specially
inveighed against the cruel custom of human sacrifices. At the close of
the interview Montezuma exhibited to his guests the splendors of the
temples. He conducted them to the largest of these, and the priests
offered no objection to their admission upon condition that nothing
unseemly should be done. Montezuma himself exhibited and explained
everything to them. He told the names of the deities, the highest of
which was called Bitzliputzli, and described the worship which was paid
to each of them. As these heathenish rites were inexpressibly shocking,
Cortes asked permission to place the Cross of Christ in the temple,
thinking that it would soon convince them that their deities were
powerless. Montezuma listened to the proposal with the greatest
displeasure, and the priests with amazement. The Emperor soon recovered
his composure, however, and merely replied that he had expected his
guests would show the same respect for the place where they were that
they had shown to him. With these words he passed out, telling the
Spaniards they were at liberty to repair to their own quarters, but as
for himself he would remain to ask pardon of his deities for his
extraordinary patience.
The natives of Mexico professed a horrible religion, of which human
sacrifice was the principal feature. They often made war upon
neighboring people for no other purpose than to capture prisoners to be
slaughtered upon their altars and afterward eaten. During battle they
spared the lives of their enemies, saving them for a more terrible death
by the knives of the priests. The number of these unfortunate victims
sometimes reached thousands in a single day. Some historians have placed
it as high as twenty-five thousand. If the nation were at peace for a
long time and no prisoners were available for offerings, the priests
would notify the Emperor that the deities were suffering from hunger. As
soon as the Emperor’s proclamation spread the news through the country
that the deities were ready for a banquet, it was the signal for a
general war upon their neighbors. Then as soon as a sufficient number of
prisoners had been collected, the priests began their hideous business.
It cannot be denied that the various calamities which befell the natives
at the hands of the tyrannical Europeans were a very great wrong, but,
as compared with the terrible cruelties practised before their arrival,
it must be acknowledged that these unfortunate people upon the whole
gained more than they lost by submission to the Spanish yoke.
Cortes’ delight over the successful progress of his undertaking up to
this time was now disturbed by reflections upon the dangerous situation
into which he had so recklessly plunged. He realized all too clearly
that he had ventured more than he might be able to carry out, and that
the fate of himself and his army rested in the hands of a prince whose
real intentions seemed to grow more and more mysterious. The Tlaxcalans
from the beginning had not ceased to warn him that Montezuma’s object in
receiving him in his capital was to catch him in a trap from which there
was no way of escape. The disposition of this ruler and the peculiar
situation of his capital lent probability to these warnings. Should they
destroy the causeways located along the lake, which were the only
approaches to the city, he saw that he would be completely cut off from
the rest of the world and surrounded by a multitude against whose
superior numbers neither his courage nor his weapons might be of any
avail. In this emergency a very unpleasant event had occurred at Vera
Cruz, of which Cortes received information shortly before this time.
Quauhpopoka, one of the Mexican generals, after Cortes’ departure for
that region, determined to punish those people who had revolted and
placed themselves under the protection of the Spaniards. Escalante, the
governor of Vera Cruz, considered himself bound to assist his allies. At
the head of his little band and with the two remaining horses he offered
battle. He held his ground, but he himself and seven others were fatally
wounded. The most unfortunate event of the battle was the killing of one
of the horses and the capture of one of his men. The Mexicans killed
their prisoner at once and sent his head to various cities as a proof
that the Spaniards were not immortal. At last their trophy reached the
capital. Cortes, who naturally was disturbed by the dangers confronting
him, spent that night in earnest consideration of methods to escape
them. Toward morning he summoned some of his faithful Tlaxcalans to
ascertain just what they had seen or heard of Montezuma’s secret
designs. Their statements confirmed his suspicions as well as his
determination to carry out the plan he had settled upon. They specially
informed him that the leading officials had acted mysteriously for
several days, that the head of a Spaniard had been sent among the
provinces, and that Montezuma had issued orders to conceal it. Finally
they declared they had heard that preparations were already being made
to destroy the causeways.
This was enough for Cortes. His decision was made, and he endeavored to
convince his officers that there was no other way of escape except that
which he had planned.