_How the Captain Lorenzo de Aldana wrote and told the Viceroy what
the people at Cuzco were saying, and how it was rumoured in Lima
that Gonzalo Pizarro was nominated Governor of Cuzco._
The Captain Lorenzo de Aldana[44] was in the province of Xauxa where he
had a grant of Indians, and he heard what was being said, and how easily
people had been moved to treat of affairs, from the citizens of Cuzco
coming from Lima. He also had news how Gonzalo Pizarro had come from
Charcas and marched to Cuzco, where he had claimed to be received as
Procurator in opposition to the Viceroy. Aldana was anxious that there
should be no disturbance nor war in his province, and that the Viceroy
should act prudently. The business he took in hand was difficult and
needed wise counsel. He wrote to the Viceroy giving him welcome on his
arrival: and said that it should be known how Gaspar Rodriguez de
Camporedondo, Bachicao, and the other citizens from Cuzco had related
with what severity he had acted on entering the kingdom, and how little
sympathy he had shown, rejoicing that he should have come to enforce the
ordinances, taking their Indians away from those of San Miguel and
Truxillo, and how great disturbances were the consequence. In order
that it might go no further, and that those who were fostering the
discontent might not be entirely believed, the orders of his Majesty
should be carried out with much prudence. He said that he had been long
in the land, and that he knew by experience the levity of those who
settled there, and their willingness to see war break out, that they
might profit by the disorders. Besides this, Lorenzo de Aldana wrote
other things to the Viceroy, telling him that Gonzalo Pizarro was in
Cuzco with the intention of being nominated Procurator. A few days after
he had written this letter, Aldana left the province of Xauxa, and set
out for Lima to join the Viceroy who rejoiced at his arrival. At this
time the Captain Juan de Saavedra asked permission to go to Huanuco,
which the Viceroy granted.
Many days had not passed in Lima before it was understood and known for
certain that Gonzalo Pizarro had been received in Cuzco as Procurator to
come and appeal against the ordinances. It is easy to understand this,
for letters had always passed between Lima and Cuzco, the messengers
going and coming. The news was now certain. They said joyfully among
themselves, as it is reported, “Have you by chance not heard the good
news?” “Well, Gonzalo Pizarro is nominated Procurator to come against
this audacious man, the Viceroy!” Others, when they heard it, shrugged
their shoulders and pressed their hands, unable to repress the laugh
that came from their mouths. In short, great was the rejoicing among all
the people.
The news came that Gonzalo Pizarro was at Cuzco assembling an armed
force, and when the Viceroy heard it he was much disturbed in his mind.
He could only say that Gonzalo Pizarro was a knight and a servant of the
King, brother of the Marquis who discovered those provinces, and that
he would not wish to merit the name of traitor. He desired that the
Judges would arrive, that the court of justice might be established.
Many times he came to the resolution of going at once to Cuzco
accompanied only by his brother and his brother-in-law Diego Alvarez de
Cueto, with a few citizens. There were so many inconveniences that the
Cuzco expedition did not take place though, if he had been there, the
disturbances would have ceased, and the war would not have commenced.
But to speak of these things is to attempt divination: for God had
determined to punish that kingdom, it even seems to me that the unusual
lightning was a sign of it, and that it had to pass through more
calamities and miseries. According to what Plutarch says in his life of
Lucullus, referring to certain questions which the Cyreneans put to the
divine Plato, there is nothing more arduous than to bring under special
laws the men who possess great wealth, for they are like men intoxicated
and beyond their ordinary senses, transported by the favours of
prosperous fortune. The same Plutarch, on the other hand, says that
there is nothing easier than to dominate the minds of similar men who
are depressed by many reverses of fortune, because their reverses had
crushed down all their pride and lofty thoughts. In truth it is a
notable sentence. For at the time when the unfortunate Viceroy entered
Peru, he found the minds of men, owing to their wealth, not only ready
to protest against the laws, but to oppose them. Yet when the same
tyrant’s proceedings had led them to disaster and misfortune, Gasca was
able not only to enforce the laws but to enact others more heavy, and to
carry out the will of the Emperor our lord who is now so powerful and so
feared in these parts that his authority is not equalled in any other
province in the world. I have said this, because it should be understood
that his Majesty was able, as sovereign lord, to pardon when his
commands had been obeyed, although there is, from Spain to Peru, more
than four thousand leagues of land and sea.