_Of the great merit which is due to us, the true Conquistadores._
I have now said sufficient of every individual soldier who accompanied
Cortes, and how each one ended his life. If any one wishes to know
anything further about us, I can tell him that most of us were men of
good families; and if the lineage of some was not quite so
distinguished, we must remember that all are not born equal in this
world, neither in respect to rank nor virtues. However, by the valour of
our arms and our heroic deeds, we conquered New Spain, with the great
city of Mexico, and many other provinces, thereby rendering the most
important services to the emperor our master, though at so vast a
distance from Castile; nor had we any assistance in the terrible battles
we fought night and day, saving that of our Lord Jesus Christ, who
indeed is our true strength. What we have done is sufficient to spread
our fame throughout the world!
If we read the ancient histories, at least if they speak truth, we find
that all those men who gained honorable titles to themselves, as well in
Spain as in other countries, gained them solely by the valour of their
arms, or by other important services they rendered to their monarchs. I
have even observed that several of those celebrated cavaliers, who
obtained titles and extensive grants of land, had merely entered the
army for the pay they received, and yet gained for themselves and
descendants, in perpetuity, towns, castles, lands, besides various
privileges and immunities. When the king of Aragon, Don Jayme,
reconquered a large part of his kingdom from the Moors, he divided it
among the cavaliers and soldiers who had fought with him, and from that
time are dated the several escutcheons which their descendants possess.
The same thing was done after the conquest of Granada and Naples by the
great captain. The noble house of Orange originated in a similar manner.
But we added the immense territory of New Spain to the Spanish crown,
without his majesty knowing anything about it; and it is for this
reason I have written these memoirs, that the great, important, and
excellent services which we have rendered to God, our emperor, and to
the whole of Christendom, may become known; and I think, when everything
is put into the same scale, and weighed according to its quantity, we
shall be found equally deserving of remuneration as those cavaliers of
previous times.
Though the number of courageous soldiers enumerated in a former chapter
may have been considerable, yet I myself was not one of the least among
them, and I had always the reputation of being a good soldier. If the
curious reader has perused this history with attention, he will have
seen in how many severe battles I fought, both during the two first
voyages of discovery, and in the campaigns under Cortes, in New Spain;
how nearly I was killed on two different occasions, and only escaped by
the utmost exertion of my strength from being sacrificed to the
abominable idols; not to mention the dreadful hardships I suffered from
hunger, thirst, and cold, and the many perils to which those who go out
for the discovery of new countries are inevitably exposed.
I will now relate the great advantages which Spain has derived from our
illustrious conquests.