_Of the imprisonment of Motecusuma, and what further happened._
After we had come to the determination of seizing the person of
Motecusuma, and had been on our knees the whole night in prayer, to
supplicate the Almighty's assistance in this bold attempt, and that it
might redound to the glory of his holy religion, we made the necessary
arrangements when morning came for that purpose.
Every one received orders to be ready to march out at a moment's notice,
and the horses were to be kept saddled. It is not necessary for me to
repeat here that our arms were always in readiness; for they were never
out of our hands either day or night; while our alpargates, the only
covering we had to our feet, were never taken off.
Our general now sallied forth, accompanied by our five chief officers,
Alvarado, Sandoval, Lugo, Leon, and Avila; besides our interpreters,
Marina, and Aguilar. Cortes and his officers were completely armed; yet
this would not appear strange to Motecusuma, as he had never seen them
otherwise whenever they paid him a visit. Cortes, as on the former
occasion, sent some one before him to announce his approach, that
Motecusuma might not perceive any change in our behaviour, and feel no
uneasiness at our unexpected visit. His conscience, however, was not
altogether easy, on account of the affair which had taken place at
Almeria, and he had a misgiving that it would bring down evil upon him.
Yet he sent word that our visit would be agreeable to him.
After Cortes had entered his apartment, and the usual compliments had
been passed, he thus addressed Motecusuma: "I am greatly astonished that
a prince of such power, who styles himself our friend, should have
commanded his troops, which lie on the coast near Tuzapan, to take up
arms against my Spanish troops, and presume to demand a certain number
of men and women for the sacrifices from those townships which have put
themselves under the protection of our emperor. But this is not all;
they have plundered those places, and even killed one of my brothers,
and a horse."
Cortes very prudently omitted to mention the death of Escalante and the
six others; for Motecusuma at that time knew as little of that as his
generals who had commanded on the occasion.
"How very differently we acted on our side!" continued Cortes. "I had
put implicit reliance in your friendship, and desired my officers in
every way to comply with your wishes. You, on the contrary, have
commanded your officers the very opposite. You once likewise sent a
large body of troops to Cholulla to destroy us all there. At that time,
from the friendship I bore you, I would not notice to you that I was
aware of that. At the present moment your generals have the audacity to
plot in secret to put us all to death. However, notwithstanding all this
treachery, I will refrain from making war upon you, which would only
end in the total destruction of this city; but in order that peace may
be maintained between us, you must make a small sacrifice, which is, to
follow us quietly into our quarters, and take up your abode there. There
you will receive the same attention, and be treated with the same
respect as if you were in your own palace. But if you make any alarm
now, or call out to your attendants, you are a dead man; and it is for
this reason only that I have this time brought these officers with me."
Motecusuma was seized with such sudden terror at these words, that he
remained speechless for some time. At length, however, he took courage,
and declared he had never given any one orders to take up arms against
us. He would that instant send for his generals, and learn from them the
truth of the whole matter, and give exemplary punishment. For this
purpose, he loosened the seal and mark of Huitzilopochtli, which he
always wore around his wrist. This he only did when he issued orders of
the first importance, and that those who had the seal might be
immediately obeyed. He was quite astonished, he said, we should presume
to take him prisoner, and lead him away out of his palace against his
wishes. No one had a right to demand that of him, he added; and
altogether he felt no inclination to comply with our request.
Cortes, in answer to this, gave him very good reasons for our having
come to this determination; but Motecusuma continually brought in
stronger reasons why he should not comply; and was resolved not to leave
his palace.
As this dispute had now lasted above half an hour, our officers began to
lose all patience, and said to Cortes with great warmth, "What is the
use of throwing away so many words? He must either quietly follow us, or
we will cut him down at once. Be so good as to tell him this; for on
this depends the safety of our lives. We must show determination, or we
are inevitably lost."
These words were uttered by Juan Velasquez in a loud and harsh tone of
voice. When, therefore, Motecusuma heard this, and perceived the dark
looks of the officers, he asked Marina what the man had said who spoke
so loud.
Marina, who was uncommonly shrewd, and well knew how to help us out with
a good answer, said, "Great monarch, if I may be allowed to give you
advice, make no further difficulties, but immediately follow them to
their quarters. I am confident they will pay you every respect, and
treat you as becomes a powerful monarch. But if you continue to refuse,
they will cut you down on the spot."
Motecusuma then turned to Cortes, and said: "Malinche, since then you
repose no trust in me, take my son and my two legitimate daughters as
hostages; only do not disgrace me, by demanding my person. What will the
grandees of my empire say, if they see me taken prisoner?"
Cortes, however, said that his own person would be the only guarantee of
our safety, and that there was no other means of quieting our fears. At
last Motecusuma, after a good deal of altercation, made up his mind to
go quietly with us.
As soon as he had declared this his intention, our officers showed him
every possible civility, and hoped that he would excuse the grief they
had occasioned him, and desired him to acquaint his generals and his
body-guard that he had chosen, of his own free will, to take up his
abode in our quarters; and also upon the advice of Huitzilopochtli and
his papas, who considered it necessary for his health, and for the
safety of his life.
His rich and splendid sedan was then brought in, which he commonly used
when he left his palace with his whole suite, and he followed us to our
quarters, where we took every precaution to secure his person. Every one
of us strove hardest to make him happy, and procured him every
entertainment we could think of, to make his confinement as pleasant as
we could.
Shortly afterwards all the Mexican grandees, with his nephew, called
upon him, to inquire the reason of his imprisonment, and ask him if they
should commence hostilities against us? But Motecusuma told them he
wished to do himself the pleasure of passing a few days with us, and
that this change of abode was of his own free choice. He would make his
wishes known to them as soon as he found reason to complain. They might
allay their fears, and keep the metropolis quiet, and not trouble
themselves any further about him. The determination he had thus taken
was fully consented to by Huitzilopochtli, as many priests, who had
purposely consulted him, had admitted.
These are the true circumstances relative to the imprisonment of
Motecusuma. He was always surrounded by the whole of his household, and
had all his wives with him, and continued to bathe himself daily, as he
had been accustomed to, in his own palace. He was likewise always
attended by twenty of his generals and counsellors, nor did he show the
least signs of grief on account of his confinement. Disputes from the
most distant parts were laid before him, as usual, for his decision; the
tribute was collected, and he continued to attend to the most important
affairs of state as before. His subjects paid the same veneration to his
person, and the most distinguished princes who waited on him, or came
upon business, always took off their fine garments, to put on a meaner
dress of nequen cloth, and came so, barefoot, into his presence. Neither
did they enter at the principal gate, but sought for some side door, and
approached with eyes downcast, and made three prostrations, and
pronounced the words Lord, my lord, great lord! They then acquainted him
with their business, by means of pictures drawn on nequen cloth; and
made use of thin sticks, with which they pointed to the different
objects, to explain what they wanted, or the nature of the lawsuit they
came about.
Motecusuma had constantly two old distinguished caziques at his side,
who, as judges, gave their opinion in every case, after due
deliberation; and the monarch then, in few words, gave his decision. The
parties then, without uttering a syllable, or turning their backs to
him, left the apartment with three deep bows; and on arriving outside,
they again put on their fine garments, and took a stroll in the
metropolis.
After some time had elapsed, the generals who had fought against
Escalante were brought in prisoners to the monarch. What he told them on
this occasion I do not know; but he sent them to Cortes to pronounce
judgment on them himself. These unfortunate men confessed they had
merely acted up to the commands of their monarch, which was, to levy the
tribute by force of arms; and if the teules should protect the rebels,
to attack them also, and put them to the sword.
Cortes acquainted Motecusuma with what these men had said, but declared
that the monarch had sufficiently exculpated himself from any guilt in
the affair. According to the laws of our emperor, that man suffered
death who had killed another, whether he deserved killing or not;
however, his love for Motecusuma was so great, that he would rather take
the responsibility of this matter upon himself than allow it to rest
with him; but as he still seemed anxious about it, our general made no
further ceremony with these Mexicans, but sentenced them to death, and
they were burnt alive in front of Motecusuma's palace.[69*]
And that no impediment might be thrown in the way while these sentences
were being put into execution, Cortes ordered chains to be put on
Motecusuma. At first he certainly did not approve of this at all, but,
in the end, quietly submitted, and grew even the more tractable
afterwards. When the executions had taken place, Cortes approached him,
with five of our officers, and himself took off his chains again, with
the assurance that he loved him more than a brother. He likewise told
him, however great a monarch he might be at present, that additional
countries should be annexed to his empire, and he was at liberty to
visit any of his other palaces whenever he felt inclined.
At these words Motecusuma became affected, and big tears rolled down his
cheeks; and though he felt that all was mere empty sound he had heard,
he nevertheless thanked Cortes for his kindness, adding, that at present
he felt no inclination to go anywhere.
His nephews, relations, and grandees daily stormed him with petitions to
allow them to make war upon us, and release him from confinement. And,
indeed, it required all his persuasion to prevent them from rising up in
arms immediately. If he were once, said they, outside of our quarters,
they would take forcible possession of his person. The whole of the
inhabitants in his metropolis would rise up in arms, and if then he
would not join them, they would care little about him, and elect a new
king. Motecusuma, however, succeeded in silencing them by the assurance
that Huitzilopochtli had himself advised him to bear with his
confinement.
To account for Motecusuma thus quietly submitting to his confinement, I
must here remark that Cortes ordered Aguilar to acquaint him secretly
that if even our general himself gave his consent to his liberation, it
would be of no avail, as all our officers and soldiers would oppose it.
Cortes feigned to be unconscious of all this, and embraced the monarch
under the assurances of sincere friendship. He likewise gave him his
page Orteguilla, who had already gained some knowledge of the Mexican
language, the monarch having expressed a wish to have a Spanish
attendant. This young man was of the greatest utility both to Motecusuma
and ourselves, the monarch learning many things from him relating to
Spain, and we again a good deal of the discourses which passed between
the former and his generals: he was in every way attentive to the
monarch, who became exceedingly fond of him. On the whole, Motecusuma
appeared perfectly content with the civilities we showed him, and he
continually felt greater delight in our company; for whenever any one of
us passed by him, he immediately entered into discourse with us: we were
quite at our ease with him, even when Cortes was present, and took off
our helmets in his presence, which, as well as our weapons, we never
laid aside; and the monarch always treated us with great respect.
The severe example which Cortes had made of the Mexican generals had had
its full effect. The news thereof ran like wildfire through the whole of
New Spain; the tribes along the coast, by whom our troops of Vera Cruz
had been defeated, were seized with terror, and again offered their
services to the garrison there.
I must now beg the kind reader to pause a moment upon the heroic deeds
we performed, and consider their magnitude! First of all, we destroy all
our vessels, and thereby cut off all hopes of escaping from this
country. We then venture to march into this strong city, though we were
warned against it on all sides, and assured we should merely be allowed
a peaceable entrance to be the more easily destroyed. We then have the
audacity to imprison the monarch of this vast empire, the powerful
Motecusuma, in his own metropolis, in his very palace, amidst his
numerous troops. At last, we even fearlessly burn some of his generals
to death in front of his own palace, and throw the monarch himself in
chains while this was being executed! Even now, in my old age, the
heroic deeds we then accomplished come vividly to my memory. I imagine I
see all passing before me now, but must also acknowledge that, although
we had our hands full, we were aided by Divine Providence. When again on
earth will be found such a handful of soldiers, in all scarcely 550, who
would dare to penetrate, at a distance of above 6000 miles from their
native country, into the heart of such a strong city, larger than
Venice, take its very monarch prisoner, and execute his generals in his
very presence? These things, indeed, ought to be deeply pondered on, and
not mentioned so briefly as I here have done! But it is time I should
continue my history.
[69*] Bernal Diaz only mentions three of these generals by name:
Quetzalpopoca, Coatl, and Quiahuitle, which we thought better to insert
here. When Quetzalpopoca, says Torquemada, was brought into the presence
of the Spaniards, and asked whether he was a vassal of Motecusuma, he
replied: "Is it possible in this world to be the vassal of any other
monarch." (p. 253.)