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Show BOOK IV. ~ SEC'f, XVII. New onCJucHs and cfcath of Axayacntl. ' H I S T 0 R Y 0 F M E X I C 0. city, but as n part, or rather as the fuburbs of Mexico, which it is at prefent. The king of Mexico confrantly maintained a governor t~1ere, and the Tlatelolcos, befides the tribute which they annually pa1d of maize, robes, arms, and armour, were obliged to repair the temple of Huitznahuac as often as it became neceil:1ry. w ·e are ignorant whether the ~auhpanchefc, the Huexotzincas, and the Matlatzincas, who were the onfedcrates of the Tlatclolcos, did aetu?Jly affifl: in this war. Of their other allies, hiftorians fay, that having come to the fuccour of the Tlatelolcos, after the king Moquihuix wns killed and the confliCl: over, they returned without action. The moment that Axayacatl found himfelf victorious7 he condemned Pojahuitl, and Ehecatzitzimitl, both of them Tlatelolcos, to the ]aft punifhment, for having been the perfons who moft keenly excited the citizens againft the Mexicans, and alfo put the lords of Xochimilco, Cuitlahuac, Colhuacan, Huitzilopochco and others, to death, for entering into a confederacy with his enemies. To take revenge of the Matlatzincas, a numerous and powerful nation, efiablifhed in the valley of Toluca, and O:ill unfubjed:ed to the Mexicans, Axayacatl declared war againfi them, and marching with th~ two allied kings he took in his paffc1.ge, Athpolco, and Xalatlauhc:o; and afterwards he conquered in the fame valley, Toluca., Tetenanco, Mete-pee, Tzinacantepec, Calimaja, and other places in the fouth divilion of the valley, which continued, from that time forward, tributa-ry to the crown of Mexico. Some time after, he returned into the fame province, to fubdue, likewife, the north part of the valley, at prefent called Valle d' lxtlahuncan, and in particular Xiquipil~o, a eonfiderable city and fiate of the Otomies, whofe lord, called Tlilcuezpalin was. famous for his bravery. Axayacatl, who likewife boafied of his courage, was anxious to. engage him in lingle combat during the battle, which took place ; bwt the event proved difafrrous to Axayacatl himfelf; he received a violent wound on the thigh, and two captains of the Otomies advancing, brought him, with a few {\:rokes more, to the ground, and would have made him prifoner, if fome young Mexicans had not, when they faw their king in fuch danger, refolutely defended his liberty and his life. N otwithftandiqg this misfortune and difgrace, the Mexicans obtained a complete victory,. and, according to what hifrorians L'ly, made eleven thouf.md and iixty pnfoners, among whom were Tlilcuezpalin and the two captaius who had R I S T 0 R Y 0 F , M E X I C 0. had attacked the king. By this glorious viCtory Axayacatl added Xiquipiko, Xocotitlan, Atlacomalco, and all the other places comprehended in the valley which were not before fubdued, to the crown of Mexico. As foon as Axayacatl had recovered of his wound, which made him halt in one leg during the refi of his life, he gave a great entertainment to the allied kings, at which he put Tlilcuezpalin and the two other captains to death. The execution of fuch a punifhment did not appear to thofe people un fcafonable, amidfr the fcfrivity of an entertainment; from being ufc d to fhed human blood, the horror naturally arifing from it, changed into recreation. So frro11g is the force of cufiom, and fo eafy is it to familiarize our minds to the moil: horrible objects. In the laO: years of his reign, the bounds of his empire appearing rather too confined towards the wefr, he again took the field; and paffing throllgh the valley of Toluca, and croffing the mountains, he conquered Tochpan and Tlaximalojan, which was afterwards the frontier of the kingdom of Michuacan. From thenc .. returning towards the eafi he made himfelf mafier of Ocuilla and Malacatepec. The progrefs of his conquefi:s and viCtories were now interrupted by his death, which happened in the thirteenth year of his reign, or the 1477 of the vulgar era. He had a genius for wa1·, and was rigorous in punifhing the tranfgreifors of the laws which his predeceifor had efiablilhed. He left a numerous offspring by his different wives, among which ·was the celebrated Montezuma of whom we !hall fhortly have occaiion to fpeak. In the room of Axayac ad, Tizoc was eleCl:ed, who was his elder brother and had ferved in the pofi of general of the army ( n). We do not ·find where he made his firfi expedition to procure the viCl:ims neceifary at the ceremony of his coronution. His reign was fhort and obfcure. In the tenth painting, however, of Mendoza's collctlion there is a reprefentation of fourteen cities fubdued by him, among which are Toluca and Tecaxic, which having rebelled ag,ainfi the crown, occafioned the neceffity of re-conquering them; alfo Chillan, Jancuitlan, in the coun- (11) Acofra makes Tizoc fon of Montezuma I. and the interpreter of Mendoza's collcClion, makes him fim of Axayncatl; but both arc demon!lrated to be wrong, by other ld !lot ians. Acolla wns wrong nifo in the order of the kings, as he placed Ti21oc'9 reign before Axnyacnrl. Sqe Qur DiH' rtntions on this head. .' . try 197 BOOK IV1 • .. SECT.XVJII Tizoc, fcvcnth king of Mexico, |