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Show Sen . IX. Their trnnfformations. nECT, X. The grenter temple of Mexico. H I S T 0 R Y 0 F M E X I C 0. with facrifices and offerings, and various rites, fome common to other nations, and others peculiar to the Mexican religion alone. They prayed generally upon their knees, with their faces tmned towards the eafl:, nd therefore made th~i r !:1.nchwries with the door to the weil:. They made vows for their children as well as for themfelves, and frequently dedicated them to the fervic:e of theit· gods in fome temple or monaftcry. Thofe who happened to be in danger from ftumbling or flipping, upon ~t journey, made vows to vifit the temple of the god Omacatl, and to after up il'lcenfe and paper. They made frequent ufe of the name of God to confirm the tru~h; and their oaths were in this form; Cuix a mo nechz'tta in 'foteotzin ? Does not our god fee me now ? Then naming the principal god, or any other they particularly reverenced, they kifred their hand, after having touched the earth with it. Great faith was put in oaths of this kind by way of purgation when any one was accufed of a crime; for they thought no man could be fo ralh as to venture to abufe the name of God, at the evident ri{k of being moll: feverely punilhed by heaven. Metamorphofes, or transformations, were·not wanting to the mytho" logy of the Mexicans. Among others they related one of a man named 'Jappan, who having undertaken to do penance upon a mountain, yielded to the temptations of a woman, and fell into the fin of adultery. He was immediately beheaded by Jaotl, to whom the gods had given the charge of watching over his ,conducr, and by the gods themfelves was transformed into a black fcorpion. Jaotl, not f<Jtisfied with that puniihment, executed it likewife upon Tlahuitzin, the wife of Jappan, who was transformed into a white fcorpion, while Jaotl himfelf, for having exceeded the bounds of his commiffion, was turned into a locufi. They !aid it was from the fhame of that crime that (corpions !hun the light, and hide themfelves under ftones. The Mexicans, and other nations of Anahuac, like all civilized nations, had temples or places allotted for the purpofes of religion, where the people alfembled to worlhip their gods, and implore their protection. They called the temple Teocalli, that is, the houfe of god, and Teopan, the place of God; which names they applied. with greater propriety to the temples ereCted in honour of the true God, after they embraced Chrifiianity. The • H I S T 0 R Y 0 F M E X I C 0. The city and kingdom of Mexico began with the building of the fanetuary of Huitzilopochtl.i or Mexitli, whence it has ·derived its name. That edifice was the~ a miferable hut. Irzcoat1, the firft king and conqueror of that. natton, ~fter t~e taking of Azcapozalco, enlarged ir. Montezuma I. hts fucceilor, built a new temple, which had fom lhew of magnificence ; and, at length Ahuitzotl raifed and dedicated that immenfc temple which his predecclfor Tizoc had planned. Tlli was the t~mple which the Spaniard celebrated fo highly after they had ~efl:r~ycd Jt. It were to be wi01ed that their accuracy in def<. .: ribing Its dunenfi.ons hatl been but equal to their zeal in deftroying that fu perb monument of fuperfrition: but fuch is the variety of their accounts, that, after having laboured to recon ile th~m, I have found it impoffible to afcertain its proportions; nor lhould I ever have beeu able to form an idea of the architeCture of that temple without the fi gure prefentcd to us by the Anonymous Conqueror; a copy of which 1 have here fubjoin ed, although I have paid lefs regard in it to his delineation than his defcription. I £hall mention therefore all that I think r~ay be. depended upon, after a very tedious comparifon of the defcriptlons gtven by four eye--witne.lfcs, and neglecr what I have been unable to extricate from the confuiion of dif!erent authors (x). .., (x) The four c_yc-witnclfcs whofc defcriptions we have conneClcd together arc the conqueror Cortes, Bern ~ ! D1az, the Ano~ymous Conqueror, and Sahagu n. The thrr.c firH lived for (e . vera! months m the palace of king i\xajacatl, near the temple, and therefore faw it every uay. Sahagtt~, although ~c never faw it cnlire, yet fmv fome part of it, and ou JJ uifcover what ground ~t had occt~pted. Gomara, who dill not himfclf fr.c the temple, nor ever was in Me~ ico, reCeive~. t~c ddfcrent nccot~nts of it from the conquei"Ors themfelves who linv it. Acon:a, whofc defcupt_w_n has been ~op1ed by Herrorn and Solis, inll cad of the great temple drfcribl ?llc pcr.fcCll! d!flercnt. Thu author, although in other rcfpccts deferving of credit, was not m Mexaco tall fi x ~~ years aft.cr the co.nqucf1-, when there were no re mains of the temple. In a Pu.tch edition of Solu, was g"Jvcn an in orrecc print of the great temple, which was :t f~ t c rw:a.r~ s gHen by the authors of the Gentral lli}lot:y of f/'qyt~/{rJ, and is flill to be mt·t with ia1 an cdauon of ~he co~queror ~~rtes'~ Letters, publilhcd :Jt Mexico in 1770 : but the carc le!l~ nefs ?f ~be editors o l t~at e_dmon wall appe:tl' from comparing the print in it with Cortes 's own dCJfcnptton.. He fays: m Ius firllletter, though fomewhnt hypcrbolicnlly, that the grcnt tern~ c O'f Mcxtco was h1ghea· than the tower of the cathed ral church of Seville while in the print mentioned it fca~cely appears to be fe ven or eight perches or toifcs. Cortes dcclures tbnt five hu~ d red M:xrcan nobles fonified themfclvcs in the upper· aren, wh crca~ that fp:a cc as reprefcnrcd Ill the p~·r~t coul~ not contain more th:an fevcnty or eighty men. LaOiy, oanittiug many other contrnchetiOns, Cortes fays, rhut the temple confill cd of three or four bodi es, and thut each body ?ad, as he dclcl'ibcs it, irs cotTidot·es or bnh:onics : yet in the print it is repre· fented ns confiihng of one body only, without any of thofc corridotcs nt all. · . .. This 26 c BOOK VI, o...--y-....J |