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Show BOOK VIT. ~ J I-f I s T 0 . R Y 0 F M E X: I C 0. ik.ill which they acquired there in the ·arts belonging ~o their fe". The youth who when arrived. at the age of twenty-two, ?1d not marry was efteemed to have devoted himfelf for ever to the fervtce of the temples,. and if after fuch confecration of himfelf he repented of celibacy, and de fired to marry, he became infamous for ever, and no woman would accept him for a hu!band. In Tlafcala, thofe who, at the ~ge fit ~ot· marriage, refufed taking a wife were !haven, a mark of the h1gheft dtfhonour with that nation. The fons in general learned the trades of their fat~ers, an·d· embraced their profeffions. Thus they perpetuated the arts m famtltes to the advantage of the ftate. The young men who were defi:ined to the magiftracy, wer~ condutted by their fathers to tribunals, w h~re they heard the laws of the kingdom explained, and obferved the prachce· and forms of judicature. . In the fixtieth picture of Mendoza's colleCtion, are reprefented four judges examining tt caufe,_ and behind them four young ·creteuCiin, or Gentlemen, who are liftening to their decifion. The fens of the king, and pr.ioncipal lot:ds~ were appointed tutors wbo attended to their conduCt, and long Before they could enter into poffeffion of the crown, or their ftate, they were entrufted with the government of feme city, or fmaller ftate, that they might learn by degrees the arduous tafk of governing men. This wae the cu!l:om as early as the time of the fi.rfi: Chechernecan kings; for Nopaltzin, from the time that he was crowned king of Acolhuacan, put his fidl:-born fon. Tlotzin in poffeffion 0f the city ofTezcuco. Cuitlahuac, the la!l: king of Mexico, obtained the ftate of Ixtapalapan, and the brother of Monte~ mma that of Ehecatepec, before they afcended the throne of Mexico. Upon this bafe of education the Mexicans fupported the fabric of their J:lolitical fyll:em which we are now to• unfold. 'SrcT. VT. 'J he cleClion l()flhe i!·.k.i n gs. From the time that the Mexicans, after the ~xample of other neighhouring ftates, placed Acamapitzin at the head of their nation, invcfling him with the name, the honours, and anthority of royalty, the crown of their kingdom was made ekc'tive; for which purpoft: they created fome time aftel"'four eleCtors, in whofe judgment and decifion all the fuffrages of the natiowwere comprehended. Thefo were four lords of the firfi: rank of nobility, and generally of the royal blood, poflefied likewife of prudence and probity adequate to the difcharge of (o .im.portant a funCtion. Their office was not perpetual~ their elt:Cl:oral powcr H I S T 0 R Y 0 F M E X I C 0. power terminated with the firfi elettion, and new elettors were immed~· ately nominated, or the firft were re-chofen by the votes of the nobility. If a deficiency happened in their number before the king died, it was fupplied by a new appointment. In the time of king Itzc. o atl ' two other electors were added, which were the kings of Acol-huacan and Tacuba; but their title was merely honorary. They ufu-ally ratified the choice which was made by the four real electors; but we do not know that they ever interfered otherwife with the election. That the eleCtors might not be left too much at liberty, and in order to prevent the inconveniencies arifing from parties and faCtions. they .fixed the crown in the family of Acamapitzin j and afterwards efl:abliihed a law, that when the king died he lhould be fucceeded by one of his brothers, and on failure of brothers by one of his nephews; or on failure of them by one of his coufins, leaving it in the option of the eleCtors to "chufe among the brothers, or nephews of the deceafed king, the perfon whom they !ho~ld think bell: ~ualified ~o ~overn ; by means of which law, they avo1ded numerous mconvemenctes that we have alre:1dy mentioned. This law was obferved from the time of their fccond, until the time of their lafi: king. Huitzilihuitl, the fon of Acamapitzin, w.1s fuccceded by his two brothers ~him~lpopoca and ltzcoatl . Itzcoatl by his nephew Montezuma llhmcamma; Montezuma b/ his couiln Axajacatl; Axajacatl by his two brothers Tizoc and Ahuitzotl; Ahuitzotl by his nephew Montezuma II; Montezuma JI. by his brother Cuitlahuatzin, to whom lafi:ly his nephew ~1auhtemotzin fucceeded. This feries of kings wi·ll· appear more diftinttly in the table of genealogy which w~ have fubj.Otned. . In the eleCtion ef a king no regm·d was pa1d to the nght of pnmo- gem' t ure. At the de-ath of Mont.e zuma I. Axa. jacatl was eleCted in preference to his elder brothers T1zoc and Ahmtzot.l. No new king wJs elected until the funeral of h1s predeccffor ':as celebrated with due pomp and magnificence. As foon as the ele:b~n was ma de , ad v1· ce~ was ient to the kinuo s of Acolhuacan and Tacuba, m order that they might confirm it, and al1o t'~ the fcuda~ory lords who had been prefent at the funeral. Thefe two kmgs led t.1e new chofen ~o-: ereign to the greater temple. The feudatory lords we.nt firfr, With the enfigns of their fl:ates i then the nobles of the court w1th the b:1dges X x 2 of SrcT. VTT. The pr,mp and Cl.!rc:tnoui~ l s Ht the procb mntio~t. and unction of the king. |