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Show 88 H I S T 0 R Y 0 F M E X I C 0. BOOK II. univsrfal difperfion. It is equally certain, as we {hall .~1ew in an"' "...--..r-J' other place, however incredible it may appear to ~he cnt1cs of Europe, who are accuftomed to look upon the Amen~a!1~ as all ~qually barbarous, that the Mexicans and all the other ClVlhzed natwns of Anahuac regulated their civil year according to the folar, by. means of the intercalary days, in the fame manner as the Roma~s d1d after the Julian arran gem en t ; and that this accuracy was owmg to the fkill of the Toltecas. 1 heir religion was idolatrous, and they appear by their hifi:ory to have been the inventors of the greateft part of the mythology of the Mexicans, but ~e do no~ know that they praCl:ifcd thofe barbarous and bloody ~acnfices wluch became after-wards fo common among the other natwns. ' The Tezcucan hift:orians bel ieved tb~ Toltecas the authors of that famous idol, reprefenting the god of water, placed .on mount 'Dafoe, of which we ihall fpeak hereafter. It is certain that they built in honour of their beloved god ~etza!coatl, the ~igheft pyramid of Cholula, and probably alfo thefe famous ones of Teotihuacan in honour of the fun and moon, which are ftill in exiftence, though much disfigured (i). Boturini believed the T oltecas built the pyramid of Cholula, to counterfeit the tower of Babel ; but the painting on which his error is fupported (fuffic icn tly common with the vulgar of New Spain), is the work of a modern and ignorant Cholulan, the whole of it being a heap of abfurdities (k) . (i) Betancourt fays thefe prramids were bui lt by the Mexicans; this is C'crtainly falfc, nnd contrary to 1he opinion of all other authors, American as well as Spanifl1 . Dr. Scgucnza :tppears to think they were the work of the Olmccas ; but as we have no other remains of the ' architcClure of th :lt nation, by which w~ 1night judge; and bcfidcs, th efe pynunids being made after the model of that of Cholu la, we arc th erefore induced to think that the Toltccas were the archi teCts of them all, as Torquemadu and other authors rebte . (k) The painting alluded to by Boturini, reprefented the pyramid of holula, with t!& is 1\Jcxican infcription, CJ'Q /trcn!l Cbakhihuatl o1un:la E hrcntfpctl; which he thus interprets : A tiiOIJIWt•nt, or predoiiS j lolle of t/;c r'o ltrca tUition, 'l.vhofe ?leek Jcarcbcs into the rrgion of tbe air : hut independent of the incorrcel nc f~ of the writing, and the barbaril"m Chal hihu ail, who· ev er is in !he lcafi in!lru tlcd in the Mexican language, will immediately perceiv e. th ere could not be a mor? whi~1ficnl intcrpt etation . 1\t the foot of tbe picture, fays Boturini, the author put a note, m wluch,.addre!Ti ng himfelf to his countrymen, he admoni!heJ them as fo llows : Nobles, and gentlemen, he hold your fcrip tures, the image of your antiqu ity, and the hiOory of your an ce!tors ; who, moved by fear from the deluge, -.uilt this afy lum, for a ready ntreat, in cafe of being again vifited by fuch a calnmity. But to fpc 11k the tru tlj, the '1 oltccas muft have been utterly deprived of undcrfiandil1g, if from the fear of the. 1 deluge • M ,E ·X I .C. C. · During the four centuries which . the monarchy pf ~ Ule .Toltecas lafted, they multiplied con.fiderably, extendiqg 1jh.eir p~p.~lation c;ve~y way in numerous ,and large cities; but the direful <;;llamities which happened to them in the firft years of the reign of ,Topiltzin, :. ga~e .a fatal lhock to their profperity and power. F.or (yveral .years h~'l-ven denied them the neceifary ihowers to their field~ , ~p,d .~he .,eart,h tJ1e fi·uits which fupported them. The air, infeCl:ed with mortal contagion, filled daily the ,graves with the dead, and the minds of thofe furviving with confter.nation, at the deftruetion of theit cqufl;q-ymen. A great p~rt, .of the nation died by famine and ficknefs. Topiltz\fl ~eparted hfe m the fecond year Tecpatl, the twentieth of 1 his reign, which was probably the year I o 52 ,of the vulgar era, ,and ,with, h~r,.n the . Toltecan monarchy concluded. The wretched rerp.ains of the ~ation, willing to f.we themfelves from the common calamity, fought timely· relief to their ll)isfortuoes, in other countries. Some directed their courfe to Onohu.alco or Yucatan, fome to Guatemala whiie fome famiHes fropped .in the kingdom of Tula, and fcattered' themfelves in the great yale,w.here Mexico was afterwards. founded . f~~e in Cholula, Tlaxiu1oloy.an, and other· places; and , am~mgfr there we~e ·the two .princes fons of king Topil.tzin, w 4ofe .defcendants, in courfe ·of time, intermarried with the royal families of Mexico, Tezcuco, and Colhuacan. Thefe imperfeCt accounts of the Toltecas are all that we think prop.er to ·be .to~d here, qmitting many fabulous relations introduced deluge. they. ~ad ~md~rta~e n, •:tt fo mu_ch c xpe~cc a':d l:1bour, the building of t that ominotts &lyr~umd, , wlul c. .m ' the ht~ltcft ln?\11\tam~, a h~tle dilbnt fr9m ChohJla, they hud a much mo1 e • fec.urc. a~ylunt from. mundnttQns, With leis dan~cr of ,perifl.1ing, by wa.nt. J 11 the f.1me work,· Bo~unm fays, was repre:entcd the l:>apt)(m of ll:unnteuctli, ~ecn of Cholul 11, co11 • 1 fer.reu :up.on .he11 by ~)caco~· .Ag.uJ!ar11 ~he . ld cof A.ug uft, 1 5 z r, togc~h cr w.ith the apparition of ·-the Vu·g.m to a ce n am rchgwus F.r·u1.c.ifcan, who was li v_\ng.at Rome, o1;dering him to depart for Mex tco ; \~here he was t~ p.lace on a mountain. bl1ilt by art (th at is, t he pyrarpid of Ch<;~.l.\tla), her c•mng~ • . nu.t thts IY nq morcothan a .frrulg of dre:jms anq lies.; for in holula .~erq ,J\CI'Cll t·Wcre euhcr, ~mgs, .nor could fqch Q(\ pt ifm, of, which no auth.or fays a word ~nv~ ~~~~ l.l ccl~b~·ated on ,the 4,th of ~.ug ll\ 1 sz 1 ; as at , that tim9 Aguilar, \yith the othr; ~.Pi\IWI.rds, . was ,lll ·the hqa~ .of ~he .ficge of :the CjlpitRI, which was to ro:nder it fclf up fcvcn <u ays. U"teo· t h f · ' ' ' • '" o t e conqu~rors . 0 thr .p retended apparitiou of the mother of God th rrc i ~ AlO !1111iP1 Q~'f: , am~ng: ·thc; .F ral)cif.:an hiaorians, . who ne~cr omitted any thing of th {~ kind in :l~c·~· c9romclcs. ' f e ~ave qctn(mar;~tcd ,the fal~ty of this r~lation, to cau~on thofc, with · g Jd to .lll!lqcrn .p•~ures, whq tpny :11~ { t,urc un.'!CJ a·ke the hiil:ory of Mexico. VoL1 I. N . . . .. ' . tw jJQqK ·JI. ~ SECT. liT. Ruin of ~he Toltecas. |