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Show H I s T 0 R y 0 F M E X I C 0. _/1. b f eople went to drag it along, but in paffing a wooden van num er o p . bn'd ge over a cana 1, 1· n the en try to the cit. y, the fl:one by 1ts en. ormous wet·g ht , b r oke th. rough the bridge and fell1nt.o the c1a nal, drawmg fomtl men af it er J·. r , an d among the reil: ' the high pne.£1:, w 10 was accompany- 1· ng ·r and fcattering incenfe. The king and the people were a good 1 , . . 1 , · 1 deal difconcerted by this misfortune; but w1t 1out glVIng up. t 1e un-dertaking, they drew the fl:one, with prodigious labo~r and fattgt~e, out f h d b ·ottgl1t it to the temple where 1t was confccrated 0 t e water, an 1 ' . with the facrifice of all the prifoners that had been refervcd for tht great fefl:ival, which was one of the 1~0~ folem1~ ~ver celebt:ate~ by the Mexicans. The king invited the pnnc:1pal nob1hty of all h.ts kmgdom · d expended a great deal of his treafure in prefents wluch he made to 1t, an · f 1 to the nobles and populace. In this fame year the confecrat1?n o t 1e temple Tlamatzinco was celebrated, and. a~fo that. of O£axJcalco, of which we (hall fpeak elfewhere. The VlCbms facnfic~d at the conf~::cration of thefe two edifices, and the altar of the facnfices, were, according to the account of hifl:orians, twelve thoufand two hundred and ten, in number. To have been able to furnifh fuch a number of viCtims, they mu!l: have been continually at war. In 1511, the Jopas rebelled, and defigned to kill all the Mexican garrifon in Tlacot~pec ; hut t~eir intentions being feafonably difcovered, they were pumihed accordmgly, and two hundred of them carried prifoners to Mexico. In I 512, an army of the Mexicans marched towards the north, againfl: the Quitzalapanefe, and with the lofs only of ninety-five men, they made one thoufand and three hundred prifoners, whir:h were al{o carried to Mexico. ~y thefe and other conquefl:s made in the three following years, the Mcx1-1 can empire was extended to its utmoft limits, five or fix years p~·evions to its fall, to which the very great rapidity of its conquefl:s contnbutcd. ' Every province, and place which was conquered, created a new enemy to the conquerors, who became impatient of the yoke to which they were not accuftomcd, and irritated by injurie9, only waited for an oppE: lrtunity of being revenged, and reftoring themfelves to their wonted 1~berty. It would appear that the happinefs of a kingdom confill:s not m the extcnfion of its dominions, nor in the number of its vaffals; but on the (]OJ1trary, that it appooaches at no time nearer to its ful.al period, than · when H I S T 0 R Y 0 F M E X I C 0. when on account of its vall: and unbounded extent, it can no loJ!gcr maintain the necetfary union among its parts, nor that vigour which is reqnifite to withlland the multitude of its enemies. The revolutions which happened at this time, in the: kingdom of Acolhuacan, occalioned by the death of king Nezahualpilli, did not lcfs contribut~ to the r_uin of the Mexican empire. This celebrated king after l1avmg polfefled the throne for forty-five years, either wearied of governing, or troubled with melancholy, from the fatal phenomena he had witnefied, left the reins of government in the hands of two of the royal princes, and retired to his palace of pleafure in Tezcotzinco, carrying with him his f.1VOtJrite Xocotzin and a few ferv:mts, leaving orders to his fans not to leave the court, but to wait there for his farther commands. During the fix months of his retirement, he amufcd himfelf frequently with the exercife of the chace, and at night uf~d ta employ himfelf in obferving the heavens, and for that purpofe had conftruCl:: ed, on the terrace of his palace, a little obfervatory, which was pref~rved for a century after, and was feen by fome Spanifh hit1orians who mention it. He there not only itudied the motion and courfe of the fl:ars, hut converfed with thofe who were intelligent in aflro- . nomy: that fcience having always been in efteem among them, they applied ftill more to it when excited by the examples of the great Nczuhualcojotl, and his fon and fucceffor. After living fix months in this private manner, he returned to his court, ordered his beloved Xocotzin to retire with her children into the palace of Tecpilpan, and fhut himfelf up in the palace of his ufual refidence, without letting himfelf be feen by any perfon but one of his confidents, defigning to conceal his death in imitation of his fitther. Accordingly, neither the time nor the circumftances of his death have ever been known. All that is certain is, that he died in IS I 6, and that before his death he commanded hi_s confidents who were about him to burn his body fecretly. From hence it happened that many of the vulgar, and even feveral of the nobles, were perfuaded that he was not dead, but had rett.irned to the kingdom of Amaquemecan where his ancefl:ors fprung, as he had fret~uently rcfolved to do. VoL. I. H h Ill 233 BOOK V, ~ St c-r. XTV. Death :1nd eu logi u m of king N C7.ahualpilli. |