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Show BOOK VU. '--'v--1 • H I S T 0 R Y 0 F M E X I C 0. A murderer forfeited his own life for his crime, even althq)ugh the perfon murdered was but a !lave. . He who killed his wife, although he caught her m adultery, fuftered dc:-tth; bccauk, ac ording to them, he ufurped the auth.ority of the magiD:rates, whofc province it was to take cognizance of mifdecds, and punilh evit-docrs. Adultery was inevitably puniilied with death. Adulte!'ers: were fioned to death, or their heads were bruifed between two Il:ones. This law which prefcribcd that adul tercrs !hould be D:oned to death, is one of thofe which we have feen reprefentcd in the ancient p:1intings whi h were preferved in the librat-y of the fuprerne college of Jefuits at Mexico. It is alfo rcprefcnted in the !aft painting of the collection made by Mendo.za, and is taken notice of by Gomara, Torquemada, and other authors. But they did not confider, nor did they puni{h as adultery, the trefpafs of a huiliand with any woman who was free, or not joined in matrimony: whei·efore the huiliand was not bound to fo much fidelity as was exacted from the wife. In all places of the empire this crime was punilhed, but in fame places with greater feverity than in others. In Ichoatlan, a woman who was accufed of adultery was fummoned before the judges, and if the proofs of her crime were fatiffatlory, fhe received puniiliment there iq1mediat.ely; fhe was torn in pieces, and her limbs divided amongfi: the witneff'es. In Itztcpec infidelity in a woman was punifhed according to the fentence of the magi! l:rates by her huiliand, who cut off her no[e and her ears. In fome parts of the empire the punifhment of death was inflicted on the huiband, who cohabited with his wife, after it was proved that !he had violated her fidelity. No divorce was lawful without the penniffion of the judges. He who defit·ed to divorce his wife, prefented himfelf before the tribunal and explained his reafons for it. The judges exhorted him to concord, and endeavoured to di1fuade him from a feparation; but ifhe perfifi:ed in his claim, and his reafons appeared juft, they told him that he might do that which he !hould judge m0ft proper, without giving their authority for a divorce by a formal fentence. If after aU he divorced herJ he never could reco.ve;r her nor be united to her again. Thofe H l S T 0 R Y 0 F M E X I C 0. 35·7 Thofe who were guilty of inccft with th eir neareft of blood, or reh- BOOK vn. tions, were hanged, and all marri<l,~cs betw en pe rfo s fo nearly con-· ~ netted were ftriB:ly forbid by law, exce pting marria res hctwcen brothers and fiil:ers-in-law; for amongft: th ~ l'vkx ican s, a well as amongfi the Hebrews, it was the cuD:om th at the brothers of the deccafcd huiliand might marry with their widowed fi .O:ers-in-law; but there was great difference in this praB:ice of thcfe two nations ; for amongft the He-brews fuch a marriage could only happen in one cafe, th at was where the hufuand died without ifi't1c; amongD: the Mtxicans on the contrary, it was necelfary that the deccaicd fhould leave children, of whofe edu-cation the brother was to take charge, entering into all the rights of a father. ]n fome places which were diftunt from the capital, the IlO·· bles were accuftomed to m~rry their widowed mothers .. in.-Jaw, pro-vided their f.·uhers had not had children by them; but in the c:apitals of Mexico and Tezcuco, and the places neighh0uring to them, fuch man:iages were deemed incefl:uous, and puni!hed with fevcrity. Any perfon guilty of a detefiable crime was hanged ; if a priefi, he was burnt alive. Among!l: all the nations of Anahuac, excepting the Pannchefe, this crime was held in abomination, and w.as punilhed by them all with rigour. Ne.verth~lcfs , vicious men, in order to juftify their own exceifes, have defamed all the nations of America with. this. horrid vice; but this calumny, which. feveral Europeans authors have too readily admitted to b j.ul1:, is proved to be falfe by the teftimony of many othe.r authors, who are more impartial and better in:formed (x) .. The priefi, who, during tlie time that he was de.dicated to the.fervice of the temple,. abufed any free woman, was depnved of the pnefrhood and bani{hed. If any of the young men, or young women, who wer.e edu.cating in · the feminarics, were guilty of incontinence, they were liable to a fever.e puniihment, and even to fu.fft:r death, according to the report of fome authors. BLtt, on the other hand, there was no puni!hment whatevj:!r prefcribed for fimple fomication, although the evil tendency of an excefs of this kind was not unknown to. them; and. fathers freq~ently · (.v) Sec wh:~t we h:~v c fnid in our Ditl'crtations refpetting the author who has revived this, · atrocious calumny upon the Amcdca.ns,_ admo- |