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Show I 110 HISTORY 0 F ME X I C 0. BOO~D,C . 1 b 'd d kiiled fome Spaniards, and that ·a great body of wa.r-tle n ges an · d'. 1 · • • · · · fi: the quarters· Cortes went unrne · 1ate y to w SIC T. XIX. Death of king Montezuma, and other lords, nors were conung agam ' · h 1 th 'th the cavalry and making way thr-ough them wtt t ~~ t}'leet em Wl ' ' . J '}{t •} utmoft difficulty. and danger, he recov~.:red th~ bndges, but w' u . . il.e was reta k.m g t"p' e }ail ' the Mexicans had agam taken the .f vur fi1 ll, and had began to draw out the materL1ls with which the d1tches had been filled up by the Spaniards. The genera~ ret~rned at length. t~ regam· th em, and then retired to the qu~.r. ters With Ius people, who were now all weary, melancholy, and wounded. · Cortes in his letter to Charles V. reprefents the great danger he was in, that day, of l~fing his life, and afcribes it to parti~ular prov.idence that he efcaped from among fuch a rnultitud~ of enemtes. . It 1s c.crt 'n that from the moment they rofe agamil: the Spamards, tney ~~~ld have been able to have dcftroyed them with all their allies, if they had obferved a better order in fighting, and if there had been more agreement among the inferior officers who led on the attacks; but they could not agree among themfelves, as will appear hereafter, •md the populace were merely actuated by their tu~ult~ous fury. On the other hand, it is not to be doubted, that the Spamards mufi: have appeared to them to have been made of iron ; for they neither yi~lded to the diftrefs of famine, nor to the neceffi ty of fleep, nor to contm ual fatigue and wounds ; after having employed all the day in combating with their enemies, they fpent the night in burying the dead, curing the wounded, and repairing the damages done to their quarters during the day by the Mexicans, and even in the little time which they allowed for repofe, they never quitted their arms, but were always ready to rife before their enemy. But the hardinefs of their troops will appear ftill more extraordinary in thofe terrib.le engagements which we !hall prefently relate. On one of thofe days, probably the thirtieth of June, died, in the quarters of the Spaniards, the king Montezuma, in the fifty-fourth year of his age, in the eighteen.th of his reign, and the feventh month of his imprifonment. With regard to the caufe and the circumfiances of his death, there is fo great a difference and coptradiction among hiftorians, it is altogether impoffible to afcertain the truth. The Mexican hiftorians blame the Spaniards, and the Spanilh hifiorians accufe Il I S T 0 R Y 0 F .M E X I C 0. accufe the Mexicans of it (k). We cannot be perfuaded that the Span.iards ~ould ref0l vc to take away the lifo of a king to whom they owe.d fo niany benefits, and from whofe death they could only expetl:. new misfortunes. Hislofs was lamented,. if we are to credit Bernal Diaz, an eye-witnefs and moft faithful writer, not lefs by Cortes and every one of his officers and foldi6rs, than if he had been thoir father. He !hewed them infinite favour and kindnefs, whether it had been from natural inclination or fear; he always appeared to them to be their friend at heart,. at leafi: there is no reafon to believe the contrary, nor was it ever known that he fpoke like an enemy of them, as they themfelves protell:ed. His good and bad qualities may be gathered from an account of hisactions. He was circumfpect, magnificent,. liberal, zealous for juil:ice,. · and· grateful for the fervices of his fubjetts; but his referve and diflance made the throne inacceilible to the complaints of his people;. His magnificence and liberality were fupported by the burdens laid' on his fubjects, and his juil:ice degenerated into cruelty. He was exaCt and punCl:ual in every thing appertaining to religion, and j ealous of the wodhip of his gods and the obfervance of rites(/). In his youth he was inclined to war and courageous, and came off conqueror, accord., ing to hiftory,. in nine battles; but ir1 the.lafi: year of his reign, doroefiic pleafures, the fame o~ the firfi: viCtories of the Spaniards, and~ above all, fuperil:ition, weakened and debafed his mind to fuch a degree, that he appeared, as his fubjects reproached him, to have changed his. fex. He delighted greatly in mufic and the chace, and was as dex.i. · trous .in the ufe of the bow and arrow as in that of the lhooting-tube'. He was a perfon of a good {l:ature, but of an indifferent complexion,. and -of a long vifage with lively. eyes. (l) Corte a and Gomara affirm, that Monte:tnM':l died o( the Mow! from 'the'£lone'with which his people hit him on the head . Solis fays his death was ' occafionell by'hia not h:1ving hia. wound drcfi'ed. Berhal Diat a"'ds 'to this omiffion nnd neglclt, his voluntaty' abllint!nce from fbod. The chronicler Hcrrer:1 fay~, that the wound was not mortal, but thnt)le died of a. broke~ :he~ rt . Sahagun, nnd othet· Mcxican ·hiftoria11s, &ffirm, thnt tfle Sp:miMde kiUed him, aaif,one· of them m.cnti?ns the circumfiam:e of a foldicr having pierced him with an eel-fpear. (/) Soh~ fayr.thnt Mo~1tezum:w bartlfy '6rnt h/J nuk, that ia ,bow~il'hi1 head ~G his gods; th:lt he had a h1gher 1dea of hunfclf than of tllem, &c. He adds al(G; thnt tht Ji-tn1fo'llollrtd birn. rwith fr1'!11tnt viju. Such cl'cdulity does not bccomt the greater hitlori«Dgraphei'of the lntlitl ~ 8 He Ill BOOK IX. '--v--.1 |