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Show ZISSE!tT. vm. H I S T 0 R Y 0 F M E X I C, 0. , "" ... ,(o fi~:m'ly perfuaded of the neceffity of fome human blood being {pitt for this purpofe~ that when the circumfianc'es of the dead CQuld. not bear the expencc of gladiators or prifoners, prqicce ~ere pa~d, that .they might draw blood from their cheeks with their nails. H.o~ many ·.~iCl:ims mufi thus have fallen by tl)e f~perfiition of the Romans,· at. '#lei~ funerals, efpecially as they vied with each other who lhould cxi: ced in the number of gladiators and prifoners whofe blo()d was to ~el~hrate the funeral pomp? It was ~his bloody difpofition of the R~mans which · n1ade fuch havoc on the people of Europe, Afia, and Aft·ica, and which, .befides overflowed Rome with the blood of its .own dtizens, ,efpecially during thofe horrid profcriptions which ful ... )ied the glory of that famoqs r~public~ · The Mexican were -not only inl:mman towards their prifoners, but lik.ewife .towacds themfelves, by their.. barbarous aufterities mentioned in t~is hifiory. But the drawing of blood with the prickles of the .aloes from their tongues, arms, and legs, as they all did, and the borjng their tongue with pieces of cane, ,as ;he mo4; ~tuftere amongft them ufecl to do, will appear but fi~ght mortifications compared with thofe . dreadful and unh.eard of ~ufrerities execut~d upon themfelves by peni- ·tents of the Eaft,.Indies and Japan, which cannot be read without horro.r. Who wip ever think of comparing the inhumanities of the 1nofl: famou1> Tlmr.Jacazqui of Mexico, aQd Tlafcala, with thofe of the pricfis of Bellona and Cybele (u) ? When did the Mexicans tear their limbs, or their fleih, with their teeth, or cafi:rate themfelves in honour pf thc.:ir gods, as thofe priefis did in honour of Cybelc? · Latl:ly, the Mexicans, not content with £1.cri.ficing human victims, ,efll. alfo the)r flelh. We confefs in this tb~ir inhumanity furpafled other (11) 'Dc:r Ma,gn:r 'Saccrc1ores, qu'i Gulli vocnbantur, vi1iri:t fi ' i nmputabant, & fumre perciti ~aput .rotab:lllt cn!r,.ifquc f:1ci f:m nHtfc~tlofquc totius corporis di!lecabunt 1 morlibus c1uoque fe 1pfus unpctcbanr. 4n~~~Jl. dr Civ. Dei. lib, ii, cap. 7• lllc viriles fibi ~,n·r~s arpputat, illc lacertds lccar. Ubi ir~tos Deos timcnt, C]Ui fie pt·opitios ,rncrcntt t'l · • • 1 :uuus cfr pcmu fbat:e mentis & fedibu11 fuis fH1Ifa: f.uror, ut fie Dii plactntur, q\Jcmallinotl tq\l.ne homines guidqn fa:viunt tctcrrimi, & ir1 fabulas rraditi cl'lldrliratis Tyrat111i 'l.tccmvcrut.tt :t lrquo~um membra ; I\C II1incm fuft ln ccrarc jutlerunt. In regia libidinis volupta. : em ca!lr:ttt funt q~td am; fcJ ncr\\0 Iilli, llc vir cffc.t, jubcn·e domino manus intulit. Se ip~ ) II .tc tt plts con~rucH!:l\tt, .vuJnc:ribua fuis ac (,1~.!5UUIC fupplicant. Si cui intuai vacct qu :y fac~ unt, C]ll:-tquc pl~lll ntu!'• invcnict tam indccor:t honelli s, tam int!igna libcris, tam dillimilia .f:uH~, . ttt ~C'mo .fu e1:1t Jubttaturus furet·c eoa, fi um paucioribus furcrent; nunc fanit:1tis pi• trocuuiJ,IIl w,f:u~t C\ItlUIIJ turba _c.U. SftJtra, lij; • .l).o Si2p,.,jlit,. nations,; ! ..' H 1 S T 0 R Y 0 F M E X I C 0. nations; but examples of this kind have not been fo rare even among c;;ultiva.ted nations of the old continent, as to make the Mexicans be claffed with nations abfolutely barbarous. That ho.Prible cuil:om, fays the· hi'fi:ori.an Sol'is, of men eating each other, was feen firft amcmg the barbarians· in our hemifphere, as is confeff'ed by Gallicia, in his Annals. ,Beficies the ancie.tHl Afriea·ns, whofe· clefcendants at this day are in part c.anib~ls 1 it is certain, that many of .thofc n~tions which were formerly l<nown by the· name of Scythians, and alfo the an·cient inhabitants of Sicily) and th'e cdritineiit of Italy, as Pliny a~d orher authors fay, were ·men-ea'ters-' li1tewife·. Of tne Jews·, who lived in the ~imes of Antic,. 'Chus ''the i/li'Jjlrious Appion, an Egyptian, not Greek writer, a·s M. de Paw fays~ has Written,.' that they ufed to keep. a Greek prifoner to eat him at the end' of one year. Livy £1ys of the 'famous Hannibal,. that Re rriade 'his foldiers eat human ' flelh to· encourage thtm to war. Plihy feverely c~nfures the Greeks ~for their cullom of eating all the parts· of the· hu·man oody, to· ~ure t~enffelves of different diftempers (x)~ l!l ·there any wonder then that the Mexicans lhould do that from a motive of religion, which the Greeks· obferved a·s a rule of medicine1 But we do not •pretend to ·apolo~ife · for t.hem on t?~ head·; 1 Their religion, with refpeCl: to Canibalifm', J w~s certa-in1y' more barbaroug than that of the Romans, Egyptians, or thofe other cultivated· nations';·, but, at the fame time, i~ other points,. it is not to be denied, that ill· was Iefs fuperfl:it.iou~ lefs abfurd', and lefs indecentr .. , ' ,..T (K)' ~is i'nvenir fingula. membra hum ann man ere?' Q1Ja .. cortjeeh~ra i'ndultu•? qyam· poo. 11eft medicina itla originem habuilfe r ~is veneficia innocenuora fcctt quam rcmed1a l E!to, l>~rbar.i extcrniqtte ritus inycncrin~ ;. cti1~~ ac G~'Q, i! ,a• f~CICrt fil" aFtcs r ~3fq, ~/i, •. Hfi •. Nat. lib. xxv~ii. c:~p. 1. I I r · d v. • -447 DESSERT< •. vm. '--"v--J. |