The Memoirs of the Conquistador Bernal Diaz del Castillo, Vol 1 (of 2)

CHAPTER XCIV

Of the battle which the Mexican generals fought with Escalante and the Totonaque tribes.

The reader will remember, some chapters back, how we lay quartered in the township of Quiahuitzlan, and that several of the confederate tribes, friendly with Sempoalla, assembled around us there. Above thirty townships, on this occasion, at the command of Cortes, refused to pay any further tribute to Motecusuma, and threw off his yoke. It was during that time also that the Mexican tax-gatherers were imprisoned by the Sempoallans, at our instigation. After all this had taken place we broke up our quarters at Sempoalla and began our march towards Mexico, leaving Juan de Escalante behind, as governor of Vera Cruz, who received particular instructions to protect our allies.

Motecusuma had garrisons in every province of his empire, which were always stationed on the confines. Such garrisons, for instance, lay in Xoconoctico, for the protection of Guatimala and Chiapa, another in Coatzagualco, a third in Mechoacan, and a fourth on the confines of Panuco, between Tuzapan and a township lying on the north coast, which was called Almeria.⁶⁹ When the garrison of the latter place demanded the tribute of Indians with the provisions from the neighbouring townships, they refused to pay it, (as they were in alliance with Sempoalla, and had assisted Escalante in the building of the fortress,) and gave for reason that Malinche had so commanded it, and that the powerful Motecusuma had consented thereto.

The Mexican chiefs, however, were not to be put off with this answer, and declared they would destroy every township which refused to pay the tribute, and carry off the inhabitants as slaves, as they were bound to obey the commands which Motecusuma had recently issued.

On hearing these threats the Totonaque tribes applied to Escalante for assistance against the Mexicans, who were coming to plunder them. Escalante accordingly sent off messengers to the Mexican chiefs, commanding them to leave those tribes at peace, as that was the wish of their monarch, Motecusuma, with whom we stood on very friendly terms; and if they refused compliance with his commands he would march into the field against them in person, and treat them as enemies.

The Mexicans received these threats with utter contempt, and returned the haughty answer, "that they would meet him on the field of battle!" Escalante, who was a man of great courage, and very prompt in what he did, issued orders to our mountain allies to equip themselves for battle, and he selected those from among his own men who were in the best health, and most able to bear fatigue.

In this way he marched out against the Mexicans, with two cannon, a small supply of powder, three crossbow-men, two musketeers, besides forty Spanish soldiers and above 2000 Totonaques. The Mexicans were double the number of our Totonaque auxiliaries, who, besides this, had become intimidated by former battles; so that they left Escalante in the lurch after the very first attack. Escalante now forced his way to Almeria, which he set fire to. Here he halted for a short time, as he was dangerously wounded. In the several engagements which here took place Escalante lost one horse, and one of his men, named Arguello, a young man of amazing bodily strength, with a wild-looking countenance, a large head, and black curly beard, who was carried off alive by the Mexicans. Six others of his men were likewise dangerously wounded; the only alternative, therefore, which Escalante had left was to return to Vera Cruz, where he and six others of his men died three days after their arrival.

This is exactly what took place at Almeria; and not as Gomara relates, who says, that all this happened under Pedro de Ircio, who had marched out on this occasion with a few men to Panuco, in order to found a colony there; though we had scarcely sufficient troops in Vera Cruz to place the necessary sentinels; how much less, therefore, could the thought have entered our mind to send out a colony to Panuco? Besides which, Ircio was not an officer at that time; no, nor even a corporal; had altogether nothing to do with the whole affair, being at the time with us in Mexico. In the same way Gomara tells his tales about our imprisoning Motecusuma, without for a moment reflecting that several of the Conquistadores were still alive; who, when they had perused his work, would be able to say so and so such a thing happened, and not otherwise.

We must now turn to the Mexican generals, and relate how they announced their victory to Motecusuma, and sent him the head of Arguello, who most likely died on the road of his wounds. We afterwards learnt that Motecusuma was quite horror-struck at the sight of this enormous head with the thick curly beard. He could not bear to look at it, and would not allow the head to be brought near any of the temples in Mexico, but ordered it to be presented to the idols of some other town; yet he inquired how it came that his troops, which had been many thousands in number, had not been able to overthrow such a handful of teules? His captains replied, that notwithstanding all their courageous fighting they had not been able to make the Spaniards give way, because a great Spanish tecleciguata⁷⁰ had stood at their head, who had filled the Mexicans with fear, and animated the teules by her speeches.

Motecusuma was convinced that this illustrious warrior was the Virgin Mary, who, we had told him, with her heavenly Son, whom she held in her arms, was our strong rock.

This wonderful apparition I did not behold with mine own eyes, as I was at the time in Mexico. However, several of the Conquistadores spoke of it as a fact; and may it please God that it was so. It is, however, certainly true that the blessing of the Virgin Mary was always upon us.

CHAPTER XCV

Of the imprisonment of Motecusuma, and what further happened.

After we had come to the determination of seizing the person of Motecusuma, and had been on our knees the whole night in prayer, to supplicate the Almighty's assistance in this bold attempt, and that it might redound to the glory of his holy religion, we made the necessary arrangements when morning came for that purpose.

Every one received orders to be ready to march out at a moment's notice, and the horses were to be kept saddled. It is not necessary for me to repeat here that our arms were always in readiness; for they were never out of our hands either day or night; while our alpargates, the only covering we had to our feet, were never taken off.

Our general now sallied forth, accompanied by our five chief officers, Alvarado, Sandoval, Lugo, Leon, and Avila; besides our interpreters, Marina, and Aguilar. Cortes and his officers were completely armed; yet this would not appear strange to Motecusuma, as he had never seen them otherwise whenever they paid him a visit. Cortes, as on the former occasion, sent some one before him to announce his approach, that Motecusuma might not perceive any change in our behaviour, and feel no uneasiness at our unexpected visit. His conscience, however, was not altogether easy, on account of the affair which had taken place at Almeria, and he had a misgiving that it would bring down evil upon him. Yet he sent word that our visit would be agreeable to him.

After Cortes had entered his apartment, and the usual compliments had been passed, he thus addressed Motecusuma: "I am greatly astonished that a prince of such power, who styles himself our friend, should have commanded his troops, which lie on the coast near Tuzapan, to take up arms against my Spanish troops, and presume to demand a certain number of men and women for the sacrifices from those townships which have put themselves under the protection of our emperor. But this is not all; they have plundered those places, and even killed one of my brothers, and a horse."

Cortes very prudently omitted to mention the death of Escalante and the six others; for Motecusuma at that time knew as little of that as his generals who had commanded on the occasion.

"How very differently we acted on our side!" continued Cortes. "I had put implicit reliance in your friendship, and desired my officers in every way to comply with your wishes. You, on the contrary, have commanded your officers the very opposite. You once likewise sent a large body of troops to Cholulla to destroy us all there. At that time, from the friendship I bore you, I would not notice to you that I was aware of that. At the present moment your generals have the audacity to plot in secret to put us all to death. However, notwithstanding all this treachery, I will refrain from making war upon you, which would only end in the total destruction of this city; but in order that peace may be maintained between us, you must make a small sacrifice, which is, to follow us quietly into our quarters, and take up your abode there. There you will receive the same attention, and be treated with the same respect as if you were in your own palace. But if you make any alarm now, or call out to your attendants, you are a dead man; and it is for this reason only that I have this time brought these officers with me."

Motecusuma was seized with such sudden terror at these words, that he remained speechless for some time. At length, however, he took courage, and declared he had never given any one orders to take up arms against us. He would that instant send for his generals, and learn from them the truth of the whole matter, and give exemplary punishment. For this purpose, he loosened the seal and mark of Huitzilopochtli, which he always wore around his wrist. This he only did when he issued orders of the first importance, and that those who had the seal might be immediately obeyed. He was quite astonished, he said, we should presume to take him prisoner, and lead him away out of his palace against his wishes. No one had a right to demand that of him, he added; and altogether he felt no inclination to comply with our request.

Cortes, in answer to this, gave him very good reasons for our having come to this determination; but Motecusuma continually brought in stronger reasons why he should not comply; and was resolved not to leave his palace.

As this dispute had now lasted above half an hour, our officers began to lose all patience, and said to Cortes with great warmth, "What is the use of throwing away so many words? He must either quietly follow us, or we will cut him down at once. Be so good as to tell him this; for on this depends the safety of our lives. We must show determination, or we are inevitably lost."

These words were uttered by Juan Velasquez in a loud and harsh tone of voice. When, therefore, Motecusuma heard this, and perceived the dark looks of the officers, he asked Marina what the man had said who spoke so loud.

Marina, who was uncommonly shrewd, and well knew how to help us out with a good answer, said, "Great monarch, if I may be allowed to give you advice, make no further difficulties, but immediately follow them to their quarters. I am confident they will pay you every respect, and treat you as becomes a powerful monarch. But if you continue to refuse, they will cut you down on the spot."

Motecusuma then turned to Cortes, and said: "Malinche, since then you repose no trust in me, take my son and my two legitimate daughters as hostages; only do not disgrace me, by demanding my person. What will the grandees of my empire say, if they see me taken prisoner?"

Cortes, however, said that his own person would be the only guarantee of our safety, and that there was no other means of quieting our fears. At last Motecusuma, after a good deal of altercation, made up his mind to go quietly with us.

As soon as he had declared this his intention, our officers showed him every possible civility, and hoped that he would excuse the grief they had occasioned him, and desired him to acquaint his generals and his body-guard that he had chosen, of his own free will, to take up his abode in our quarters; and also upon the advice of Huitzilopochtli and his papas, who considered it necessary for his health, and for the safety of his life.

His rich and splendid sedan was then brought in, which he commonly used when he left his palace with his whole suite, and he followed us to our quarters, where we took every precaution to secure his person. Every one of us strove hardest to make him happy, and procured him every entertainment we could think of, to make his confinement as pleasant as we could.

Shortly afterwards all the Mexican grandees, with his nephew, called upon him, to inquire the reason of his imprisonment, and ask him if they should commence hostilities against us? But Motecusuma told them he wished to do himself the pleasure of passing a few days with us, and that this change of abode was of his own free choice. He would make his wishes known to them as soon as he found reason to complain. They might allay their fears, and keep the metropolis quiet, and not trouble themselves any further about him. The determination he had thus taken was fully consented to by Huitzilopochtli, as many priests, who had purposely consulted him, had admitted.

These are the true circumstances relative to the imprisonment of Motecusuma. He was always surrounded by the whole of his household, and had all his wives with him, and continued to bathe himself daily, as he had been accustomed to, in his own palace. He was likewise always attended by twenty of his generals and counsellors, nor did he show the least signs of grief on account of his confinement. Disputes from the most distant parts were laid before him, as usual, for his decision; the tribute was collected, and he continued to attend to the most important affairs of state as before. His subjects paid the same veneration to his person, and the most distinguished princes who waited on him, or came upon business, always took off their fine garments, to put on a meaner dress of nequen cloth, and came so, barefoot, into his presence. Neither did they enter at the principal gate, but sought for some side door, and approached with eyes downcast, and made three prostrations, and pronounced the words Lord, my lord, great lord! They then acquainted him with their business, by means of pictures drawn on nequen cloth; and made use of thin sticks, with which they pointed to the different objects, to explain what they wanted, or the nature of the lawsuit they came about.

Motecusuma had constantly two old distinguished caziques at his side, who, as judges, gave their opinion in every case, after due deliberation; and the monarch then, in few words, gave his decision. The parties then, without uttering a syllable, or turning their backs to him, left the apartment with three deep bows; and on arriving outside, they again put on their fine garments, and took a stroll in the metropolis.

After some time had elapsed, the generals who had fought against Escalante were brought in prisoners to the monarch. What he told them on this occasion I do not know; but he sent them to Cortes to pronounce judgment on them himself. These unfortunate men confessed they had merely acted up to the commands of their monarch, which was, to levy the tribute by force of arms; and if the teules should protect the rebels, to attack them also, and put them to the sword.

Cortes acquainted Motecusuma with what these men had said, but declared that the monarch had sufficiently exculpated himself from any guilt in the affair. According to the laws of our emperor, that man suffered death who had killed another, whether he deserved killing or not; however, his love for Motecusuma was so great, that he would rather take the responsibility of this matter upon himself than allow it to rest with him; but as he still seemed anxious about it, our general made no further ceremony with these Mexicans, but sentenced them to death, and they were burnt alive in front of Motecusuma's palace.⁷¹

And that no impediment might be thrown in the way while these sentences were being put into execution, Cortes ordered chains to be put on Motecusuma. At first he certainly did not approve of this at all, but, in the end, quietly submitted, and grew even the more tractable afterwards. When the executions had taken place, Cortes approached him, with five of our officers, and himself took off his chains again, with the assurance that he loved him more than a brother. He likewise told him, however great a monarch he might be at present, that additional countries should be annexed to his empire, and he was at liberty to visit any of his other palaces whenever he felt inclined.

At these words Motecusuma became affected, and big tears rolled down his cheeks; and though he felt that all was mere empty sound he had heard, he nevertheless thanked Cortes for his kindness, adding, that at present he felt no inclination to go anywhere.

His nephews, relations, and grandees daily stormed him with petitions to allow them to make war upon us, and release him from confinement. And, indeed, it required all his persuasion to prevent them from rising up in arms immediately. If he were once, said they, outside of our quarters, they would take forcible possession of his person. The whole of the inhabitants in his metropolis would rise up in arms, and if then he would not join them, they would care little about him, and elect a new king. Motecusuma, however, succeeded in silencing them by the assurance that Huitzilopochtli had himself advised him to bear with his confinement.

To account for Motecusuma thus quietly submitting to his confinement, I must here remark that Cortes ordered Aguilar to acquaint him secretly that if even our general himself gave his consent to his liberation, it would be of no avail, as all our officers and soldiers would oppose it. Cortes feigned to be unconscious of all this, and embraced the monarch under the assurances of sincere friendship. He likewise gave him his page Orteguilla, who had already gained some knowledge of the Mexican language, the monarch having expressed a wish to have a Spanish attendant. This young man was of the greatest utility both to Motecusuma and ourselves, the monarch learning many things from him relating to Spain, and we again a good deal of the discourses which passed between the former and his generals: he was in every way attentive to the monarch, who became exceedingly fond of him. On the whole, Motecusuma appeared perfectly content with the civilities we showed him, and he continually felt greater delight in our company; for whenever any one of us passed by him, he immediately entered into discourse with us: we were quite at our ease with him, even when Cortes was present, and took off our helmets in his presence, which, as well as our weapons, we never laid aside; and the monarch always treated us with great respect.

The severe example which Cortes had made of the Mexican generals had had its full effect. The news thereof ran like wildfire through the whole of New Spain; the tribes along the coast, by whom our troops of Vera Cruz had been defeated, were seized with terror, and again offered their services to the garrison there.

I must now beg the kind reader to pause a moment upon the heroic deeds we performed, and consider their magnitude! First of all, we destroy all our vessels, and thereby cut off all hopes of escaping from this country. We then venture to march into this strong city, though we were warned against it on all sides, and assured we should merely be allowed a peaceable entrance to be the more easily destroyed. We then have the audacity to imprison the monarch of this vast empire, the powerful Motecusuma, in his own metropolis, in his very palace, amidst his numerous troops. At last, we even fearlessly burn some of his generals to death in front of his own palace, and throw the monarch himself in chains while this was being executed! Even now, in my old age, the heroic deeds we then accomplished come vividly to my memory. I imagine I see all passing before me now, but must also acknowledge that, although we had our hands full, we were aided by Divine Providence. When again on earth will be found such a handful of soldiers, in all scarcely 550, who would dare to penetrate, at a distance of above 6000 miles from their native country, into the heart of such a strong city, larger than Venice, take its very monarch prisoner, and execute his generals in his very presence? These things, indeed, ought to be deeply pondered on, and not mentioned so briefly as I here have done! But it is time I should continue my history.