[60] Boturini, Idea, p. 87.--Torquemada, Monarch. Ind., lib. 11, cap. 26.--Zurita compares this body to the Castilian córtes. It would seem, however, according to him, to have consisted only of twelve principal judges, besides the king. His meaning is somewhat doubtful. (Rapport, pp. 94, 101, 106.) M. de Humboldt, in his account of the Aztec courts, has confounded them with the Tezcucan. Comp. Vues des Cordillères et Monumens des Peuples indigènes de l’Amérique (Paris, 1810), p. 55, and Clavigero, Stor. del Messico, tom. ii. pp. 128, 129. [61] “If this should be done now, what an excellent thing it would be!” exclaims Sahagun’s Mexican editor. Hist. de Nueva-España, tom. ii. p. 304, nota.--Zurita, Rapport, p. 102.--Torquemada, Monarch. Ind., ubi supra.--Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 67. [62] [There is a hint here of the “Compurgators” of the Germanic tribes.--M.] [63] Zurita, Rapport, pp. 95, 100, 103.--Sahagun, Hist. de Nueva-España, loc. cit.--Humboldt, Vues des Cordillères, pp. 55, 56.--Torquemada, Monarch. Ind., lib. 11, cap. 25.--Clavigero says the accused might free himself by oath: “il reo poteva purgarsi col giuramento.” (Stor. del Messico, tom. ii. p. 129.) What rogue, then, could ever have been convicted? [64] Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 36.--These various objects had a symbolical meaning, according to Boturini, Idea, p. 84. [65] [Compare the “codes” of the Germanic races.--M.] [66] Paintings of the Mendoza Collection, Pl. 72, and Interpretation, ap. Antiq. of Mexico, vol. vi. p. 87.--Torquemada, Monarch. Ind., lib. 12, cap. 7.--Clavigero, Stor. del Messico, tom. ii. pp. 130-134.--Camargo, Hist. de Tlascala, MS.--They could scarcely have been an intemperate people, with these heavy penalties hanging over them. Indeed, Zurita bears testimony that those Spaniards who thought they were greatly erred. (Rapport, p. 112.) M. Ternaux’s translation of a passage of the Anonymous Conqueror, “aucun peuple n’est aussi sobre” (Recueil de Pièces relatives à la Conquête du Mexique, ap. Voyages, etc. (Paris, 1838), p. 54), may give a more favorable impression, however, than that intended by his original, whose remark is confined to abstemiousness in eating. See the Relatione, ap. Ramusio, Raccolta delle Navigationi et Viaggi (Venetia, 1554-1565). [67] In ancient Egypt the child of a slave was born free, if the father were free. (Diodorus, Bibl. Hist., lib. 1, sec. 80.) This, though more liberal than the code of most countries, fell short of the Mexican.