History of the Conquest of Mexico; vol. 2/4Prescott, William Hickling
History
History of the Conquest of Mexico; vol. 2/4
Prescott, William Hickling
Cortés, Hernán, 1485-1547; Mexico -- History -- Conquest, 1519-1540
[126] Rel. Seg. de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, p. 51. According to Gomara
(Crónica, cap. 46), the enemy mustered 80,000. So, also, Ixtlilxochitl.
(Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 83.) Bernal Diaz says, more than 40,000.
(Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 63.) But Herrera (Hist. general, dec. 2,
lib. 6, cap. 5) and Torquemada (Monarch. Ind., lib. 4, cap. 20) reduce
them to 30,000. One might as easily reckon the leaves in a forest, as
the numbers of a confused throng of barbarians. As this was only one of
several armies kept on foot by the Tlascalans, the smallest amount is,
probably, too large. The whole population of the state, according to
Clavigero, who would not be likely to underrate it, did not exceed half
a million at the time of the invasion. Stor. del Messico, tom. i. p.
156.
[127] “La divisa y armas de la casa y cabecera de Titcala es una garga
blanca sobre un peñasco.” (Camargo, Hist. de Tlascala, MS.) “El capitan
general,” says Bernal Diaz, “que se dezia Xicotenga, y con sus diuisas
de blanco y colorado, porque aquella diuisa y librea era de aquel
Xicotenga.” Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 63.
[128] “Llaman Teponaztle ques de un trozo de madero concavado y de
una pieza rollizo y, como decimos, hueco por de dentro, que suena
algunas veces mas de media legua y con el atambor hace estraña y suave
consonancia.” (Camargo, Hist. de Tlascala, MS.) Clavigero, who gives a
drawing of this same drum, says it is still used by the Indians, and
may be heard two or three miles. Stor. del Messico, tom. ii. p. 179.
[129] “Una illis fuit spes salutis, desperâsse de salute.” (P. Martyr,
De Orbe Novo, dec. 1, cap. 1.) It is said with the classic energy of
Tacitus.
[130] “Respondióle Marina, que no tuviese miedo, porque el Dios de los
Christianos, que es muy poderoso, i los queria mucho, los sacaria de
peligro.” Herrera, Hist. general, dec. 2, lib. 6, cap. 5.
[131] Ibid., ubi supra.
[132] Oviedo, Hist. de las Ind., MS., lib. 33, cap. 3,
45.--Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 83.--Rel. Seg. de Cortés,
ap. Lorenzana, p. 51.--Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap.
63.--Gomara, Crónica, cap. 40.
[133] Viaje de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, p. ix.
[134] According to Cortés, not a Spaniard fell--though many were
wounded--in this action so fatal to the infidel! Diaz allows one. In
the famous battle of Navas de Tolosa, between the Spaniards and Arabs,
in 1212, equally matched in military science at that time, there were
left 200,000 of the latter on the field; and, to balance this bloody
roll, only five-and-twenty Christians! See the estimate in Alfonso
IX.’s veracious letter, ap. Mariana (Hist. de España, lib. 2, cap.
24). The official returns of the old Castilian crusaders, whether in
the Old World or the New, are scarcely more trustworthy than a French
_imperial_ bulletin in our day.
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