[300] The comparison to Hannibal is better founded than the old soldier probably imagined. Livy’s description of the Carthaginian warrior has a marvellous application to Cortés,--better, perhaps, than that of the imaginary personage quoted a few lines below in the text. “Plurimum audaciæ ad pericula capessenda, plurimum consilii inter ipsa pericula erat: nullo labore aut corpus fatigari, aut animus vinci poterat. Caloris ac frigoris patientia par: cibi potionisque desiderio naturali, non voluptate, modus finitus: vigiliarum somnique nec die, nec nocte discriminata tempora. Id, quod gerendis rebus superesset, quieti datum; ea neque molli strato, neque silentio arcessita. Multi sæpe militari sagulo opertum, humi jacentem, inter custodias stationesque militum, conspexerunt. Vestitus nihil inter æquales excellens; arma atque equi conspiciebantur. Equitum peditumque idem longe primus erat; princeps in prœlium ibat; ultimus conserto prœlio excedebat.” (Hist., lib. xxi. sec. 5.) The reader who reflects on the fate of Guatemozin may possibly think that the extract should have embraced the “perfidia plus quám Punica,” in the succeeding sentence. [301] Testamento de Hernan Cortés, MS. [302] Humboldt, Essai politique, tom. ii. p. 267. [303] An extraordinary anecdote is related by Cavo of this bigotry (shall we call it policy?) of Cortés. “In Mexico,” says the historian, “it is commonly reported that after the Conquest he commanded that on Sundays and holidays all should attend, under pain of a certain number of stripes, to the expounding of the Scriptures. The general was himself guilty of an omission on one occasion, and, after having listened to the admonition of the priest, submitted, with edifying humility, to be chastised by him, to the unspeakable amazement of the Indians.” Hist. de los tres Siglos, tom. i. p. 151. [304] “Al Rey infinitas tierras, _Y á Dios infinitas almas_,” says Lope de Vega, commemorating in this couplet the double glory of Cortés. It is the light in which the Conquest was viewed by every devout Spaniard of the sixteenth century. [305] _Ante_, vol. i. p. 325. [306] So Gomara: “He dressed neatly rather than richly, and was always scrupulously clean.” Crónica, cap. 238. [307] “Fué mui gran comedor, i templado en el beber, teniendo abundancia. Sufria mucho la hambre con necesidad.” Ibid, ubi supra. [308] He dispensed a thousand ducats every year in his ordinary charities, according to Gomara. “Grandísimo limosnero; daba cada un año mil ducados de limosna ordinaria.” Crónica, cap. 238. [309] Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 203. End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of History of the Conquest of Mexico; vol. 4/4, by William H. Prescott