had captured Tenayocan, and the Tepanec domination was at an end. The Aztec were now actually the paramount power in the valley, but Itzcoatl was too wise to insist upon the fact. He recognized Nezahualcoyotl as his equal, and contracted with him an alliance on equal terms, by which means he won the support of the large Acolhua population. He also conciliated the favour of the defeated Tepanec; Azcapotzalco, it is true, was reduced to the level of a subordinate city, but over Tlacopan, another Tepanec town, he placed Totoquiuatzin, a descendant of Tezozomoc, as ruler and admitted him to the confederacy on the terms that the booty which was won by the allied arms should be distributed in the following proportions; to Tenochtitlan two-fifths, to Tezcoco two-fifths, and to Tlacopan one-fifth. The one essential of power Itzcoatl retained for himself; he stipulated that the military policy of the allies should be directed from Tenochtitlan. But if the political power was concentrated in Tenochtitlan, Tezcoco under the wise rule of Nezahualcoyotl became the intellectual and artistic centre of the valley. The government was reformed, and a code of laws drawn up which was regarded as the pattern of all legislation; schools were instituted for the study of poetry, astronomy, music and painting, and the city was embellished by the construction of temples and gardens. However the fall of the Tepanec did not bring peace to the valley; many cities began to be jealous of the Aztec and their newly-acquired hegemony, and the Mendoza codex gives a list of cities which were conquered during the reign of Itzcoatl, among them Quauhtitlan, Cuitlauac, Xochimilco, Chalco, and Quauhnauac (Cuernavaca). Yet these “conquests” were not on the same scale as that of Azcapotzalco; from this time forward the Aztec were content with exacting merely a nominal submission from the towns which they subdued, and imposing tribute. As long as the latter was paid punctually no interference was made either with the local rulers or their administration, though theoretically the heir of a “king” who died was supposed to seek confirmation in his office at the hands of the ruler of Tenochtitlan. [Illustration: _Photo. C. B. Waite_ _Mexico Museum_ 1] [Illustration: _British Museum_ 2 MEXICO 1. COLOSSAL STONE HEAD OF COYOLXAUHQUI 2. STONE FIGURE OF CHALCHIUHTLICUE (Scale: 1, ¹⁄₂₅th; 2, ⅓rd)]