Such were the Aztecs in 1500, after little more than a century of life in their new land. Much of their civilization, many of their customs, they must have caught from the older, longer established, refined court of the Texcucans, their neighbors at the other end of the lake, whose dynasty was much older, and whose traditions came down unimpaired from the cultivated Toltecs, whose remote ancestors, if they came from the same stem as the Aztecs and wandered to Anahuac from the same shadowy Aztlan or Huehue-Tlapallan, had yet the advantage of a couple of centuries of development, and a longer abstinence from the bloody rites of a savage religion. The Mexicans were in some sort _parvenus_ on the plateau. They won their way by their valor in battle, and insisted on recognition by the other tribes, by superior force or ferocity conquering to themselves a large portion of the happy land. The neighboring people made way for them, a few to be their allies; but their ferocious warfare had made them detested by those who feared them in all the surrounding country, so that these other kingdoms, republics, or sedentary races saw not unwillingly the downfall of the haughty Aztec house, even if they did not actively help its invaders. In the end, this policy was fatal to all. Once they had gained a foothold on the plateau, the Conquistadores stopped not until the whole country was within their grasp. XII. THE LAST OF THE MONTEZUMAS. Ahuitzotl died in 1502. His successor was Motecuhzoma II., the son of the famous warrior King Axayacatl. Motecuhzoma took the surname of Xocoyotzin to distinguish him from the first king with his name. He was thirty-four years old when he came to the throne. He had been general-in-chief of the armies, as was usual with the heir-apparent to the throne, and when he was elected king he was fulfilling the office of high-priest, which was unusual. His demeanor was grave, calm, and taciturn. He was inflexible in his determination, and admitted no contradiction, stern and cruel in exacting obedience to his commands; but extremely credulous and timid to cowardice when his superstitious fears were aroused. He is said to have been handsome, of a fine form, slight rather than robust, with great dignity of manner. His well-formed features wore an habitual expression of sadness or gloom, even in the early days of his reign, when the shadow of his destiny had not to all appearance yet fallen upon him.