[Footnote 116: In Aztec mythology Cihuacoatl was wife of the supreme night deity, Tezcatlipoca. Squier, _Serpent Symbol in America_, pp. 159-166, 174-183. On the connection between serpent worship and human sacrifices, see Fergusson's _Tree and Serpent Worship_, pp. 3-5, 38-41. Much evidence as to American serpent worship is collected in J. G. Mueller's _Geschichte der amerikanischen Urreligionen_, Basel, 1855. The hieroglyphic emblem of the Aztec tribal sachem was a female head surmounted by a snake.] [Footnote 117: Other tribes besides the Aztec had the "snake-woman." In the city of Mexico the Spaniards mistook him for a "second-king," or "royal lieutenant." In other towns they regarded him, somewhat more correctly, as "governor," and called him _gobernador_,--a title still applied to the tribal sachem of the pueblo Indians, as e. g. in Zuni heretofore mentioned; see above p. 89.] [Sidenote: The "chief-of men."] [Sidenote: Evolution of kingship in Greece and Rome.] The office of head war-chief was an instance of primitive royalty in a very interesting stage of development. The title of this officer was _tlacatecuhtli_, or "chief-of-men."[118] He was primarily head war-chief of the Aztec tribe, but about 1430 became supreme military commander of the three confederate tribes, so that his office was one of peculiar dignity and importance. When the Spaniards arrived upon the scene Montezuma was _tlacatecuhtli_, and they naturally called him "king." To understand precisely how far such an epithet could correctly be applied to him, and how far it was misleading, we must recall the manner in which early kingship arose in Europe. The Roman _rex_ was an officer elected for life; the typical Greek _basileus_ was a somewhat more fully developed king, inasmuch as his office was becoming practically hereditary; otherwise _rex_ was about equivalent to _basileus_. Alike in Rome and in Greece the king had at least three great functions, and possibly four.[119] He was, primarily, chief commander, secondly, chief priest, thirdly, chief judge; whether he had reached the fourth stage and added the functions of chief civil executive, is matter of dispute. Kingship in Rome and in most Greek cities was overthrown at so early a date that some questions of this sort are difficult to settle. But in all probability the office grew up through the successive acquisition of ritual, judicial, and civil functions by the military commander. The paramount necessity of consulting the tutelar deities before fighting resulted in making the general a priest competent to perform sacrifices and interpret omens;[120] he thus naturally became the most important among priests; an increased sanctity invested his person and office; and by and by he acquired control over the dispensation of justice, and