It must be admitted, on reading the foregoing descriptions gleaned from Sahagun’s Historia, that it would be impossible to carry out, more perfectly and completely, the idea that Montezuma was the earthly representative of the Upper regions, the blue heaven. By pushing symbolism so far that he actually wore wings on his feet and avoided contact with the ground, it is not surprising that Montezuma’s adversaries, amongst neighboring tribes, should accuse him of exacting divine honors for his own person. At the same time there is no doubt that his own subjects revered him merely as a temporary representative and mouth-piece of the impersonal dual divinity. This idea is clearly conveyed by some native harangues, to which I refer the reader, and from which I extract the following passages: After his election, the ruler is solemnly addressed by one of the chief lords who says to him: “Oh! our humane, pious and beloved lord, who deserves to be more highly esteemed than all precious stones and feathers, you are here present because our sovereign god has placed thee [above us] as our lord.... You possess the seat and throne which was given [to your predecessors] by our lord god” ... “you are the image of our lord god and represent his person. He reposes in you and he employs you like a flute through which he speaks and he hears with your ears.... Oh, lord king! God sees what the persons do who rule over his domains and when they err in their office he laughs at them, but in silence, for he is god, and is omnipotent and can mock at whom he will. For he holds all of us in the palm of his hand and rocks us about, and we are like balls or round globes in his hands and we go rolling from one side to the other and make him laugh, and he serves himself of us as we go moving about on the palm of his hand!” “Although thou art our neighbour and friend and son and brother, we are no more thy equals, nor do we consider you as a man, for now you have the person, the image, the conversation and the communion of our lord god. He speaks inside of you and instructs you and lets himself be heard through your mouth—his tongue is your tongue, and your face is his face ... he has adorned you with his authority and has given you fangs and claws so that you should be feared and reverenced ...” (Sahagun, book VI, chap. 10). The foregoing figure of speech in which fangs and claws are alluded to as symbols of fear-inspiring power affords as valuable an insight into the native modes of thought and expression as do the similes employed in the following address to the newly-elected ruler by the spokesman of his vassals.