Our enemies the people of Pipitlan assemble; meet me there. So will in their own house the enemy be. This song is probably a chant sung before sacrifice to the god. The line “He had taken a foot from the man out of the cold land” seems to allude to the maiming of one of the gods by Uitzilopochtli, or is symbolic of the punishment of a human enemy by rendering him unfit for war through the amputation of one of his feet. Tezcatlipocâ, one of whose names was Yaotzin, “the enemy,” is frequently represented as having but one foot, and the phrase “the man from the cold land,” i.e. the North, applies almost certainly to him. The rest of the song relates to the peoples with whom the Mexicans were frequently at war. SONG OF THE SHIELD I In his shield of the young wife the great warrior chieftain was born. In his shield of the young wife (or maid) the great warrior chieftain was born. II He who gained his heroic title on the serpent mountain In his (warrior) face-painting, (and with the shield) teueuelli. No one in truth rises. The earth quakes As he put on his (warrior) face-painting (and his shield) teueuelli. The first couplet is obscure to me, and seems to refer to a lost myth, which perhaps stated that the god was born of a virgin. The second strophe, of course, relates to the slaughter by Uitzilopochtli of his brothers the Centzonuitznaua. PRIESTHOOD The high priest of Uitzilopochtli was called Totec tlamacazque, who also bore the name of Quetzalcoatl (an honorary title, originating out of the belief that the god of that name was regarded as the prototype of all religious orders), and who, along with the Tlaloc tlamacazque, occupied the chief religious office in Mexico. He was selected for his piety and general fitness. [96] TEMPLE Acosta describes Uitzilopochtli’s great temple at Mexico as follows: “There was in Mexico this Cu, the famous Temple of Vitziliputzli, it had a very great circuite, and within a faire Court. It was built of great stones, in fashion of snakes tied one to another, and the circuite was called Coatepantli, which is, a circuite of snakes: vppon the toppe of every chamber and oratorie where the Idolls were, was a fine piller wrought with small stones, blacke as ieate, set in goodly order, the ground raised vp with white and red, which below gave a great light. Vpon the top of the pillar were battlements very artificially made, wrought like snailes (caracoles), supported by two Indians of stone, sitting, holding candlesticks in their hands, the which were like Croisants garnished and enriched at the ends, with yellow and greene feathers and long fringes of the same. Within the circuite of this court there were many chambers of religious men, and others that were appointed for the service of the Priests and Popes, for so they call the soveraigne Priests which serve the Idoll.