Æneas, warning him against hopeless resistance to the preordained fall of Troy.
Bidding the men retire and keep secret what they had seen, Montezuma hastily summoned his privy council,[1] King Cacama of Tezcuco, his brother Cuitlahuatzin, lord of Itzapalapan, and laid before them the mystery. After sage consultations, attended by divinings and comparisons of signs, prophecies, and traditions, not unlike the means by which we of to-day likewise ascertain the unknowable, it was concluded that this commander was none other than the fair-hued god himself, who had returned to resume the throne, as he had said. Therefore resistance would be in vain; and the only proper course was to tender worthy reception and conciliate with gifts. The chiefs were sent back with orders for the governors of the coast districts[2] to report any arrival or strange occurrence. Following them was an embassy of five persons bearing rich presents, with instructions to bid the god welcome in the name of the emperor and of his court; yet they were to watch him closely. But the embassy was too late. Grijalva had gone.[3]
- ↑ Torquemada, i. 379, names ten members, while Veytia, Hist. Ant. Méj., iii. 378, says there were twelve.
- ↑ Particularly at Nauhtla, Toztla, Mictla, and Quauhtla. Torquemada, i. 379; Sahagun, Hist. Conq., i. 6, calls the districts Cuextecatl, Naulitlantoztlan, and Mictlanquactla. Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., iv. 49, writes more correctly Nauthtlan, Tochtlan, and Mictlan-Quauhtla.
- ↑ Torquemada, i. 379-80, expresses his disapproval of Gomara and Herrera for following only Spanish versions, and ignoring the Indian records acquired by himself and others, including Sahagun. The latter assumes that Montezuma has been apprised of Grijalva's departure before the embassy leaves, and this body is therefore not sent till Cortés arrives. Hist. Conq., i. 7. This is not unlikely, for council had to be first held and the future course determined, and messengers were always on the way between the subject provinces and the capital, ready to convey news. But most writers, followed by the Native Races, take the view presented in the text. Herrera, dec. ii. lib. iii. cap. ix., who is very brief on Grijalva's visit, says, when it was learned that the Spaniards wanted gold, the governors on the coast were ordered to barter with it, and to find out what further object they had in coming. Ixtlilxochitl states that merchants from the coast fair brought the first news of Grijalva to Mexico. Veytia, Hist. Ant. Méj., iii. 377-8, is brief on the subject. Tezozomoc describes the necklace, bracelet, and other jewelry prepared as presents by four of the leading goldsmiths and lapidaries. With these the chief who had been to the coast to observe the floating towers is ordered to seek the white men. Pinotl must prepare food for them, and if they eat, they are surely Quetzalcoatl and his suite. 'But if they prefer human flesh,'
