on all. xxx I am free. By divine command I must remain the guest of the Spaniards yet a little longer, and you must not molest them, for soon they will return whence they came. Alas, my people, my country, And see! I am no prisoner. Go your way; my crown!"[1]
With a heavy sigh, and midst copious tears, his head fell on his breast. The monarch's strength had indeed departed. The people knew that he spoke falsely, that he was little better than imbecile, unfit to be their sovereign. Oh, if he but had. the good fortune to die while helping them to grind to powder these hated enemies! Only a little while ago his words would have been received as the utterances of a deity. Now the scales had fallen from their eyes, and they saw him as he was. They could bear no more. Jeers and groans reached him from every direction. "Coward! chicken! Woman to the Spaniards, fit only for the gown and the spindle! Murderer of your nobles!" Such were the cries which now reached his ears as he stood stupefied with agony. Presently came a shower of arrows and stones, and before the Spanish guard could interpose their shields several missiles struck him, one on the left temple, which caused him to fall senseless into the arms of the by-standers.[2]
- ↑ Herrera, dec, ii. lib. x. cap. x.; Bernal Diaz, Hist. Verdad., 104. 'No molestàsen à los estrangeros y fuésen sus amigos, pues su persona corria riesgo.' Tezozomoc, Recop. tradiciones, MS., cap. vi. Cortés, followed by Gomara, gives him no time to speak ere the people assault.
- ↑ They would no longer recognize him as emperor, etc. Saying this, a chief threw a stone which struck Montezuma on the forehead. Duran, Hist. Ind., MS., ii. 468. Acosta attributes this first throw to 'Quicuxtemoc,' the later king of Mexico. Hist. Ind., 523. 'Ma io nol credo,' says Clavigero, Storia Mess., iii. 126. 'Aunque vn Castellano tenia cuydado de arrodelar a Motezuma. . . .le acertò vna piedra en las sienes.' Herrera, dec. ii. lib. x. cap. x. Had not the Spaniards held up a shield before Montezuma the people would have known it was he and not thrown the stone which killed him, says Cano, his later son-in-law. Oviedo, iii. 550. Gomara is inclined to believe this, for his people 'no lo quisieran hazer mas que sacar se los ojos.' Hist. Mex., 154. 'Una saéta alcanzó al emperador en el estòmago que lo atravezó por el baso, y una piedra le dió en la sien izquierda.' The people would never have thrown missiles, for they pitied him, and were prepared to obey his injunctions, but Cacama, who stood behind the emperor, made signs that they should continue the attack without regard for him or for the monarch. Tezozomoc,
