Cortés was an Antony rather than a Cæsar, nor did he lack that one great gift of Antony's, subordination, as we have seen. He was not so greatly in love with himself, stood not so greatly in awe of himself, as Cæsar; he was possessed of finer perceptions and feelings, and with consummate versatility could drop himself out of his plans as occasion required. Nor was Cortés without imagination and the æsthetic sense, though of a grosser and sensual kind; but it is not in great men that we are to look for the swelling harmonies of nature.
A turning-point was now reached in the campaign. The brigantines were completed, and the siege could begin. The day for the entry of the vessels into the lake was a gala day, inaugurated with the communion and festive with the concourse of gayly attired spectators.[1] After prayer and a discourse the flags with name and royal arms were hoisted on each vessel,[2] amid salvos and cheers, and the dams being broken, the gallant fleet floated down the canal to the placid lake.
While the mute bunting was thus proclaiming Spanish supremacy over these inland waters, a Te Deum, in which joined a thousand voices, echoed aloud the gratitude of every heart. Each vessel was placed in charge of a captain[3] with twenty-four Spaniards, of
- ↑ Several leading authors assume this to have occurred on the 28th of April, when Cortés mustered his forces. He says nothing about the formal launch on that occasion, and it is hardly likely that two such performances could have been effected in one day.
- ↑ 'Las vanderas Reales, y otras vanderas del nombre que se dezia ser el vergantin.' Bernal Diaz, Hist. Verdad., 138. Ixtlilxochitl assumes that the flag-ship was named Medellin, Hist. Chich., 313-14, but this appears to be based on a misinterpretation of Herrera, who places Villafuerte 'of Medellin' at the head of the list of captains. Vetancurt believes that the vessels were named after the apostles, to whom Cortés was so devoted. Teatro Mex., pt. iii. 156. If so, the flag-ship may have been called San Pedro, after his patron. When all were floated a storm came which threatened to break them one against the other. Torquemada, i. 532.
- ↑ Their names appear to have been Juan Rodriguez de Villafuerte of Medellin, Juan Jaramillo of Salvatierra, Francisco Rodriguez Magariño of Merida, Cristóbal Flores of Valencia, Juan García Holguin of Cáceres, Caravajal of Zamora, Pedro Barba of Seville, Gerónimo Ruiz de la Mota of Búrgos,
