Daily Life of the Aztecs
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55. Codex Florentino, vol. II p. 177. These two houses were called Yopicalco and Euacalco.
56. Relation abréGée . . . p. 100.
57. Sahagún, vol. II, pp. 308 ff.
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59. Cortés, p. 160.
60. Díaz del Castillo, vol. I pp. 346 ff.
61. On the great market of Tlatelolco, see Cortís, pp. 147151; Díaz del Castillo, pp. 352-354; Relation abréGée . . . pp. 95-96; Sahagún, vol. I pp. 325-327.
62. No doubt the drying-up of the valley had been going on for a long time through natural causes, but it has been considerably hastened by human agency. In order to avoid any more floods, the draining canal of Nochistongo was opened in 1609, and then, in 1900, the great Desagüe canal and the Tequixquiac tunnel. An unforeseen and catastrophic result of these works has been not only the disappearance of the surfacewater, which has transformed the lakes into dusty wastes, but the drying-out of the subsoil. In formerly water-logged parts the water made up four fifths of the soil: this being removed -- a condition made worse by the sinking of many artesian wells -- the ground shrinks and subsides. Thus the sites upon which the city of Mexico stands, being for the most part alluvial jaboncillo, regularly contract: the average level of the town sinks by about a foot and a half in a year, which is ten times faster than it did in 1910. The bottom of the lake of Texcoco is now nearly ten feet above the level of Mexico, as well as the canal and the tunnel for drainage; and therefore, to prevent the floods, which were starting again worse than ever, pumps have had to be installed at great expense to deal with seepage and sewage.
63. Sahagún, vol. IV (account of the siege of Mexico by Aztec witnesses), p. 206.
64. Codex of 1576, pp. 35 and 36; Codex Axcatitlan, pp. 10 and 11.
65. On the aqueduct of Chapultepec, see Sahagún, vol. III p. 293; Cortís, p. 157; Relation abréGée, p. 93.
66. Of the various accounts that have come down to us, that of Tezozomoc (vol. II pp. 55-58) is the most complete, and it goes into all the magical and religious aspect of the matter. Ixtlilxochitl (p. 291) devotes a
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short chapter to the history of the spring of Acuecuexatl, principally to emphasize the benevolent Rôle of Nezaualpilli, the king of Texcoco. The flood is mentioned in the Codex of 1576, p. 76, which states that it destroyed the maize-fields: at the side of the year chicome acatl, 'seven -- reed', 1499, a stream of water is to be seen, carrying away ears of corn. Sahagún (vol. III p. 293) briefly relates the tradition and adds that the viceroy, don Gastón de Peralta, tried to make use of Acuecuexatl, but without success, and that he had to give up the idea.
66. On the latrines, see Díaz del Castillo, p. 353; Sahagún, vol. III p. 295, 'the land which has been thus manured is called tlalauic, quiere decir tierra suave, porque la han adobado con estiércol.' On the cleaning of the streets, Toribio, quoted by Prescott, vol. II p. 114.
67. Vaillant, p. 225.
68. Spengler, Le Déclin de l'Occident ( Paris 1948) vol. II pp. 88 and 93.
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CHAPTER TWO 1. On the migration of the Mexicans, see particularly Codex of 1576, a pictographic manuscript in the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris, and published under the title Histoire de la Nation mexicaine ( Paris [Lerous] 1893); and Codex Azcatitlan, published in the Journal de la SociéTé des Américanistes, vol. XXXVIII ( Paris 1949).
2. This refers to the capture and execution of 'king' Uitziliuitl the elder by the men of Colhuacán. Codex Azcatitlan, pl. XI; and all the old sources concur on these events.
3. Alonso de Zurita, Breve y sumaria relación. . . p. 96.
4. Ibid. p. 93.
5. Ibid. p. 95.
6. Torquemada, Veinte i un libros rituales i Monarchiía indiana, book XIV, ch. V. Cf. Manuel M. Moreno, La Organización política y social de los Aztecas, ( Mexico 1931) p. 46.
7. Diego Durán, Historia de la Nueva España y islas de Tierra Firme, ( Mexico 1867) vol. I pp. 323-324.
8. Sahagún, vol. I p. 144.
9. Ibid. vol. II pp. 212-214.
10. See Uitznauac yaotl icuic, 2nd strophe, in which the archaic ihiiaquetl is the equivalent of iyac. Codex Florentino, edition cited, vol. II. p. 207.
11. Quachic, 'he who has his hair cut on the top of his head (quaitl)'. Quachichictli, 'corona de clérigo', Molina, Vocabulario en lengua castellana y mexicana ( Mexico 1571: facsimile edition, Leipzig 1880) p. 84 of the Mexican section.
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12. The jaguar was a symbol of Tezcatlipoca. See Jacques Soustelle , La Pensée cosmologique des ancients Mexicains ( Paris 1940) p. 15.
13. The eagle was a symbol of the sun. Ibid. p. 8. In the national museum of Mexico there is an admirable head of an eagle-knight in carved stone. This sculpture is reproduced in André Malraux, Le Musée imaginaire de la Sculpture mondiale ( Paris 1952) pl. 354.
14. Codex Florentino, vol. II pp. 114 and 115. The traditional expression atl-tlachinolli, 'water and conflagration', means war, and more particularly sacred war; it is written with a special hieroglyphic in which there are the signs for water and for fire. See Alfonso Caso , El Teocalli de la Guerra Sagrada, ( Mexico 1927) pp. 30 and 31.
15. Tezozomoc, vol. II pp. 164-166.
16. Ibid. vol. I pp. 70-71.
17. Sahagún, vol. I p. 138.
18. Ibid. vol. I pp. 159-162. Aztec text in Codex Florentino vol. II pp. 93-95.
19. Quaquachictin, plural of quachic. Otomi, plural of Otomitl. Tequiuaque, plural of tequiua.
20. Sahagún, vol. I p. 168.
21. On the pilli (or rather pipiltin, plural) see Zurita, p. 98.
22. The Codex Mendoza gives the following exact details-at Oztoman, a tlacochtecuhtli and a tlacateccatl at Quetcholtenanco, a tlacatecuhtli at Atlán and at Tezapotitlán, a tlacochtecuhtli at Xoconochco, a tezcacoacatl and a tlillancalqui at Zozolan and at Uaxyacac ( Oaxaca), a tlacatecuhtli and a tlacochtecuhtli.
23. On the calpixque, see Zurita, p. 165.
24. Díaz del Castillo, vol. I p. 187.
25. Pomar, Relación de Texcoco ( 1582) ( Mexico 1891) p. 31.
26. Sahagún, vol. II p. 317.
27. Zurita, p. 112.
28. Ibid.
29. Torquemada, vol. I p. 185.
30. Sahagún, vol. I pp. 298-299.
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31. Anales de Cuauhtitlán. Códice Chimalpopoca: Anales de Cuauhtitlán y Leyenda de los Soles. Traducción directa del nahuatl por el lic. don Primo Feliciano Velázquez, ( Mexico 1945) p. 7.
32. Cf. for example, tlallocan tlamacazqui, quiaui teteu, 'priests of Tlalocan, gods of the rain', Codex Florentino vol. II p. 210. Piltzintecuhtli, god of youth and the dance, is termed tlamacazecatla, an archaic form of tlamacazqui (ibid.)
33. Sahagún, vol. I p. 299. Quequetzalcoa is the plural of quetzalcoatl.
34. Alfonso Caso, La Religión de los Aztecas ( Mexico 1936) pp. 45 ff. Sahagún, vol. I p. 237.
35. This word comes from tlaquimilolli 'a thing wrapped up (in cloth)', in Spanish Lío or envoltorio. During the migration, the images of the gods or the sacred objects that stood in their stead were carried swathed in this way. In historical times, certain temples preserved tlaquimilolli that contained, for example, a mirror (Tezcatlipoca) or agave-thorns (Uitzilopochtli): Pomar, op. cit., p. 13.
36. Zurita, p. 217.
37. Torquemada, vol. II p. 04.
38. 'Intla ie itlano, in iehoatl in cihoatlamacazqui, auh intla uel omotlali in tlatolli intla ocezque, in tetahoan, in tenahoan in tlaxillacaleque in pipitli(n).' Codex Florentino, vol. II p. 215.
39. The sweeping of the temples was not merely an act of cleanliness. It had a ritual meaning; for in sweeping, one opened the way for the gods. One of the months of the year was called Ochpaniztli, 'sweeping'.
40. These delicacies were tzopelic tamalli, 'sugared tamales'. Codex Florentino, vol. II p. 126.
41. 'Tlazoltilmatica', Codex Florentino, vol. II p. 116. The goddess of maize had the name of Chicomecoatl, 'seven-serpent', or again of Chicomollotzin, 'th
e venerable (goddess of) seven ears of maize'.
42. Torquemada, vol. II p. 189.
43. Sahagún, vol. II p. 211.
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44. Ibid. vol. I pp. 324 and 350.
45. Fr. Andrés de Alcobiz, Estas son las leyes que tenian los Indios de la Nueva España. . . ( 1543) ( Mexico 1891) p. 310.
46. Historia de los Mexicanos por sus pinturas, p. 259.
47. This idea continually recurs throughout the literature. See Codex Telleriano-Remensis ( Paris 1899) p. II (verso), where a stream of water is shown carrying away men and wealth.
48. Tezozomoc, vol. II pp. 78-79.
49. Codex Mendoza, pp. 40, 45 and 48.
50. An excellent description of mercantile life is to be found in Sahagún, vol. II pp. 339 ff.
51. Chimalpahin Quauhtlehuanitzin, Anales ( R. Siméon, Paris 1889) p. 174.
52. Sahagún, vol. II p. 339.
53. This refers to a province that had only recently been subjugated. It was inhabited by Tzotzil, a Mayanspeaking tribe, and it now forms part of the Mexican state of Chiapas. Tzinacantlan, place of the bats' in Aztec, is a translation of Tzotzil, which comes from the Mayan tzotz, a bat.
54. Sahagún, vol. II p. 343.
55. Ibid. p. 364.
56. Ibid. p. 364.
57. This was the Yiacatecuhtli icuic, published with a Spanish translation in Sahagún, vol. V p. 185, and with an English translation in Codex Florentino, edition cited, vol. II p. 214.
58. Sahagún, vol. II p. 367. During these festivities the dignitaries danced in front of the merchants, who did not take part in the dancing, but offered presents afterwards.
59. Ixtlilxochitl, Historia Chichimeca, p. 268. He adds, 'She was so cultured that she could give points to the king and the most cultivated men, and she was poetically gifted. And with these gifts and graces she held the king very much under her domination . . . She lived apart, in great pomp and majesty, in a
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palace that he king had built for her.' Might not this be a portrait of a favourite of Louis XV?
60. Anales de Cuauhtitlán, edition cited, p. 8.
61. Sahagún, vol. III pp. 109 ff.
62. Codex Florentino, vol. III p. 13. A poetical translation of this text is to be found in J. H. Cornyn, The Song of Quetzalcoatl, in Mexican Folkways, vol. IV No. 2 ( Mexico 1928) pp. 78 ff.
63. Ixtlilxochitl, Relaciones, p. 59 (Colhuacán) and p. 454 ( Xochimilco).
64. Sahagún vol. II p. 389.
65. Codex Florentino, vol. II p. 207. The text of the commentaries in Aztec is given by Eduard Seler, Die religiösen Gesänge der laten Mexikaner, in Gesammelte Abhandlungen. . . vol. II ( Berlin 1904) pp. 9591107: Spanish translation in Sahagún, edition cited, vol. V, Los cantares a los Dioses.
66. Anauatl iteouh: tzapoteca in uel inteouh catca, in Codex Florentino, vol. I p. 16.
67. Sahagún, vol. II p. 386.
68. Ibid. vol. III p. 133.
69. The 'golden mantle', teocuitlaquemitl, distinguishes the god Xipe Totec. See Codex Florentino, vol. II p. 213.
70. Díaz del Castillo, vol. I p. 349.
71. Pomar, p. 41. The Crónica Mexicayotl, p. 113, says that the sons of Motecuhzoma I who were not able to reign gave themselves up to the practice of the minor arts.
72. Tezozomoc, vol. II pp. 206 and 209.
73. Motolinía. Memoriales, p. 344.
74. Molina, p. 50 verso.
75. Tezozomoc, vol. II pp. 81-82.
76. Chimalpahin Quauhtlehuanitzin, p. 108.
77. 'Labrador, gañán.' Molina, p. 124.
78. On the landless peasants, see Zurita, p. 157.
79. Motolinía, p. 319.
80. Ibid. All the details given in this paragraph come from the same source.
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81. Sahagún, vol. II p. 308 (Motecuhzoma). Motolinía, p. 323 (Nezaualpilli).
82. Sahagún, vol. I p. 321.
83. Alcobiz, pp. 308 and 313.
84. Motolinía, p. 320. 'En esta tierra, de balde daban su cuerpo las Más veces.'
85. Sahagún, vol. II pp. 371 ff and p. 379.
86. Ibid. vol. I pp. 321-322.
87. Codex Telleriano-Remensis, p. 11 verso.
88. Zurita, p. 93.
89. Alcobiz, pp. 309, 314.
90. Zurita, p. 221.
91. For example, Tezozomoc, vol. I pp. 45 and 45, 71 and 72; Ixtlilxochitl, Historia Chichimeca, p. 170.
92. The Spaniard's cupidity was much disappointed when they found that the copper axes which they had taken to Cuba, believing them, to be gold, became covered with verdigris. ( Díaz del Castillo, vol. I p. 49).
93. Zurita, p. 159.
94. Tezozomoc, vol. I pp. 67-68, 128, 135, 179.
95. Ibid. p. 183.
96. Díaz del Castillo, vol. I p. 184.
97. Zurita, p. 161.
98. Ixtlilxochitl, Historia Chichimeca, p. 168.
99. Sahagún, vol. I pp. 158-159.
100. Ixtlilxochitl Historia Chichimeca, p. 206. Tezozomoc, vol. II p. 67.
101. Zurita, p. 158.
102. Particularly Bandelier, On the social organization and mode of government of the ancient Mexicans, in the XII Annual Report of the Peabody Museum, pp. 557-699.
103. Relación de la genealogía y linaje de los señores que han Señoreado en esta tierra de la Nueva España . . . Escribimos por mandado de nuestro Prelado, a ruego é Intercesión de Juan Cano, Español, marido de doña Isabel, hija de Montezuma, el segundo de este nombre, Señor que era de la Ciudad de México, published by J. García Icazbalceta, Nueva Colección de documentos para la historia de México, ( Mexico 1891) pp. 263-281.
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104. Historia de los Mexicanos por sus pinturas, p. 249.
105. See the discussion of this question in Marshall H. Saville , Tizoc, great lord of the Aztecs ( 1481- 1486), in Contributions from the Museum of American Indian, Heye Foundation, vol. III no. 4 ( New York 1920) p. 23.
106. Ixtlilxochitl, Historia Chichimeca, p. 213; Oviedo, Diálogo del Alcayde de la Fortaleza de la Cibdad é Puerto de Santo Domingo de la Isla Espanola . . . (con) un caballero vecino de la gran cibdad de México, llamado Thoan Cano, published by William H. Prescott in History of the Conquest of Mexico ( Philadelphia 1864) vol. III, appendix, pp. 452 ff. See also Pomar, p. 25.
107. Zurita, p. 80.
108. Ixtlilxochitl, p. 241.
109. Torquemada, vol. I p. 101.
110. Tezozomoc, vol. I pp. 332-333.
111. Sahagún, vol. II p. 321.
112. See Tezozomoc, vol. I pp. 306 and 335; vol. II p. 73.
113. Sahagún, vol. II p. 322. Models for speeches are given, ibid., pp. 77, 82, 91, 93 and 97. For descriptions of the imperial vestments see Tezozomoc, passages quoted, note 112, and Saville, op. cit., p. 40.
114. Pomar, p. 35.
115. In the Codex Mendoza, p. 2, Acamapichtli is shown before his election as emperor together with the glyph Ciuacoatl. On the title of Ciuacoatlat Xochimilco, cf. Historia de los Mexicanos por sus pinturas, p. 262; at Colhuacán, Codex Azcatitlan, p. XI; and at Texcoco, Ixtlilxochitl, Relaciones, pp. 178 and 193, and Pomar, p. 19.
116. Tezozomoc, vol. I p. 100.
117. Chimalpahin Quauhtlehuanitzin, p. 126.
118. Torquemada, vol. II pp. 351-352.
119. Tezozomoc, vol. I p. 129.
120. Ibid. p. 195.
121. Ibid. pp. 212, 305, 333; vol. II p. 68.
122. Ibid. vol. II p. 107.
123. Ibid. vol. I p. 188.
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124. Crónica Mexicayotl, p. 129.
125. Chimalpahin Quauhtlehuanitzin, p. 107.
126. Torquemada, vol. II p. 352.
127. Crónica Mexicayotl, p. 115.
128. Ibid. p. 149.
129. A remarkable fact was that at Texcoco the traders had access to one of the four great councils, that of finance, together with the dignitaries. Ixtlilxochitl, Relaciones, p. 326; Torquemada, vol. I p. 147.
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/> CHAPTER THREE 1. There is an immense literature upon the subject. The chief native pictographic manuscripts to be consulted are the following: Codex Borbonicus ( Paris 1899)
Codex Borgia (Kingsborough, London 1831- 1848, vol. III)
Codex Cospiano di Bologna ( Rome 1898)
Codex Fijérváry-Mayer ( Paris 1901)
Codex Magliabecchiano ( Rome 1904)
Codex Ríos (VaticanusA) ( Rome 1900)
Codex Teleriano-Remensis ( Paris 1899)
Tonalamatl Aubin ( Paris 1900)
Codex Vaticanus B ( Rome 1896).
Some texts are paraphrases of pre-cortesian pictographic manuscripts: chief among these are the Anales de Cuauhtitlán and the Historia de los Mexicanos por sus pinturas. Of the Spanish chroniclers, Sahagún contains the essential; but the following may also be consulted with profit:
Durán, Historia de las Indias de Nueva España y las Islas de Tierra firme, ( Mexico 1867- 1880) ( 2 volumes)
Motolinía, Memoriales, ( Mexico 1903)
Torquemada, Veinte i un libros rituals i Monarchía indiana ( Madrid 1723) ( 3 volumes).
On towns other than Mexico, see:
Muñoz Camargo, Historia de Tlaxcala ( Mexico 1892)
Pomar, Relación de Texcoco ( Mexico 1891).
Modern authors:
Alfonso Caso, La Religión de los Aztecas ( Mexico 1936)
Alfonso Caso, El Pueblo del Sol ( Mexico 1953)
Eduard Seler, Gesammelte Abhandlungen zur Amerikanischen Sprach- und Alterthumskunde (par-
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ticularly vol. I [ Berlin 1903] pp. 417-503, and vol. II [104] pp. 959-1107) Jacques Soustelle, La Pensée casmologique des anciens Mexicains ( Paris 1940).
On the Maya-Quiché, see the Popol-Vuh. C. J. Villacorta and Flavio Rodas, El Manuscrito de Chichicastenango (Popol Buj) ( Guatemala 1927). Leonhard Schultze-Jena , Popol Vuh, das heilige Buch der QuichéIndianer von Guatemala ( Stuttgart 1944).