Prosperity of the Peruvian Empire. 479

Ch. 3.

the family, the Inca providing the materials, which B. XVI. were distributed every second year. The greatest part of the flocks and herds in his dominions belonged to him.

It is asserted by Acosta* that the Peruvian could not hold any property, except by favour of the Inca; and no one was allowed to alienate, or No heirs, to demise, his possessions.

prosperity

Peruvian

Empire.

This regulated despotism produced, as we might expect, great material prosperity-a pros- Material perity, however, which would be most visible in of the the magnificence of the Inca's dwellings, of the temples of the gods, and of all things that could minister to the power and convenience of the reigning monarch. In a word, the kingdom of Peru was little else than the estate of the sovereign. His Court was the centre of the system. It was surrounded by astrologers, learned men (called in their language amautas), poets, great officers of state, and the guards of the sovereign. The Incarial system was the strongest form of despotism that has been devised by man. It rested upon a very broad basis, there being a large family of privileged persons; and the young men of the royal house were brought up with care,† as persons who would hereafter

"Hist. Moral de las Indias, | la guerra, como para comprender lib. 6, c. 15. y compadecer la miseria de los +"Tenian tambien que ayunar menesterosos."-MARIANO EDvarios dias, ir descalzos, dormir en el suelo, vestir pobremente, y arrostrar otras privaciones tanto para acostumbrarse á las fatigas de

UARDO DE RIVERO Y JUAN DIEGO
DE TSCHUDI. Antigüedades Pe-
ruanas,c. 4, p.72. Vienna, 1851.

480 Minuteness of Government Regulations.

B. XVI. be entrusted with great employments in the Ch. 3. State.

The central Government received information of every kind; and, doubtless, directed everything that was to be done.* Moreover, as nothing which concerned his subjects was beneath the cognizance of the Inca, regulations had to be made for all those things which, in other countries, are matters of family or municipal administration. Minuteness The minuteness of these regulations may be lations. judged of by the fact that the law in favour of the sick and maimed required that they should be invited two or three times a month to the public feasts, "in order that, in the general joy, they might partly forget their own miserable estate."+

of the regu

It is but just to place side by side with this delicacy of humanity that characterized Peruvian legislation, the interfering tiresomeness of inspection which also was a fruit of the Incas' paternal rule. In an edict (the ley casera), which nearly followed the thoughtful law above referred to in favour of the sick and maimed, it is ordained that

* "Cada juez, desde el decu- y enfermos. Tambien mandaba rion hasta el gobernador, tenia esta ley, que fuesen llamados dos obligacion de hacer mensual-ó tres veces al mes estos invámente á su superior una relacion lidos á los convites y comidas circunstanciada de lo que habia públicas, para que, en el regocijo pasado en su seccion, y el Inca general, olvidasen en parte su recibia de los vireyes un extracto miserable éstado. El Oncocadel o mas importante."-Anti- mayoc, ó superintendente de güedades Peruanas, cap. 4, p.74. enfermos, era ejecutor de esta ley."-Antigüedades Peruanas, cap. 4, p. 80. See, to the same effect, the law quoted from Father Blas Valera, by Garcilaso de la Vega, lib. 5, cap. 11.

"La ley en favor de los inválidos que exigia, que fuesen alimentados con los fondos públicos los lisiados, sordos, mudos, ciegos, cojos, tullidos, decrépitos

Learning of the Peruvians.

481

occupations should be provided for young children, B. XVI. even so young as five years of age, suitable to their Ch. 3. years and their strength: and it is also ordained that the Peruvians should throw open their doors at dinner and at supper time, in order that the royal officers might have free ingress, to inspect the doings of the people under their charge. It seems as if mankind could never do anything well in any one direction without generating a force which carries them far beyond the good thing into some utter folly.

of the

Of the advancement of the Peruvians in any Learning branch of learning, or of their skill in any kind of Peruvians. composition, it is impossible to give an accurate account. The empire was so soon and so suddenly submerged, the immediate conquerors were so busy in securing their conquest and in quarrelling with one another, that little or no attention was given to preserve the relics of the literature of the Incas.

literature.

It appears that the Peruvians cultivated dramatic literature, and there exists a drama with Dramatic the title of Ollanta; or, the Severity of a Father and the Generosity of a King.*

*This drama is given in Dr. würdigen Werkes; wir wissen Tschudi's learned work on the nicht einmal, ob es aus der Zeit Kechua-Sprache. Unfortunately, der Inca's uns überliefert wurde, however, a cloud hangs over the oder ob es das Product der Muse time of its production, and little, eines neueren Dichters ist. Nach therefore, can be safely argued einigen Angaben soll das Stück about it. Some say, however, schon zur Zeit der Inca's auf that it was performed in the dem öffentlichen Platze von great square of Cusco during Cuzco aufgeführt worden sein, the time of the Incas." Leider sogar noch nach der Eroberung." sind wir in völligem Dunkel -Die Kechua-Sprache, von über den Ursprung dieses merk- J. J. v. TSCHUDI, part 1, p. 28.

482

B. XVI.

Poetry of the Peruvians.

What the ancient Peruvians chiefly excelled Ch. 3. in were probably short songs, relating principally Haravis. to love, which were called haravis. Some of the ancient tunes still remain, and are said to be very melodious. Garcilaso de la Vega gives a specimen of the words of one of these love songs:

The real love songs of a nation are seldom, I suppose, the strongest parts of its literature; and the simple ditty given above, though very pleasing and intelligible to the persons principally concerned, does not hold out much promise of being very attractive to the world in general. It is probable that the Peruvians possessed a sweet, gentle, melancholy poetry for their songs, some historical plays, and some poems of a higher order, relating to the heavenly bodies and to the elements (filosofando las Causas segundas). It may be doubted whether the robust sense to be found in the Mexican exhortations, such as the warning against lies, because they cause confusion,* would be discovered in Peruvian literature, even if we possessed much more of it.

One great public work, or rather, royal work, Peru possessed, which was not equalled in that

*"Oh! hijo no cures de This, though not the most exburlerías ó mentiras porque alted motive for truth, is nevercausan confusion."-LAS CASAS, theless simple, massive, and proHist. Apologética, cap. 223. found.

Ch. 3.

period, and perhaps is not equalled now in B. XVI. any part of the world. This was a road, which, for a distance in latitude of more than twelve hundred geographical miles, brought into communication all the provinces of the Peruvian Peru.

Roads in

empire.

road in

by barometrical calculations, of 12,440 feet above Peru. the sea, more than a thousand feet above the