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Character of Cortez.

He was remarkably clean and neat in his person,* not delighting much in fine silks or velvets, or gorgeous ornaments. One chain only, of exquisite workmanship, he wore, with an image of the Virgin depending from it, and one diamond ring.

He was very fond of games of chance, but good or ill fortune in them never disturbed his equanimity, though it gave him opportunity for witty sayings.† He was very firm in his resolves. To those who have read the history of Mexico up to this time, it is scarcely necessary to mention this fact. But as no human virtue is without its corresponding drawback, it appears probable, from some words his chaplain lets

* “Era Hombre limpísimo."-GOMARA, Crónica de la Nueva-España, cap. 238. BARCIA, Historiadores, tom. ii.

+ Era mui aficionado á juegos de naipes é dados y quando jugava era mui afable en el juego, y dezia certos remoquetes, que suelen dezir los que juegan á los dados.”—BERNAL DIAZ, cap. 203.

It is curious to note the same trait of a fondness for games of chance in Augustus Cæsar. "It was considered a defiance of public opinion in Augustus to avow almost without scruple that he was accustomed to amuse himself in his family, or among his nearest associates, with games of chance for the most trifling ventures. He played, says Suetonius, openly and without disguise, even in his old age; nor did he confine himself to the genial month of December, but amused himself in this way any day of the year, whether of business or holiday. Familiar letters have been preserved in which he recounts to Tiberius his bloodless contests at the supper-table with Vicinius and Silius; how they had played for pastime, not for gain, sporting a single denarius upon each die, and sweeping the modest stakes with the lucky throw of the Venus. 'We played every day through the five-day feast of Minerva, and kept the table warm. Your brother was most vociferous. Yet he lost but little, after all. . . . . I lost, for my part, twenty pieces; but then I was generous, as usual; for, had I insisted on all my winnings, or retained all I gave away, I should have gained fifty. But I like to be liberal, and I expect immortal honor for it.' To Julia he wrote: I make you a present of 250 denarii, the sum I gave to each of my guests to play at dice with at supper, or, if they pleased, at odd and even.'"-MERIVALE'S History of the Romans under the Empire, vol. iv., chap. xxxvii., p. 294.

Character of Cortez.

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fall, that Cortez occasionally carried his military resolve into civil life, and stood more upon his rights in legal matters than was always wise or prudent. He was not what may be called a profuse man, and was occasionally even parsimonious, though immensely liberal as a lover or a friend, or when he thought to carry a purpose in war, or when he wished to gratify any particular fancy.*

His present grandeur of estate sat upon him with the easiness of a well-fitting robe that had long been worn, and he presented in no way the appearance of a new-made man. He seemed rather to have come to some high fortune which had been awaiting him from his birth. Any one, however, who has seen the singular dignity and grace of bearing which a Spanish peasant of the present day will manifest, even under difficult circumstances, can easily imagine that a descendant of a good family, with Pizarros and Altamiranos for immediate ancestors, would be very little disconcerted at being suddenly called to sit in the seat of judgment, to dispense rewards among obedient followers, and to sway an obsequious people, accustomed to be ruled by monarchs of a like imperious dignity and composure.†

It is probable that Cortez, partially at least, fulfilled the requisites of that character, one of the rarest to be met with, and very much wanted at that time in the

* "Gastaba liberalísimamente en la Guerra, en Mugeres, por Amigos, í en antojos, mostrando escaseça en algunas cosas, por donde le llaman Rio de Avenida."-GOMARA, Crónica de la Nueva-España, cap. 238. BARCIA, Historiadores, tom. ii.

For the descent of Cortez from illustrious ancestors, see PIZARRO Y ORELLANA, Varones Ilustres de Nuevo Mundo; Cortes, cap. i. FRCO. DIEGO DE SAYAs, Anales de Aragon, cap. i.; and Doc. Inéd., tom. iv., p. 238.

18

Character of Cortez.

Indies-an admirable man of business. Rare, almost, as great poets-rarer, perhaps, than veritable saints and martyrs-are consummate men of business. A man, to be excellent in this way, must not only be variously gifted, but his gifts should be nicely proportioned to one another. He must have in a high degree that virtue which men have always found the least pleasant of virtues-prudence. His prudence, however, will not be merely of a cautious and quiescent order, but that which, being ever actively engaged, is more fitly called discretion than prudence. Such a man must have an almost ignominious love of details, blended (and this is a rare combination) with a high power of imagination, enabling him to look along extended lines of possible action, and put these details in their right places. He requires a great knowledge of character, with that exquisite tact which feels unerringly the right moment when to act. A discreet rapidity must pervade all the movements of his thought and action. He must be singularly free from vanity, and is generally found to be an enthusiast who has the art to conceal his enthusiasm.

Cardinal Ximenes, King Ferdinand, Vasco Nuñez, and Cortez are the four men who, in the history of the Indies, have been seen to manifest the greatest powers of business. Las Casas, also, was a very able man, possessing many of the highest faculties for the conduct of affairs. But Cortez probably outshone the rest; and had the Indies been his appanage, instead of a country unrighteously conquered by him, the administration of the Conquest would have been brought to the highest perfection that it could have reached at that period.

Amid the infinite variety of human beings, not

Character of Cortez.

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merely can no one man be found exactly like another, but no character can be superimposed upon another without large differences being at once discernible. Still, there is often a vein of similarity among remarkable men which enables us to classify them as belonging to the same order. Cortez, for instance, was of the same order as Charles the Fifth and Augustus Cæsar. Each of them had supreme self-possession: the bitterest misfortune never left them abject; the highest success found them composed to receive it. Each of them, though grave and dignified, was remarkable for affability with all kinds of men. All three were eminently tenacious of their resolves, but, at the same time, singularly amenable to reason, which is, perhaps, the first quality in a ruler. Charles the Fifth was much the least cruel; but the cruelty of the others was never wanton, never capricious, never divorced from policy. They had all three long memories, both of benefits and injuries. They were firm friends and good masters to their subordinates, but could not be accused of favoritism. Cortez had, perhaps, more poetry in him than was to be found, in either of the othHe had the warlike element which is discernible in Charles the Fifth, but was certainly a greater commander, and possessed more readiness and flexibility. Finally, Augustus Cæsar, Cortez, and Charles the Fifth were of that rare order of men in whom there is perpetual growth of character—who go on learning-to whom every blunder they commit is a fruitful lesson -with whom there is less that is accidental than is to be observed in the rest of mankind; and of whom humanity, with much to regret, can not fail to be proud.

ers.

The characters of great men may be more amply summed up and more justly appreciated at the close

20

Occupation of Mexico by the Spaniards.

of their careers; but it seems well, occasionally, to look at them, with all the light we can get, in the midst of their labors, and to endeavor to see them in the guise in which they stood when they were face to face with other great men, and immersed in the contests of life.

Such as he has been described above was Cortez at the vigorous age of thirty-five, in the height of his unrivaled career, after one of the most memorable conquests made known to us in history.

This is not the place for mentioning at any length the discoveries and conquests of which Cortez now laid the foundation. As was to be expected, embassadors arrived at the Spanish camp from neighboring territories, and Cortez was enabled to give them a most significant illustration of his prowess by taking them to behold the ruins of Mexico. Their mode of describing events was pictorial; and here was a scene which, if well portrayed, needed little comment by words or hieroglyphics.

Cortez now prepared for the occupation of the site of Mexico by his own men, giving the usual quantities of land (solares) to those who wished to become residents. He then appointed the principal officers, the alcaldes and regidores. The building of the town was carried on with such rapidity that, in five months after its commencement, the new Mexico already gave promise of becoming, as the old had been, the principal and ruling city of those provinces.† It is a re* "Hícelos llevar á ver la destruccion y asolamiento de la Ciudad de Temixtitan, que de la ver, y de ver su fuerza, y fortaleza, por estar en el Agua, quedaron muy mas espantados."-LORENZANA, p. 308.

+ "Crea Vuestra Magestad, que cada dia se irá ennobleciendo en tal manera, que como antes fue Principal, y Señora de todas estas