HISTORY OF MEXICO. 



193 



was fo intimidated with thefe ominous vifions, which 

 were formed by the confcioiifnefs of his own injullice 

 and tyranny, that he called together his three fons Tiz- 

 jatzin^ Teu^tzintli^ and Maxtlaton^ imparted to them his 

 dreams, and charged them to put Nezahualcojotl to 

 death as fpeedily as poffible, provided they could do it 

 fo fecretly that no perfon fliould fufpe£l the author of it. 

 He hardly furvived his dreams a year. He was now be- 

 come fo old, he was no more able to keep himfelf in ne- 

 Geffary warmth, nor ere£t in a chair^ but was obliged to 

 be wholly covered up in cotton, in a great baflcet made 

 of willows in the form of a cradle ; but from this cradle^ 

 or rather fepulchre, he tyrannifed over the kingdom of 

 Acolhuacan, and delivered oracles of injuftice. A little- 

 before his death, he declared his fon Tajatzin his fucceffor 

 in the kingdom, and repeated his command refpe6ling the 

 death of Nezahualcojotl, preferving to his expiring mo- 

 ments his malicious defigns. In 1422, this monfter of 

 ambition, treachery, and injuftice, ended his life, after 

 having tyrannifed over the kingdom of Acolhuacan for 

 nine years, and polTelTed for a confiderable period the 

 ftate of Azcapozalco 



Although the giving proper orders for the funeral 

 of his father belonged to Tajatzin, as fucceffor to the 

 Vol. I. B b crown, 



(a) Torqiiemada liclakes Tezozomoc an Immediate defcendant of the firil- 

 Acolhuan prince: by which he makes his reign one hundred and fixty, or one 

 hundred and eighty years : hut from the harangue made by the Chechemecan 

 orator, it is evident, that Tezozomoc was defcended of Xolotl, Nopaltzin and 

 Tlotzin. The fifter of Nopaltzin married the prince Acolhuatzin, whence 

 their children were coufms of Tlotzin, the fon of Nopaltzin. In all this Tor- 

 quemada agrees with us. Whoever then could be called the defcendant of his 

 coufm? Whoever reads the genealogy of the Chechemecan kings in the works 

 of Torquemada, will inftantly perceive the niiftakes made by this author. 

 There may have been two or three lords of Azcapozalco named Tezozomoc, but 

 the tyrant of Acolhuacan v»^as at moll great-grandfon of prince Acolhuat«ir>. 



