HISTORY OF MEXICO. 



301 



an army, with orders to his general, to punifli them fe- 

 verely if they did not make a fuitable apology and fub- 

 miffion. The Huexotzincas, forefeeing the florm which 

 was likely to pour upon them, went out in order of battle 

 to meet the Mexicans ; but the Mexican general ad- 

 vanced towards them to explain his commilEon in the fol- 

 lowing words : Our lord Montezuma, who has his 

 " court in the middle of the water, Nezahualpilli, who 

 " commands upon the borders of the Jake, and Toto- 

 " quihuatzi who reigns at the foot of the mountains, 

 *^ have ordered us to tell you, that having learned from 

 your ambaffadors that you have ruined Cholula and 

 killed its inhabitants, they feel the utmoft affli6^ion, 

 " and are under an obligation to revenge the violent 

 outrage which has been offered to the venerable fanc- 

 tuary of Quelzalcoatl.'^ The Huexotzincas protefted 

 that the account given by their ambalTadors was extra- 

 vagant and falfe, and that a body of men fo refpeftablc 

 as the citizens of Huexotzinco, could not be the authors 

 of it, and declared themfelves ready to fatisfy all the 

 three kings by punifliment of the guilty. Upon which 

 having fumraoned their ambalTadors, and cut off their 

 ears and nofes, that being the punifliment deftined for 

 thofe who told falfehoods pernicious to the ftate, they 

 delivered them up to the general. Thus they efcaped 

 the evils of war, which otherwife would have been in- 

 evitable. 



The Atlixchefe who had rebelled againfl: the crown, 

 met with a very different fate ; they were defeated by 

 the Mexicans, and many of them made prifoners. This 

 happened precifely in the month of February, 1506, 

 when, on account of the termination of the century, the 

 great feftival of the renewal of the fire was celebrated 



with 



