304 



HISTORY OF MEXICO. 



agreed between them that if the king of Mexico gained 

 the party, the king of Acolhuacan ftiould renounce his 

 interpretation, adjudging it to be falfe ; but if Nezahu- 

 alpilli came oiF victor, Montezuma fhould acknowledge 

 and admit it to be true : a folly though truly ridiculous 

 in thofe men, to believe the truth of a predidlion could 

 depend on the dexterity of the player, or the fortune of 

 the game ; but lefs pernicious, however, than that of the 

 ancient Europeans, who decided on truth, innocence, 

 and honour, by a barbarous duel and the fortune of arms, 

 Nezahualpilli remained vi£i:or in the game, and Monte- 

 zuma difconfolate at the lofs and the confirmation of fo 

 fatal a prognoftic : he was willing, however, to try other 

 methods, hoping to find fome more favourable interpre- 

 tation which might counterbalance that of the king of 

 Acolhuacan, and the difgrace he had fuffered at play : 

 he corifulted therefore a very famous aftrologer who was 

 much vcrfed in the fuperflitious art of divination, by 

 which he had rendered his name fo celebrated in that 

 land, and acquired fo great a refpe61:, that without ever 

 ftirring abroad from his houfe he was confidered and 

 Confulted by the kings themfelves as an oracle. He 

 knowing, without doubt, v*^hat had happened between 

 the two kings, inftead of returning a propitious anfwer to 

 his fovereign, or at leafl: one which was equivocal, as fuch 

 prognofticators generally do, confirmed the fatal pro- 

 phecy of the Tezcucan. Montezuma was fo enraged 

 at the anfwer, that in return he made his houfe be pulled 

 to pieces, leaving the unhappy diviner buried amidfl the 

 ruins of his fandluary. 



Thefe and other fimilar prefages of the fall of that 

 empire appear reprcfented in the paintings of the Ame- 

 ricans, and are related in the hiftories of the Spaniards. 



Wc 



