158 



HISTORY OF MEXICO. 



them, as they were more bound in duty to fet a good 

 example. 



The fame king prefcribed the punifliment of death to 

 hiftorians who publifhed any falfehood in their paint- 

 ings (y). He condemned robbers of the fields to the 

 fame punifhment, and declared that the dealing feven 

 ears of maize was fufficient to incur the penalty. 



The Tlafcalans adopted the greater part of the laws 

 of Acolhuacan. Among them, fons, who were want- 

 ing in refpecl: and duty to their parents, were put to 

 death by order of the fenate. Thofe perfons who were 

 authors of any public misfortune, and yet did not de- 

 ferve to be puniflied with death, were baniflied, Ge- 

 nerally fpeaking, among all the poliftied nations of Ana- 

 huac, murder, theft, lying, adultery, and other limilar 

 crimes of incontinence, were rigoroufly puniflied, and 

 that which we have already obferved, when fpeaking of 

 their character, appears to be verified in every thing, 

 namely, that they were (as they (till are) naturally in- 

 clined to feverity and rigour, and more vigilant to pu- 

 nifti vice than to reward virtue. 



Among the punifliments prefcribed by the legiflators 

 of Mexico againft malefactors, that of the fork or gal- 

 lows was reckoned the moft ignominious. That of ba- 

 nilhment was alfo thought infamous, as it fuppofed the 

 guilty perfon poflfefled of an infectious vice. That of 

 whipping is not found among their laws; nor do we 

 know that it was ever made ufe of except by parents 

 to their children, or matters to their pupils. 



They 



(y) This law againft falfe hiftorians is attefted by D. Ferdinando d' Alba 

 Ixtlilxochitl (who was a defcendant of that legiflator), in his valuable manu- 

 fcripts. 



