HISTORY OF MEXICO. 



325 



" dation of Zahuapan (fa). To each of our gods we 

 " are indebted for a part of the happinefs of our lives, 

 " and their anger, if provoked, might draw down upon 

 " the ftate the moft fevere puniftiment." Cortes, ftimu- 

 lated by a zeal too ardent and violent, was defirous of 

 treating the idols of Tlafcala in the fame manner as he 

 had fuccefsfully done thofe of Chempoallan; but Olme- 

 do, and other perfons of refpect, dhTuaded him from fo 

 rafli an attempt, reprefenting to him, that fuch an act of 

 violence, befides not being conducive to the promulga- 

 Yion of the gofpel, might prove the ruin of the Spaniards 

 in a city fo populous, and attached to fuperftition. Ne- 

 verthelefs, he did not ceafe, during twenty days which 

 he flopped there, to reproach them with the cruelties of 

 their facrifices, and to inculcate the purity of his fyftem 

 of morality, the falfenefs of their deities, and the exiftence 

 of a fupreme Being, who governs all natural caufes, and 

 watches with moft admirable providence over the pre- 

 fervation of his creatures. Thofe exhortations, made 

 by a perfon of fo great authority, and of whom the Tla- 

 fcalans had formed a very elevated idea, although they 

 did not produce all the effecl: defired, had confiderable 

 influence, and fo far moved the fenate, that they confent- 

 ed to break the cages, and fet at liberty all the prifoners 

 and flaves which were to be facriflced to their gods on 

 folemn feftivals, or other public occafions of the ftate. 



Thus every day the alliance with the Tlafcalans was 

 more firmly eftablifhed, in fpite of the repeated fuggef- 

 tions of the Mexican ambailadors to break it. Cortes, 

 though well perfuaded of the fincerity of the Tlafcalans, 

 had given orders to his troops to hold themfelves always 

 prepared for whatever might happen. The fenate was 



offended 



(b) A river of Tlafcala. 



