CHAPTER XXVII

THE FALL OF TENOCTITLAN


Now shortly after Christmas, having marched from the coast with a great
array of Spaniards, for many had joined his banner from over sea, and
tens of thousands of native allies, Cortes took up his head quarters at
Tezcuco in the valley of Mexico. This town is situated near the borders
of the lake, at a distance of several leagues from Tenoctitlan, and
being on the edge of the territory of the Tlascalans his allies, it was
most suitable to Cortes as a base of action. And then began one of the
most terrible wars that the world has seen. For eight months it raged,
and when it ceased at length, Tenoctitlan, and with it many other
beautiful and populous towns, were blackened ruins, the most of the
Aztecs were dead by sword and famine, and their nation was crushed for
ever. Of all the details of this war I do not purpose to write, for were
I to do so, there would be no end to this book, and I have my own tale
to tell. These, therefore, I leave to the maker of histories. Let it be
enough to say that the plan of Cortes was to destroy all her vassal and
allied cities and peoples before he grappled with Mexico, queen of the
valley, and this he set himself to do with a skill, a valour, and a
straightness of purpose, such as have scarcely been shown by a general
since the days of Caesar.

Iztapalapan was the first to fall, and here ten thousand men, women, and
children were put to the sword or burned alive. Then came the turn of
the others; one by one Cortes reduced the cities till the whole girdle