Moctezuma was above all a warrior, and all warriors are gamblers; but unlike Cortés, he was clearly in every way a man of honor. As we’ve also seen, the quintessence of a warrior’s honor, which is a greatness that can only come from the destruction and degradation of others, is his willingness to throw himself into a game where he risks that same destruction and degradation himself—and, unlike Cortés, to play graciously, and by the rules.109 When the time came, it meant being willing to stake everything. He did. And as it turns out, nothing happened. No die landed on its edge. Cortés continued
...more
