Fifth Sun: A New History of the Aztecs

by Camilla Townsend

The priest spelled out the myriad reasons they had to be grateful to their gods and concluded, “It would be a fickle, foolish thing for us to destroy the most ancient laws and customs left by the first inhabitants of this land.” He added that if the Spaniards were so daring as to insist on the destruction of the old gods, they would be courting political disaster. He spoke as if he were giving friendly advice, but he conveyed a threat. “Beware,” he said, “lest the common people rise up against us if we were to tell them that the gods they have always understood to be such are not gods at all.” Eventually he came to his climax: “All of us together feel that it is enough to have lost, enough that the reed mats, the thrones [political power, the royal jurisdiction] have been taken from us. As for our gods, we will die before giving up serving and worshipping them. This is our determination; do with us what you will. This will serve in reply and contradiction to what you have said. We have no more to say, lords.”