[* Transcriber's note: The following substitutions have been made fordiacritical marks in the original text which are not available at DP:

For vowels with a breve: [)a], [)e], [)i], [)o], [)u]. 

For vowels with a macron: [=a], [=e], [=i], [=o], [=u]. *]

ANCIENT NAHUATL POETRY, CONTAINING THE NAHUATL TEXT OF XXVII ANCIENT MEXICAN POEMS. 

BRITON'S LIBRARY OF ABORIGINAL AMERICAN LITERATURE, NUMBER VII. 

WITH A TRANSLATION, INTRODUCTION, NOTES AND VOCABULARY. 

BY

DANIEL G. BRINTON

1890

PREFACE. 

It is with some hesitation that I offer this volume to the scientificpublic. The text of the ancient songs which it contains offersextreme and peculiar difficulties to the translator, and I have beenobliged to pursue the task without assistance of any kind. Not a lineof them has ever before been rendered into an European tongue, and myendeavors to obtain aid from some of the Nahuatl scholars of Mexicohave, for various reasons, proved ineffectual. I am therefore aloneresponsible for errors and misunderstandings. 

Nevertheless, I have felt that these monuments of ancient nativeliterature are so interesting in themselves, and so worthy ofpublication, that they should be placed at the disposition ofscholars in their original form with the best rendering that I couldgive them at present, rather than to await the uncertain event ofyears for a better. 

The text itself may be improved by comparison with the original MS. And with the copy previously made by the Licentiate Chimalpopoca, referred to on page 48. My own efforts in this direction have beenconfined to a faithful reproduction in print of the MS. Copy of theAbbé Brasseur de Bourbourg. 

The Notes, which might easily have been extended, I have confinedwithin moderate compass, so as not to enlarge unduly the bulk of thevolume. 

To some, the Vocabulary may seem inadequate. I assume that thosepersons who wish to make a critical study of the original text willprovide themselves with the Nahuatl Dictionaries of Molina or Siméon, both of which are now easily obtainable, thanks to Mr. JuliusPlatzmann for the reprint of Molina. I also assume that such studentswill acquaint themselves with the rules of grammar and laws ofword-building of the tongue, and that they will use the vocabularymerely as a labor-saving means of reaching the themes of compoundsand unusual forms of words. Employed in this manner, it will, I hope, be found adequate. 

In conclusion, I would mention that there is a large body of Nahuatlliterature yet unpublished, both prose and poetry, modern andancient, and as the Nahuatl tongue is one of the most highlydeveloped on the American continent, it is greatly to be desired thatall this material should be at the command of students. The Nahuatl, moreover, is not a difficult tongue; for an Englishman or aFrenchman, I should say it is easier to acquire than German, itsgrammar being simple and regular, and its sounds soft and sonorous. It has special recommendations, therefore, to one who would acquainthimself with an American language. 

CONTENTS. 

 PREFACE

 INTRODUCTION

 § 1. THE NATIONAL LOVE OF POETRY § 2. THE POET AND HIS WORK § 3. THE THEMES AND CLASSES OF THE SONGS § 4. PROSODY OF THE SONGS § 5. THE VOCAL DELIVERY OF THE SONGS § 6. THE INSTRUMENTAL ACCOMPANIMENT § 7. THE POETIC DIALECT § 8. THE PRESERVATION OF THE ANCIENT SONGS § 9. THE LX SONGS OF THE KING NEZAHUALCOYOTL § 10. THE HISTORY OF THE PRESENT COLLECTION

 ANCIENT NAHUATL POEMS:

 I. SONG AT THE BEGINNING II. A SPRING SONG, AN OTOMI SONG, A PLAIN SONG III. ANOTHER PLAIN SONG IV. AN OTOMI SONG OF THE MEXICANS V. ANOTHER PLAIN SONG OF THE MEXICANS VI. ANOTHER CHALCO-SONG, A POEM OF TETLAPAN QUETZANITZIN VII. ANOTHER VIII. COMPOSED BY A CERTAIN RULER IN MEMORY OF FORMER RULERS IX. AN OTOMI SONG OF SADNESS X. A SPRING SONG OF THE MEXICANS XI. ANOTHER XII. A SPRING SONG, A SONG OF EXHORTATION, BECAUSE CERTAIN ONES DID NOT GO TO WAR XIII. A SONG OF HUEXOTZINCO XIV. A CHRISTIAN SONG XV. THE REIGN OF TEZOZOMOCTLI XVI. A SONG URGING TO WAR XVII. A FLOWER SONGXVIII. A SONG OF TOLLAN XIX. A CHRISTIAN SONG XX. A SONG LAMENTING THE TOLTECS XXI. A SONG OF THE HUEXOTZINCOS, COMING TO ASK AID OF MONTEZUMA AGAINST TLAXCALLA XXII. A FLOWER SONGXXIII. A SONG OF THE PRINCE NEZAHUALCOYOTL XXIV. ANOTHER XXV. A SONG OF LAMENTATION XXVI. A SONG RELATING TO THE LORD NEZAHUALPILLIXXVII. A CHRISTIAN SONG

 NOTES

 VOCABULARY

 INDEX OF NAHUATL PROPER NAMES, WITH EXPLANATIONS

 FOOTNOTES

ANCIENT NAHUATL POETRY. 

INTRODUCTION. 

§ 1. _THE NATIONAL LOVE OF POETRY. _

The passionate love with which the Nahuas cultivated song, music andthe dance is a subject of frequent comment by the historians ofMexico. These arts are invariably mentioned as prominent features ofthe aboriginal civilization; no public ceremony was complete withoutthem; they were indispensable in the religious services held in thetemples; through their assistance the sacred and historicaltraditions were preserved; and the entertainments of individualsreceived their chief lustre and charm from their association withthese arts. 

The profession of the poet stood in highest honor. It was the custombefore the Conquest for every town, every ruler and every person ofimportance to maintain a company of singers and dancers, paying themfixed salaries, and the early writer, Duran, tells us that thiscustom continued in his own time, long after the Conquest. Hesensibly adds, that he can see nothing improper in it, although itwas condemned by some of the Spaniards. [1] In the training of theseartists their patrons took a deep personal interest, and were not atall tolerant of neglected duties. We are told that the chief selectedthe song which was to be sung, and the tune by which it was to beaccompanied; and did any one of the choir sing falsely, a drummerbeat out of time, or a dancer strike an incorrect attitude, theunfortunate artist was instantly called forth, placed in bonds andsummarily executed the next morning![2]

With critics of such severity to please, no wonder that it wasnecessary to begin the training early, and to set apart for itdefinite places and regular teachers. Therefore it was one of theestablished duties of the teachers in the calmecac or public school, "to teach the pupils all the verses of the sacred songs which werewritten in characters in their books. "[3] There were also specialschools, called _cuicoyan_, singing places, where both sexes weretaught to sing the popular songs and to dance to the sound of thedrums. [4] In the public ceremonies it was no uncommon occurrence forthe audience to join in the song and dance until sometimes manythousands would thus be seized with the contagion of the rhythmicalmotion, and pass hours intoxicated (to use a favorite expression ofthe Nahuatl poets) with the cadence and the movement. 

After the Conquest the Church set its face firmly against thecontinuance of these amusements. Few of the priests had the liberalviews of Father Duran, already quoted; most of them were of theopinion of Torquemada, who urges the clergy "to forbid the singing ofthe ancient songs, because all of them are full of idolatrousmemories, or of diabolical and suspicious allusions of the samecharacter. "[5]

To take the place of the older melodies, the natives were taught theuse of the musical instruments introduced by the Spaniards, and verysoon acquired no little proficiency, so that they could perform uponthem, compose original pieces, and manufacture most of theinstruments themselves. [6]

To this day the old love of the song and dance continues in theIndian villages; and though the themes are changed, the forms remainwith little alteration. Travelers describe the movements as slow, andconsisting more in bending and swaying the body than in motions ofthe feet; while the songs chanted either refer to some saint orbiblical character, or are erotic and pave the way to orgies. [7]

§ 2. _THE POET AND HIS WORK. _

The Nahuatl word for a song or poem is _cuicatl_. It is derived fromthe verb _cuica_, to sing, a term probably imitative oronomatopoietic in origin, as it is also a general expression for thetwittering of birds. The singer was called _cuicani_, and isdistinguished from the composer of the song, the poet, to whom wasapplied the term _cuicapicqui_, in which compound the last member, _picqui_, corresponds strictly to the Greek _poiaetaes_, being a derivative of _piqui_, to make, to create. [8] Sometimes hewas also called _cuicatlamantini_, "skilled in song. "

It is evident from these words, all of which belong to the ancientlanguage, that the distinction between the one who composed the poemsand those who sang them was well established, and that the Nahuatlpoetry was, therefore, something much above mere improvisation, assome have thought. This does not alter the fact that a professed bardusually sang songs of his own composition, as well as those obtainedfrom other sources. This is obvious from the songs in thiscollection, many of which contain the expression _ni cuicani_, I, thesinger, which also refers to the maker of the song. 

In the classical work of Sahagun, the author describes the ancientpoet: "The worthy singer has a clear mind and a strong memory. Hecomposes songs himself and learns those of others, and is alwaysready to impart either to the fellows of his craft. He sings with awell-trained voice, and is careful to practice in private before heappears before the public. The unworthy singer, on the other hand, isignorant and indolent. What he learns he will not communicate toothers. His voice is hoarse and untrained, and he is at once enviousand boastful. "[9]

§ 3. _THE THEMES AND CLASSES OF THE SONGS. _

From what he could learn about them some two centuries or more afterthe Conquest, the antiquary Boturini classified all the ancient songsunder two general heads, the one treating mainly of historicalthemes, while the other was devoted to purely fictitious, emotionalor imaginative subjects. [10] His terse classification is expanded bythe Abbé Clavigero, who states that the themes of the ancient poetswere various, some chanting the praises of the gods or petitioningthem for favors, others recalled the history of former generations, others were didactic and inculcated correct habits of life, whileothers, finally, were in lighter vein, treating of hunting, games andlove. [11]

His remarks were probably a generalization from a chapter inTorquemada's _Monarquia Indiana_, in which that writer states thatthe songs at the sacred festivals differed in subject with thedifferent months and seasons. Thus, in the second month of theircalendar, at its stated festival, the people sang the greatness oftheir rulers; in the seventh month all the songs were of love, ofwomen, or of hunting; in the eighth the chants recalled the nobledeeds of their ancestors and their divine origin; while in the ninthmonth nothing was heard but verses fraught with lamentation for thedead. [12] With less minuteness, Father Duran gives almost the sameinformation. He himself had often heard the songs which Montezuma ofTenochtitlan, and Nezahualpizintli of Tezcuco, had ordered to becomposed in their own honor, describing their noble lineage, theirriches, their grandeur and their victories. These songs were in hisday still sung at the public dances of the natives, and he adds, "although they were filled with laudation of their ancient rulers, itgave me much pleasure to hear the praises of such grandeur. " Therewere other poets, he observes, who lived in the temples and composedsongs exclusively in honor of the gods. [13]

These general expressions may be supplemented by a list of terms, specifying particular classes of songs, preserved by various writers. These are as follows:--

_melahuacuicatl_: this is translated by Tezozomoc, "a straight andtrue song. "[14] It is a compound of _melahuac_, straight, direct, true; and _cuicatl_, song. It was a beginning or opening song at thefestivals, and apparently derived its name from its greaterintelligibility and directness of expression. A synonym, derived fromthe same root, is _tlamelauhcayotl_, which appears in the title tosome of the songs in the present collection. 

_xopancuicatl_: this term is spelled by Ixtlilxochitl, _xompacuicatl_, and explained to mean "a song of the spring" (from_xopan_, springtime, _cuicatl_, song). The expression seems to befigurative, referring to the beginning or early life of things. Thus, the prophetic songs of Nezahualcoyotl, those which he sang when helaid the foundation of his great palace, bore this name. [15]

_teuccuicatl_: songs of the nobles (_teuctli_, _cuicatl_). These werealso called _quauhcuicatl_, "eagle songs, " the term _quauhtli_, eagle, being applied to distinguished persons. 

_xochicuicatl_: flower-song, one singing the praises of flowers. 

_icnocuicatl_: song of destitution or compassion. 

_noteuhcuicaliztli_: "the song of my lords. " This appears to be asynonymous expression for _teuccuicatl_; it is mentioned by Boturini, who adds that on the day sacred to the god Xiuhteuctli the king beganthe song so called. [16]

_miccacuicatl_: the song for the dead (_miqui_, to die, _cuicatl_). In this solemn chant the singers were seated on the ground, and theirhair was twisted in plaits around their heads. [17]

In addition to the above terms drawn from the subject or character ofthe songs, there were others, of geographical origin, apparentlyindicating that the song, or its tune, or its treatment was borrowedfrom another locality or people. These are:--

_Huexotzincayotl_: a song of Huexotzinco, a Nahuatl town, situatedeast of the Lake of Tezcuco. This song was sung by the king andsuperior nobles at certain festivals, and, in the prescribed order ofthe chants, followed a _melahuaccuicatl_. [18]

_Chalcayotl_: a song of Chalco, on the lake of the same name. Thisfollowed the last mentioned in order of time at the festivals. 

_Otoncuicatl_: a song of the Otomis. These were the immediateneighbors of the Nahuas, but spoke a language radically diverse. Thesongs so-called were sung fourth on the list. 

_Cuextecayotl_: a song of the country of the Cuexteca, or Cuextlan, anorthern province of Mexico. 

_Tlauancacuextecayotl_: a song of the country of theTlauancacuexteca. 

_Anahuacayotl_: a song of Anahuac, that is, of a country near thewater, either the valley of Mexico, or the shores of the ocean. 

Some very ancient sacred songs were referred to by Tezozomoc aspeculiar to the worship of Huitzilopochtli, and, indeed, introducedby this potent divinity. From their names, _cuitlaxoteyotl_, and_tecuilhuicuicatl_, [19] I judge that they referred to some of thosepederastic rites which still prevail extensively among the natives ofthe pueblos of New Mexico, and which have been described by Dr. William A. Hammond and other observers. [20] One of these songs began, Cuicoyan nohuan mitotia;

 In-the-place-of-song with-me they-dance. 

But the old chronicler, who doubtless knew it all by heart, gives usno more of it. [21]

§ 4. _PROSODY OF THE SONGS. _

The assertion is advanced by Boturini that the genuine ancientNahuatl poetry which has been preserved is in iambic metre, and herefers to a song of Nezahualcoyotl in his collection to prove hisopinion. What study I have given to the prosody of the Nahuatl tongueleads me to doubt the correctness of so sweeping a statement. Thevocalic elements of the language have certain peculiarities whichprevent its poetry from entering unencumbered into the domain ofclassical prosody. 

The quantity of Nahuatl syllables is a very important element in thepronunciation of the tongue, but their quantity is not confined, asin Latin, to long, short, and common. The Nahuatl vowels are long, short, intermediate, and "with stress, " or as the Spanish grammarianssay, "with a jump, " _con saltillo_. The last mentioned is peculiar tothis tongue. The vowel so designated is pronounced with a momentarysuspension or catching of the breath, rendering it emphatic. 

These quantities are prominent features in the formal portions of thelanguage, characterizing inflections and declinations. No commonmeans of designating them have been adopted by the grammarians, andfor my present purpose, I shall make use of the following signs:--

 [)a], short. 

 a, intermediate. 

 [=a], long. 

 â, with stress. 

The general prosodic rules are:--

1. In polysyllabic words in which there are no long vowels, all thevowels are intermediate. 

2. The vowels are long in the penultimate of the plurals of theimperatives when the preterit of the verb ends in a vowel; the _[=a]_of the _c[=a]n_ of the imperatives; the _[=i]_ of the _t[=i]_; of thegerundives; the last vowel of the futures when the verb loses a vowelto form them; the penultimates of passives in _lo_, of impersonals, of verbals in _oni_, _illi_, _olli_ and _oca_, of verbal nouns withthe terminations _yan_ and _can_; the _[=o]_ of abstract nouns in_otl_ in composition; and those derived from long syllables. 

3. Vowels are "with stress" when they are the finals in the pluralsof nouns and verbs, also in the perfect preterite, in possessivesending in â, ê, ô, and in the penultimate of nouns ending in _tli_, _tla_ and _tle_ when these syllables are immediately preceded by thevowel. [22]

The practical importance of these distinctions may be illustrated bythe following examples:--

 _tâtli_, = father. 

 _t[=a]tl[)i]_, = thou drinkest. 

 _t[=a]tlî_, = we drink. 

It is, however, evident from this example that the quantity ofNahuatl syllables enters too much into the strictly formal part ofthe language for rules of position, such as some of those abovegiven, to be binding; and doubtless for this reason the eminentgrammarian Carlos de Tapia Zenteno, who was professor of the tonguein the University of Mexico, denies that it can be reduced todefinite rules of prosody like those of the Latin. [23]

Substituting accent for quantity, there would seem to be an iambiccharacter to the songs. Thus the first words of Song I, were probablychanted:--

_Nino' yolno' notza' campa' nic[)u] iz' yec tli' ahui aca' xochitl'_:etc. 

But the directions given for the drums at the beginning of SongsXVIII, XIX, etc. , do not indicate a continuance of these feet, but ofothers, as in XIX:--

u--, u--, u--, uu--, u--, u--, u--, etc. 

Indeed, we may suppose that the metre varied with the subject and theskill of the poet. This, in fact, is the precise statement of FatherDuran, [24] who speaks of the native poets as "giving to each song adifferent tune (_sonada_), as we are accustomed in our poetry to havethe sonnet, the octava rima and the terceto. "

§ 5. _THE VOCAL DELIVERY OF THE SONG. _

Descriptions of the concerts so popular among the Nahuas have beenpreserved by the older writers, and it is of the highest importanceto understand their methods in order to appreciate the songspresented in this volume. 

These concerts were held on ceremonial occasions in the open air, inthe village squares or in the courtyards of the houses. They began inthe morning and usually continued until nightfall, occasionally farinto the night. The musicians occupied the centre of the square andthe trained singers stood or sat around them. When the sign was givento begin, the two most skillful singers, sometimes a man and a woman, pronounced the first syllables of the song slowly but with a sharpemphasis;[25] then the drums began in a low tone, and gradually increased instrength as the song proceeded; the other singers united their voicesuntil the whole chorus was in action, and often the bystanders, tothe numbers of thousands, would ultimately join in the words of somefamiliar song, keeping time by concerted movements of the hands andfeet. 

Each verse or couplet of the song was repeated three or four timesbefore proceeding to the next, and those songs which were of theslowest measure and least emotional in character were selected forthe earlier hours of the festivals. None of the songs was lengthy, even the longest, in spite of the repetitions, rarely lasting over anhour. [26]

The tone in which the words were chanted is described by Clavigero, Mühlenpfordt and other comparatively recent travelers as harsh, strident and disagreeable to the European ear. Mendieta calls it a"contra-bass, " and states that persons gifted with such a voicecultivated it assiduously and were in great demand. The Nahuas callit _tozquitl_, the singing voice, and likened it to the notes ofsweet singing birds. 

§ 6. _THE INSTRUMENTAL ACCOMPANIMENT. _

The Nahuas were not acquainted with any stringed instrument. Theymanufactured, however, a variety of objects from which they couldextract what seemed to them melodious sounds. The most important weretwo forms of drums, the _huehuetl_ and the _teponaztli_. 

The word _huehuetl_ means something old, something ancient, andtherefore important and great. The drum so-called was a hollowcylinder of wood, thicker than a man's body, and usually about fivepalms in height. The end was covered with tanned deerskin, firmlystretched. The sides were often elaborately carved and tastefullypainted. This drum was placed upright on a stand in front of theplayer and the notes were produced by striking the parchment with thetips of the fingers. 

A smaller variety of this instrument was called _tlapanhuehuetl_, orthe half drum, which was of the same diameter but only half theheight. [27] Still another variety was the _yopihuehuetl_, "the drumwhich tears out the heart, "[28] so called either by reason of itspenetrating and powerful sound, or because it was employed at the_Yopico_, where that form of human sacrifice was conducted. 

The _teponaztli_ was a cylindrical block of wood hollowed out below, and on its upper surface with two longitudinal parallel groovesrunning nearly from end to end, and a third in the centre at rightangles to these, something in the shape of the letter I. The twotongues left between the grooves were struck with balls of rubber, _ulli_, on the ends of handles or drum sticks. These instrumentsvaried greatly in size, some being five feet in length, and others sosmall that they could conveniently be carried suspended to the neck. The _teponaztli_ was the house instrument of the Nahuas. It wasplayed in the women's apartments to amuse the noble ladies, and thewar captains carried one at the side to call the attention of theircohorts on the field of battle (Sahagun). The word is derived fromthe name of the tree whose wood was selected to make the drum, andthis in turn from the verb _tepunazoa_, to swell, probably from somepeculiarity of its growth. [29]

A much superior instrument to the teponaztli, and doubtless adevelopment from it, was the _tecomapiloa_, "the suspended vase"(_tecomatl_, gourd or vase, _piloa_, to hang or suspend). It was asolid block of wood, with a projecting ridge on its upper surface andanother opposite, on its lower aspect; to the latter one or moregourds or vases were suspended, which increased and softened thesound when the upper ridge was struck with the _ulli_. [30] This wasundoubtedly the origin of the _marimba_, which I have describedelsewhere. [31]

The musical properties of these drums have been discussed by TheodorBaker. The teponaztli, he states, could yield but two notes, andcould not have been played in accord with the huehuetl. It served asan imperfect contra-bass. [32]

The _omichicahuaz_, "strong bone, " was constructed somewhat on theprinciple of a _teponaztli_. A large and long bone was selected, asthe femur of a man or deer, and it was channeled by deep longitudinalincisions. The projections left between the fissures were rasped withanother bone or a shell, and thus a harsh but varied sound could beproduced. [33]

The _tetzilacatl_, the "vibrator" or "resounder, " was a sheet ofcopper suspended by a cord, which was struck with sticks or with thehand. It appears to have been principally confined to the sacredmusic in the temples. 

The _ayacachtli_ was a rattle formed of a jar of earthenware or adried gourd containing pebbles which was fastened to a handle, andserved to mark time in the songs and dances. An extension of thissimple instrument was the _ayacachicahualiztli_, "the arrangement ofrattles, " which was a thin board about six feet long and a span wide, to which were attached bells, rattles and cylindrical pieces of hardwood. Shaking this produced a jingle-jangle, agreeable to the nativeear. The Aztec bells of copper, _tzilinilli_, are really metallicrattles, like our sleigh bells. They are often seen in collections ofMexican antiquities. Other names for them were _coyolliyoyotli_. And

Various forms of flutes and fifes, made of reeds, of bone or ofpottery, were called by names derived from the word _pitzaua_, toblow (e. G. , _tlapitzalli_, _uilacapitzli_), and sometimes, as beingpunctured with holes, _zozoloctli_, from _zotl_, the awl orinstrument used in perforating skins, etc. Many of those made ofearthenware have been preserved, and they appear to have been ahighly-esteemed instrument, as Sahagun mentions that the leader ofthe choir of singers in the temple bore the title _tlapitzcatzin_, "the noble flute player. "

Large conches were obtained on the seashore and framed into windinstruments called _quiquiztli_ and _tecciztli_, whose hoarse notescould be heard for long distances, and whistles of wood, bone andearthenware added their shrill notes to the noise of the chanting ofthe singers. The shell of the tortoise, _ayotl_, dried and suspended, was beaten in unison with such instruments. 

Recent researches by competent musical experts conducted uponauthentic specimens of the ancient Mexican instruments have tended toelevate our opinion of their skill in this art. Mr. H. T. Cresson, ofthe Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, has criticallyexamined the various Aztec clay flutes, whistles, etc. , which arethere preserved, and has reached the following conclusions:--

"I. That upon the four-holed clay flageolets the chromatic anddiatonic scales can be produced with a full octave. 

"II. That the clay whistles or pitch pipes, which may be manipulatedin quartette, will produce an octave and a fourth. 

"III. From the facts above shown, the Aztecs must have possessed aknowledge of the scales as known to us, which has been fully testedby comparison with the flute and organ. "[34]

This result indicates for the instrumental accompaniment a muchhigher position in musical notation than has hitherto been accepted. 

§ 7. _THE POETIC DIALECT. _

All the old writers who were familiar with the native songs speak oftheir extreme obscurity, and the difficulty of translating them. Noone will question the intimate acquaintance with the Nahuatl languagepossessed by Father Sahagun; yet no one has expressed more stronglythan he the vagueness of the Nahuatl poetic dialect. "Our enemy onearth, " he writes, "has prepared a thick woods and a dangerous groundfull of pitfalls, wherein to devise his evil deeds and to hidehimself from attack, as do wild beasts and venomous serpents. Thiswoods and these pitfalls are the songs which he has inspired to beused in his service, as praises to his honor, in the temples andelsewhere; because they are composed with such a trick that theyproclaim only what the devil commands, and are understood only bythose to whom they are addressed. It is well known that the cavern, woods or depths in which the devil hides himself were these chants orpsalms which he himself has composed, and which cannot be understoodin their true significance except by those who are accustomed to thepeculiar style of their language. "[35]

Not less positive are the expressions of Father Diego Duran, contemporary of Sahagun, and himself well versed in the nativetongue. "All their songs, " he observes, "were composed in suchobscure metaphors that scarcely any one can understand them unless hegive especial attention to their construction. "[36] The worthyBoturini was puzzled by those which he had collected, and writes, "the songs are difficult to explain, because they mystify historicalfacts with constant allegorizing, "[37] and Boturini's literaryexecutor, Don Mariano Echevarria y Veitia, who paid especialattention to the poetic fragments he had received, says frankly: "Thefact is, that as to the songs I have not found a person who can fullytranslate them, because there are many words in them whosesignification is absolutely unknown to-day, and moreover which do notappear in the vocabularies of Molina or others. "[38]

The Abbé Clavigero speaks in somewhat more definite terms of thepoetic forms and licenses of the language. He notes that in thefragments of the ancient verses which had been preserved until hisday there were inserted between the significant words certaininterjections and meaningless syllables, apparently to fill out themetre. Nevertheless, he considered the language of the chants, "pure, pleasant, brilliant, figurative and replete with allusions to themore pleasing objects in nature, as flowers, trees, brooks, etc. "[39]It is quite evident from the above extracts that in the translationof the ancient songs in the present volume we must be prepared forserious difficulties, the more so as the Nahuatl language, in theopinion of some who are the best acquainted with it, lends itselfwith peculiar facility to ambiguities of expression and obscurefigures of speech. [40] Students of American ethnology are familiarwith the fact that in nearly all tribes the language of the sacredsongs differs materially from that in daily life. 

Of the older grammarians, Father Carochi alone has left us actualspecimens of the ancient poetic dialect, and his observations areregretably brief. They occur in his chapter on the composition ofnouns and read as follows:[41]--

"The ancient Indians were chary in forming compounds of more than twowords, while those of to-day exceed this number, especially if theyspeak of sacred things; although in their poetic dialect the ancientswere also extravagant in this respect, as the following examplesshow:--

1. Tl[=a]uhquéch[=o]llaztal[=e]hualtò t[=o]natoc. 

1. It is gleaming red like the tlauhquechol bird. 

2. Ayauhcoçam[=a]l[=o]t[=o]nam[=e]yòtimani. 

2. And it glows like the rainbow. 

3. Xiuhcóyólizítzîlica in te[=o]cuitlahu[=e]hu[=e]tl. 

3. The silver drum sounds like bells of turquoise. 

4. Xiuhtlapallàcuil[=o]l[=a]moxtli manca. 

4. There was a book of annals written and painted in colors. 

5. Nic ch[=a]lchiuhcozcameca quenmach tòtóma in nocuic. 

5. I see my song unfolding in a thousand directions, like a string ofprecious stones. "

From the specimens presented in this volume and from the aboveextracts, I would assign the following peculiarities to the poeticdialect of the Nahuatl:--

I. Extreme frequency and richness of metaphor. Birds, flowers, precious stones and brilliant objects are constantly introduced in afigurative sense, often to the point of obscuring the meaning of thesentence. 

II. Words are compounded to a much greater extent than in ordinaryprose writing. 

III. Both words and grammatical forms unknown to the tongue of dailylife occur. These may be archaic, or manufactured capriciously by thepoet. 

IV. Vowels are inordinately lengthened and syllables reduplicated, either for the purpose of emphasis or of meter. 

V. Meaningless interjections are inserted for metrical effect, whileothers are thrown in and repeated in order to express emotion. 

VI. The rhetorical figure known as aposiopesis, where a sentence isleft unfinished and in an interjectional condition, in consequence ofsome emotion of the mind, is not rare and adds to the obscurity ofthe wording. 

§ 8. _THE PRESERVATION OF THE ANCIENT SONGS. _

In a passage already quoted, [42] Sahagun imparts the interestinginformation that the more important songs were written down by theNahuas in their books, and from these taught to the youth in theschools. A certain branch of the Mexican hieroglyphic writing waslargely phonetic, constructed on that method to which I have appliedthe adjective _ikonomatic_, and by which it was quite possible topreserve the sound as well as the sense of sentences and verses. [43]Such attention could have been bestowed only on the sacred, royal, orlegendary chants, while the compositions of ordinary poets would onlybe disseminated by oral teaching. 

By one or both of these methods there was a large body of poeticchants the property of the Nahuatl-speaking tribes, when they weresubjugated by the Europeans. Among the intelligent missionaries whodevoted their lives to mastering the language and translating into itthe doctrines of Christianity, there were a few who felt sufficientinterest in these chants to write some of them down in the originaltongue. Conspicuous among these was the laborious Bernardino deSahagun, whose works are our most valued sources of information onall that concerns the life of the ancient Nahuas. He collected anumber of their sacred hymns, translated them into Spanish, andinserted them into the Appendix to the Second Book of his _History ofNew Spain_; but this portion of his work was destroyed by order ofthe Inquisition, as a note in the original MS. Expressly states. [44]

A certain number, however, were preserved in the original tongue, and, as already noted, we find the able grammarian Horatio Carochi, who published his Grammar of the Nahuatl in 1645, quoting lines fromsome as furnishing examples of the genuine ancient forms ofword-building. He could not, therefore, have doubted their antiquityand authenticity. 

A number of these must have come to the knowledge and were probablyin the possession of the eminent mathematician and antiquary DonCarlos de Siguenza y Gongora, who lived in the latter half of thesame century (died 1700). It was avowedly upon the information whichhe thought he gleaned from these ancient chants that he constructedhis historical theory of the missionary labors of St. Thomas inMexico in the first century of our era. The title of the work hewrote upon this notion was as follows:--

_Fenix del Occidente San Thomas Apóstol, hallado con el nombre deQuetzalcoatl entre las cenizas de antiguas tradiciones, conservadasen piedras, en Teoamoxtles Tultecas, y en cantares Teochichimecas yMexicanos. "_

For many years this curious work, which was never printed, wassupposed to be lost; but the original MS. Is extant, in thepossession of the distinguished antiquary Don Alfredo Chavero, of theCity of Mexico. [45] Unfortunately, however, the author did not insertin his work any song in the native language nor a literal translationof any, as I am informed by Señor Chavero, who has kindly examinedthe work carefully at my request, with this inquiry in view. 

Half a century later, when Boturini was collecting his material, hefound but very few of the old poems. In the catalogue of his MSS. Hementions (XIX, 1) some fragments of ancient songs, badly written, onEuropean paper, but he does not say whether in the original ortranslated. The same doubt might rest on the two songs ofNezahualcoyotl named in his Catalogue (V, 2). He does notspecifically state that they are in the original. The song ofMoquihuix, King of Tlatilulco, in which he celebrated his victoryover the Cuextla, which Boturini states in his text (p. 91) as in hispossession, is not mentioned at all in his Catalogue, and it isuncertain whether his copy was in Nahuatl. 

His literary friend, however, Don Mariano Echevarria y Veitia, removes the uncertainty about the two songs of Nezahualcoyotl, as heinforms us that they were in the original tongue, and adds that hehad inserted them in his History without translation. [46] I haveexamined the manuscript of his work, now in the Lenox Library, NewYork City, but it does not contain these texts, and evidently thecopy used by Bustamente did not. [47]

Boturini included the translations of the two odes of Nezahualcoyotlin a work on the Virgin of Guadelupe, only a fragment of which hasbeen preserved. One of the chapters in this Latin Essay is entitled_De Indorum Poetarum Canticis sive Prosodiis_, in which he introducesIxtlilxochitl's translation and also a song in the original Nahuatl, but the latter is doubtless of late date and unimportant as a reallynative production. [48]

The fragments of Boturini's library collected by M. Aubin, of Paris, contain a number of the original ancient songs of the highestimportance, which make us regret the more that this collection hasbeen up to the present inaccessible to students. In his descriptionof these relics published in 1851, M. Aubin refers to the _HistoricalAnnals of the Mexican Nation_ (§ VIII, 10, of Boturini's Catalogue)as containing "historical songs in a dialect so difficult that I havenot been able to translate them entirely, " and adds that similarsongs are preserved in others of the ancient annals in his hands. [49]

§ 9. _THE LX SONGS OF THE KING NEZAHUALCOYOTL. _

The most distinguished figure among the Nahuatl poets wasNezahualcoyotl, ruler of Tezcuco. His death took place in 1472, atthe age of eighty years. His father, Ixtlilxochitl, had been deprivedof his possessions and put to death by Tezozomoc, King of theTepanecas, and until the death of the latter at an advanced age in1427, Nezahualcoyotl could make but vain efforts to restore the powerof his family. Much of the time he was in extreme want, and for thisreason, and for his savage persistence in the struggle, he acquiredthe name "the fasting or hungry wolf"-- _nezahualcoyotl_. Another ofhis names was _Acolmiztli_, usually translated "arm of the lion, "from _aculli_, shoulder, and _miztli_, lion. 

A third was _Yoyontzin_, which is equivalent to _cevetor nobilis_, from _yoyoma_ (_cevere_, i. E. , _femora movere in re venered_); it isto be understood figuratively as indicating the height of themasculine forces. 

When his power became assured, he proved himself a liberal andenlightened patron of the arts and industries. The poetry and musicof his native land attracted him the more as he felt within himselfthe moving god, firing his imagination with poetic vision, the _Deusin nobis, calescimus, agitant'illo_. Not only did he diligently seekout and royally entertain skilled bards, but he himself had thecredit of composing sixty chants, and it appears that after theConquest there were that many written down in Roman characters andattributed to him. We need not inquire too closely whether they werestrictly his own composition. Perhaps they were framed on themeswhich he furnished, or were selected by him from those sung at hiscourt by various bards. The history of the works by royal authorseverywhere must not be too minutely scanned if we wish to leave themtheir reputation for originality. 

He was of a philosophic as well as a poetic temperament, andreflected deeply on the problems of life and nature. Following theinherent tendency of the enlightened intellect to seek unity indiversity, the One in the Many, he reached the conclusion to which somany thinkers in all ages and of all races have been driven, thatunderlying all phenomena is one primal and adequate Cause, theEssence of all Existence. This conclusion he expressed in aphilosophic apothegm which was preserved by his disciples, in thesewords:--

_Ipan in chicunauitlamanpan meztica in tloque nahuaque palne nohuaniteyocoyani icel teotl oquiyocox in ixquex quexquex in ittoni ihuanamo ittoni. _

"In the ninth series is the Cause of All, of us and of all createdthings, the one only God who created all things both visible andinvisible. "[50]

To perpetuate the memory of this philosophic deduction he caused tobe constructed at Tezcuco a stone tower nine stories in height, theruins of which were visible long after the Spanish occupation. Tothis tower he gave the name Chililitli, a term of uncertain meaning, but which we find was applied in Tenochtitlan to a building sacred tothe Nine Winds. [51] To explain the introduction of this number, Ishould add that a certain school of Nahuatl priests taught that theheaven above and the earth below were each divided into nineconcentric arcs, each leading farther and farther away from theconditions of the present life. Hence, there were nine heavens, abodes of the gods, and nine lower regions, abodes of the souls ofthe dead. Another school taught that there were not nine but thirteenof these stages. 

The sixty poems by Nezahualcoyotl are mentioned by various writers asin existence after the Conquest, reduced to writing in the originaltongue, and of several of them we have translations or abstracts. [52]Of four the translations claim to be complete, and were publishedentire for the first time in the original Spanish by LordKingsborough in the ninth volume of his great work on the_Antiquities of Mexico_. Since then they have received variousrenderings in prose and verse into different languages at the handsof modern writers. 

I shall give a literal prose translation from the Spanish, numberingthe poems and their verses, for convenience of reference, in theorder in which they appear in the pages of Lord Kingsborough. 

 * * * * *

The first is one referred to, and partly translated by Ixtlilxochitl, in his _Historia Chichimeca_ (cap. 47). He calls it a _xopancuicatl_(see ante, p. 15), and states that it was composed and sung on theoccasion of the banquet when the king laid the foundations of hisgreat palace. He gives the first words in the original as follows:--

_Tlaxoconcaguican ani Nezahualcoyotzin;_

And the translation:--

"Hear that which says the King Nezahualcoyotl. "

Restoring the much mutilated original to what I should think was itsproper form, the translation should read:--

"Listen attentively to what I, the singer, the noble Nezahualcoyotl, say:"--

I. 

1. Listen with attention to the lamentations which I, the KingNezahualcoyotl, make upon my power, speaking with myself, andoffering an example to others. 

2. O restless and striving king, when the time of thy death shallcome, thy subjects shall be destroyed and driven forth; they shallsink into dark oblivion. Then in thy hand shall no longer be thepower and the rule, but with the Creator, the All-powerful. 

3. He who saw the palaces and court of the old King Tezozomoc, howflourishing and powerful was his sway, may see them now dry andwithered; it seemed as if they should last forever, but all that theworld offers is illusion and deception, as everything must end anddie. 

4. Sad and strange it is to see and reflect on the prosperity andpower of the old and dying King Tezozomoc; watered with ambition andavarice, he grew like a willow tree rising above the grass andflowers of spring, rejoicing for a long time, until at length, withered and decayed, the storm wind of death tore him from hisroots, and dashed him in fragments to the ground. The same fatebefell the ancient King Colzatzli, so that no memory was left of him, nor of his lineage. 

5. In these lamentations and in this sad song, I now call to memoryand offer as an example that which takes place in the spring, and theend which overtook King Tezozomoc; and who, seeing this, can refrainfrom tears and wailing, that these various flowers and rich delightsare bouquets that pass from hand to hand and all wither and end evenin the present life!

6. Ye sons of kings and mighty lords, ponder well and think upon thatwhich I tell you in these my lamentations, of what takes place inspring and of the end which overtook King Tezozomoc; and who, seeingthis, can refrain from tears and wailing that these various flowersand rich delights are bouquets that pass from hand to hand and allwither and end even in the present life!

7. Let the birds now enjoy, with melodious voices, the abundance ofthe house of the flowery spring, and the butterflies sip the nectarof its flowers. 

 * * * * *

The second song is preserved in a Spanish metrical translation only, but which from internal evidence I should judge to be quite literal. The words of the poem do not represent it as a composition by theroyal poet, but one which was sung before him, and addressed to him. It admonishes him to rejoice in the present moment, as theuncertainties of life and fate must at some time, perhaps very soon, deprive him of their enjoyment. 

II. 

1. I wish to sing for a moment, since time and occasion arepropitious; I hope to be permitted, as my intention merits it, and Ibegin my song, though it were better called a lamentation. 

2. And thou, beloved companion, enjoy the beauty of these flowers, rejoice with me, cast out fears, for if pleasure ends with life, soalso does pain. 

3. I, singing, will touch the sonorous instrument, and thou, rejoicing in the flowers, dance and give pleasure to God thepowerful. Let us be happy in the present, for life is transitory. 

4. Thou hast placed thy noble court in Acolhuacan, thine are itslintels, thou hast decked them, and one may well believe that withsuch grandeur thy state shall increase and grow. 

5. O prudent Yoyontzin, famous king and peerless monarch, rejoice inthe present, be happy in the springtime, for a day shall come inwhich thou shall vainly seek these joys. 

6. Then thy destiny shall snatch the sceptre from thy hand, thy moonshall wane, no longer wilt thou be strong and proud, then thyservants shall be destitute of all things. 

7. In this sad event, the nobles of thy line, the provinces of might, children of noble parents, lacking thee as their lord, shall tastethe bitterness of poverty. 

8. They shall call to mind how great was thy pomp, thy triumphs andvictories, and bewailing the glory and majesty of the past, theirtears will flow like seas. 

9. These thy descendants who serve thy plume and crown, when thou artgone, will forsake Culhuacan, and as exiles will increase their woes. 

10. Little will fame have to tell of this wondrous majesty, worthy ofa thousand heralds; the nations will only remember how wiselygoverned the three chieftains who held the power, 11. At Mexico, Montezuma the famous and valorous, at Culhuacan thefortunate Nezahualcoyotl, and at the stronghold of Acatlapan, Totoquilhuatli. 

12. I fear no oblivion for thy just deeds, standing as thou dost inthy place appointed by the Supreme Lord of All, who governs allthings. 

13. Therefore, O Nezahualcoyotl, rejoice in what the present offers, crown thyself with flowers from thy gardens, hear my song and musicwhich aim to please thee. 

14. The pleasures and riches of this life are but loaned, theirsubstance is vain, their appearance illusory; and so true is thisthat I ask thee for an answer to these questions:

15. What has become of Cihuapan? Of the brave Quantzintecomatzin? OfConahuatzin? What of all these people? Perhaps these very words havealready passed into another life. 

16. Would that we who are now united by the ties of love andfriendship could foresee the sharp edge of death, for nothing iscertain, and the future ever brings changes. 

 * * * * *

The third is a "spring song" in which the distinguished warriors ofthe king are compared to precious stones. Such jewels were believedby the Nahuas to possess certain mysterious powers as charms andamulets, a belief, it is needless to say, found among almost allnations. In verse 18 there is a reference to the superstition that atdawn, when these jewels are exposed to the first rays of the sun, they emit a fine vapor which wafts abroad their subtle potency. Thepoem is in Spanish verse, and the original is said to have beenwritten down by Don Fernando de Avila, governor of Tlalmanalco, fromthe mouth of Don Juan de Aguilar, governor of Cultepec, a directdescendant of Nezahualcoyotl. 

III. 

1. The flowery spring has its house, its court, its palace, adornedwith riches, with goods in abundance. 

2. With discreet art they are arranged and placed, rich feathers, precious stones, surpassing in luster the sun. 

3. There is the valued carbuncle, which from its beauteous centerdarts forth rays which are the lights of knowledge. 

4. There is the prized diamond, sign of strength, shooting forth itsbrilliant gleams. 

5. Here one sees the translucent emerald suggesting the hope of therewards of merit. 

6. Next follows the topaz, equaling the emerald, for the reward itpromises is a heavenly dwelling. 

7. The amethyst, signifying the cares which a king has for hissubjects, and moderation in desires. 

8. These are what kings, princes and monarchs delight to place upontheir breasts and crowns. 

9. All these stones with their varied and singular virtues, adorn Thyhouse and court, O Father, O Infinite God!

10. These stones which I the King Nezahualcoyotl have succeeded inuniting in loving liens, 11. Are the famous princes, the one called Axaxacatzin, the otherChimalpopoca, and Xicomatzintlamata. 

12. To-day, somewhat rejoiced by the joy and words of these, and ofthe other lords who were with them, 13. I feel, when alone, that my soul is pleased but for a brief time, and that all pleasure soon passes. 

14. The presence of these daring eagles pleases me, of these lionsand tigers who affright the world, 15. These who by their valor win everlasting renown, whose name andwhose deeds fame will perpetuate. 

16. Only to-day am I glad and look upon these rich and varied stones, the glory of my bloody battles. 

17. To-day, noble princes, protectors of the realm, my will is toentertain you and to praise you. 

18. It seems to me that ye answer from your souls, like the finevapor arising from precious stones, --

19. "O King Nezahualcoyotl, O royal Montezuma, your subjects sustainthemselves with your soft dews. 

20. "But at last a day shall come which will cut away this power, andall these will be left wretched orphans. 

21. "Rejoice, mighty King, in this lofty power which the King ofHeaven has granted you, rejoice and be glad. 

22. "In the life of this world there is no beginning anew, thereforerejoice, for all good ends. 

23. "The future promises endless changes, griefs that your subjectswill have to undergo. 

24. "Ye see before you the instruments decked with wreaths of odorousflowers; rejoice in their fragrance. 

25. "To-day there are peace, and goodfellowship; therefore let alljoin hands and rejoice in the dances, 26. "So that for a little while princes and kings and the nobles mayhave pleasure in these precious stones, 27. "Which through his goodness the will of the King Nezahualcoyotlhas set forth for you, inviting you to-day to his house. "

 * * * * *

The fourth song has been preserved in an Otomi translation by theMexican antiquary Granados y Galvez[53] and in an abstract byTorquemada. [54] The latter gives the first words as follows:--

_Xochitl mamani in huehuetitlan:_

Which he translates:--

"There are fresh and fragrant flowers among the groves. "

It is said to have been composed at the time the king dedicated hispalace. 

IV. 

1. The fleeting pomps of the world are like the green willow trees, which, aspiring to permanence, are consumed by a fire, fall beforethe axe, are upturned by the wind, or are scarred and saddened byage. 

2. The grandeurs of life are like the flowers in color and in fate;the beauty of these remains so long as their chaste buds gather andstore the rich pearls of the dawn and saving it, drop it in liquiddew; but scarcely has the Cause of All directed upon them the fullrays of the sun, when their beauty and glory fail, and the brilliantgay colors which decked forth their pride wither and fade. 

3. The delicious realms of flowers count their dynasties by shortperiods; those which in the morning revel proudly in beauty andstrength, by evening weep for the sad destruction of their thrones, and for the mishaps which drive them to loss, to poverty, to deathand to the grave. All things of earth have an end, and in the midstof the most joyous lives, the breath falters, they fall, they sinkinto the ground. 

4. All the earth is a grave, and nought escapes it; nothing is soperfect that it does not fall and disappear. The rivers, brooks, fountains and waters flow on, and never return to their joyousbeginnings; they hasten on to the vast realms of Tlaloc, and thewider they spread between their marges the more rapidly do they mouldtheir own sepulchral urns. That which was yesterday is not to-day;and let not that which is to-day trust to live to-morrow. 

5. The caverns of earth are filled with pestilential dust which oncewas the bones, the flesh, the bodies of great ones who sate uponthrones, deciding causes, ruling assemblies, governing armies, conquering provinces, possessing treasures, tearing down temples, flattering themselves with pride, majesty, fortune, praise anddominion. These glories have passed like the dark smoke thrown out bythe fires of Popocatepetl, leaving no monuments but the rude skins onwhich they are written. 

6. Ha! ha! Were I to introduce you into the obscure bowels of thistemple, and were to ask you which of these bones were those of thepowerful Achalchiuhtlanextin, first chief of the ancient Toltecs; ofNecaxecmitl, devout worshiper of the gods; if I inquire where is thepeerless beauty of the glorious empress Xiuhtzal, where the peaceableTopiltzin, last monarch of the hapless land of Tulan; if I ask youwhere are the sacred ashes of our first father Xolotl; those of thebounteous Nopal; those of the generous Tlotzin; or even the stillwarm cinders of my glorious and immortal, though unhappy and lucklessfather Ixtlilxochitl; if I continued thus questioning about all ouraugust ancestors, what would you reply? The same that I reply--I knownot, I know not; for first and last are confounded in the commonclay. What was their fate shall be ours, and of all who follow us. 

7. Unconquered princes, warlike chieftains, let us seek, let us sighfor the heaven, for there all is eternal, and nothing is corruptible. The darkness of the sepulchre is but the strengthening couch for theglorious sun, and the obscurity of the night but serves to reveal thebrilliancy of the stars. No one has power to alter these heavenlylights, for they serve to display the greatness of their Creator, andas our eyes see them now, so saw them our earliest ancestors, and soshall see them our latest posterity. 

 * * * * *

It will be seen that the philosophy of these songs is mostly of theEpicurean and _carpe diem_ order. The certainty of death and themutability of fortune, observations which press themselves upon themind of man everywhere, are their principal staples, and cast overthem a hue of melancholy, relieved by exhortations to enjoy to theutmost what the present moment offers of pleasure and sensualgratification. Here and there a gleam of a higher philosophy lightsthe sombre reflections of the bard; his thoughts turn toward theinfinite Creator of this universe, and he dimly apprehends that bymaking Him the subject of his contemplation, there is boundlessconsolation even in this mortal life. 

Both these leading _motifs_ recur over and over again in the songsprinted in the original in the present volume, and this similarity isa common token of the authenticity of the book. 

§ 10. _THE HISTORY OF THE PRESENT COLLECTION. _

The most recent Mexican writers formally deny that any ancientMexican poetry is now extant. Thus the eminent antiquary, Don AlfredoChavero, in his elaborate work, _México á través de los Siglos_, says, "the truth is, we know no specimens of the ancient poetry, andthose, whether manuscript or printed, which claim to be such, datefrom after the Conquest. "[55] In a similar strain the grammarianDiario Julio Caballero, writes: "There has never come into our handsa single poetic composition in this language. It is said that thegreat King Nezahualcoyotl was a poet and composed various songs;however that may be, the fact is that we have never seen any suchcompositions, nor met any person who has seen them. "[56]

It is important, therefore, to state the exact provenance of thespecimens printed in this volume, many of which I consider to havebeen composed previous to the Conquest, and written down shortlyafter the Nahuatl language had been reduced to the Spanish alphabet. 

All of them are from a MS. Volume in the library of the University ofMexico, entitled _Cantares de los Mexicanos y otros opusculos_, composed of various pieces in different handwritings, which, fromtheir appearance and the character of the letter, were attributed bythe eminent antiquary Don José F. Ramirez, to the sixteenth andseventeenth centuries. 

The copy I have used is that made by the late Abbé Brasseur (deBourbourg). It does not appear to be complete, but my efforts to haveit collated with the original have not been successful. Another copywas taken by the late well-known Mexican scholar FaustinoChimalpopoca, which was in the possession of Señor Ramirez and soldat the vendue of his books in 1880. It is No. 511 of the catalogue. 

The final decision of the age of the poems must come from a carefulscrutiny of the internal evidence, especially the thoughts theycontain and the language in which they are expressed. In applyingthese tests, it should be remembered that a song may be almost whollyancient, that is, composed anterior to the Conquest, and yet displaya few later allusions introduced by the person who preserved it inwriting, so as to remove from it the flavor of heathenism. Someprobable instances of this kind will be pointed out in the Notes. 

The songs are evidently from different sources and of differentepochs. There are two notes inserted in the MS. Which throw somelight on the origin of a few of the poems. The first is in connectionwith No. XII. In my copy of the MS, the title of this song is writtentwice, and between the two the following memorandum appears inSpanish:

"Ancient songs of the native Otomis, which they were accustomed tosing at their festivals and marriages, translated into the Mexicanlanguage, the play and the spirit of the song and its figures ofspeech being always retained; as Your Reverence will understand, theydisplayed considerable style and beauty, better than I can expresswith my slight talent; and may Your Reverence at your convenienceapprove and be entertained by them, as a skilled master of thetongue, as Your Reverence is. "

From its position and from the titles following, this note appears toapply only to No. XII. 

The second note is prefixed to No. XIV, which has no title. It is inNahuatl, and reads as follows:--

 * * * * *

 | -+- | |

 I H S

Nican ompehua in cuicatl motenehua melahuac Huexotzincayotl icmoquichitoya in tlatoque Huexotzinca mani mecatca; yexcan inictlatlamantitica, teuccuicatl ahnoço quauhcuicatl, xochicuicatl, icnocuicatl. Auh inic motzotzona huehuetl cencamatl mocauhtiuh, auhin occencamatl ipan huetzi yetetl ti; auh in huel ic ompehua centetlti; auh inic mocuepa quiniquac iticpa huehuetzi y huehuetl, zanmocemana in maitl; auh quiniquac iyeinepantla occeppa itencohualcholoa in huehuetl; tel yehuatl itech mottaz, ynima ynaquincuicani quimati iniuh motzotzona; auh yancuican yenoceppa inincuicatl ychan D. Diego de Leon, Governador Azcapotzalco; yehuatloquitzotzon in D. Frco Placido ypan xihuitl 1551, ypan inezcalilitzin tl Jesu Christo. 

 * * * * *

This may be freely translated as follows:--

 * * * * *

"Here begins a song called a plain song of Huexotzinco as it wasrecited by the lords of Huexotzinco. These songs are divided intothree classes, the songs of the nobles or of the eagles, the flowersongs, and the songs of destitution. (Directions follow for beatingthe drum in unison with the voices. ) This song was sung at the houseof Don Diego de Leon, Governor of Azcapotzalco; he who beat the drumwas Don Francisco Placido; in the year of the resurrection of ourLord Jesus Christ 1551. "

 * * * * *

This assigns beyond doubt the song in question to the first half ofthe sixteenth century, and we may therefore take its phraseology as atype of the Nahuatl poetry shortly after the Conquest. It is alsostated to be a native composition, and from its contents, it wasclearly composed by one of the converts to the Christian faith. 

ANCIENT NAHUATL POEMS. 

I. 

_CUICAPEUHCAYOTL. _

I. 

_SONG AT THE BEGINNING. _

1. Ninoyolnonotza, campa nicuiz yectli, ahuiaca xochitl:--Acnitlatlaniz? Manozo yehuatl nictlatlani in quetzal huitzitziltin, inchalchiuh huitzitzicatzin; manozo ye nictlatlani in zaquan papalotl;ca yehuantin in machiz, ommati, campa cueponi in yectli ahuiacxochitl, tla nitlahuihuiltequi in nican acxoyatzinitzcanquauhtla, manoze nitlahuihuiltequi in tlauhquecholxochiquauhtla; oncanhuihuitolihui ahuach tonameyotoc in oncan mocehcemelquixtia; azooncan niquimittaz intla onechittitique; nocuexanco nictemaz icniquintlapaloz in tepilhuan, ic niquimellelquixtiz in teteuctin. 

1. I am wondering where I may gather some pretty, sweet flowers. Whomshall I ask? Suppose that I ask the brilliant humming-bird, theemerald trembler; suppose that I ask the yellow butterfly; they willtell me, they know, where bloom the pretty, sweet flowers, whether Imay gather them here in the laurel woods where dwell the tzinitzcanbirds, or whether I may gather them in the flowery forests where thetlauquechol lives. There they may be plucked sparkling with dew, there they come forth in perfection. Perhaps there I shall see themif they have appeared; I shall place them in the folds of my garment, and with them I shall greet the children, I shall make glad thenobles. 

2. Tlacazo nican nemi, ye nicaqui in ixochicuicatzin yuhqui tepetlquinnananquilia; tlacazo itlan in meyaquetzalatl, xiuhtotoameyalli, oncan mocuica, momotla, mocuica; nananquilia in centzontlatolli; azoquinnananquilia in coyoltototl, ayacachiçahuacatimani, in nepapantlazocuicani totome. Oncan quiyectenehua in tlalticpaquehueltetozcatemique. 

2. Truly as I walk along I hear the rocks as it were replying to thesweet songs of the flowers; truly the glittering, chattering wateranswers, the bird-green fountain, there it sings, it dashes forth, itsings again; the mockingbird answers; perhaps the coyol bird answers, and many sweet singing birds scatter their songs around like music. They bless the earth pouring out their sweet voices. 

3. Nic itoaya, nitlaocoltzatzia; ma namechellelti y tlazohuane, nimancactimotlalique, niman hualtato in quetzal huitzitziltin. Aquintictemohua, cuicanitzine? Niman niquinnanquilia niquimilhuia: Campacatqui in yectli, ahuiac xochitl ic niquimellelquixtiz inamohuampotzitzinhuan? Niman onechicacahuatzque ca nicantlatimitzittitili ticuicani azo nelli ic tiquimellelquixtiz intoquichpohuan in teteuctin. 

3. I said, I cried aloud, may I not cause you pain ye beloved ones, who are seated to listen; may the brilliant humming-birds come soon. Whom do we seek, O noble poet? I ask, I say: Where are the pretty, fragrant flowers with which I may make glad you my noble compeers?Soon they will sing to me, "Here we will make thee to see, thousinger, truly wherewith thou shalt make glad the nobles, thycompanions. "

4. Tepeitic tonacatlalpa, xochitlalpa nechcalaquiqueo oncan onahuachtotonameyotimani, oncan niquittacaya in nepapan tlazoahuiacxochitl, tlazohuelic xochitl ahuach quequentoc, ayauhcozamalotonameyotimani, oncan nechilhuia, xixochitetequi, incatlehuatl toconnequiz, ma mellelquiza in ticuicani, tiquinmacatacizin tocnihuan in teteuctin in quellelquixtizque in tlalticpaque. 

4. They led me within a valley to a fertile spot, a flowery spot, where the dew spread out in glittering splendor, where I saw variouslovely fragrant flowers, lovely odorous flowers, clothed with thedew, scattered around in rainbow glory, there they said to me, "Pluckthe flowers, whichever thou wishest, mayest thou the singer be glad, and give them to thy friends, to the nobles, that they may rejoice onthe earth. "

5. Auh nicnocuecuexantia in nepapan ahuiacxochitl, in huelteyolquima, in huel tetlamachti, nic itoaya manozo aca tohuanti hualcalaquini, ma cenca miec in ticmamani; auh ca tel ye onimaticonitlanonotztahciz imixpan in tocnihuan nican mochipatiqualtetequizque in tlazo nepapan ahuiac xochitl ihuan ticuiquihuiin nepapan yectliyancuicatl ic tiquimellelquixtizque in tocnihuan intlalticpactlaca in tepilhuan quauhtliya ocelotl. 

5. So I gathered in the folds of my garment the various fragrantflowers, delicate scented, delicious, and I said, may some of ourpeople enter here, may very many of us be here; and I thought Ishould go forth to announce to our friends that here all of us shouldrejoice in the different lovely, odorous flowers, and that we shouldcull the various sweet songs with which we might rejoice our friendshere on earth, and the nobles in their grandeur and dignity. 

6. Ca moch nicuitoya in nicuicani ic niquimicpac xochiti in tepilhuaninic niquimapan in can in mac niquinten; niman niquehuaya yectliyacuicatl ic netimalolo in tepilhuan ixpan in tloque in nahuaque, auhin atley y maceuallo. 

6. So I the singer gathered all the flowers to place them upon thenobles, to clothe them and put them in their hands; and soon I liftedmy voice in a worthy song glorifying the nobles before the face ofthe Cause of All, where there is no servitude. 

7. Can quicuiz? Can quitlaz in huelic xochitl? Auh cuix nohuan acizaya in xochitlalpan, in tonacatlalpan, in atley y macehuallo innentlamati? Intla y tlacohua in tlalticpac ca çan quitemacehualticain tloque in nahuaque, in tlalticpac; ye nican ic chocan noyollonoconilnamiquia in ompa onitlachiato y xochitlalpana nicuicani. 

7. Where shall one pluck them? Where gather the sweet flowers? Andhow shall I attain that flowery land, that fertile land, where thereis no servitude, nor affliction? If one purchases it here on earth, it is only through submission to the Cause of All; here on earthgrief fills my soul as I recall where I the singer saw the floweryspot. 

8. Auh nic itoaya tlacazo amo qualcan in tlalticpac ye nican, tlacazooccecni in huilohuayan, in oncan ca in netlamachtilli; tlezannen intlalticpac? tlacazo occecni yoliliz ximoayan, ma ompa niauh, ma ompainhuan noncuicati in nepapan tlazototome, ma ompa nicnotlamachtiyectliya xochitl ahuiaca xochitl, in teyolquima, in zan tepacca, teahuiaca yhuintia, in zan tepacca, ahuiaca yhuintia. 

8. And I said, truly there is no good spot here on earth, truly insome other bourne there is gladness; For what good is this earth?Truly there is another life in the hereafter. There may I go, therethe sweet birds sing, there may I learn to know those good flowers, those sweet flowers, those delicious ones, which alone pleasurably, sweetly intoxicate, which alone pleasurably, sweetly intoxicate. 

II. 

_XOPANCUICATL, OTONCUICATL, TLAMELAUHCAYOTL. _

_A SPRING SONG, AN OTOMI SONG, A PLAIN SONG. _

1. Onihualcalac nicuicani nepapan xochitlalpan, huelteellelquixtican, tetlamachtican, oncan ahuach tonameyoquiauhtimani, oncan cuicuica in nepapan tlazototome, on cuicatlaza in coyoltototlcahuantimani inin tozquitzin in quellelquixtia in tloque in nahuaqueyehuan Dios, ohuaya, ohuaya. 

1. I, the singer, have entered many flower gardens, places ofpleasaunce, favored spots, where the dew spread out its glitteringsurface, where sang various lovely birds, where the coyol birds letfall their song, and spreading far around, their voices rejoiced theCause of All, He who is God, ohuaya! ohuaya!

2. Oncan nicaqui in cuicanelhuayotl in nicuicani, tlacazo amotlalticpac in peuh yectli yancuicatl, tlacazo ompa in ilhuicatl itichual caquizti in conehua in tlazocoyoltototl in quimehuilia innepapan teoquecholme zacuantototl, oncan tlacazo quiyectenehua intloque in nahuaque, ohuaya, ohuaya. 

2. It is there that I the singer hear the very essence of song;certainly not on earth has true poesy its birth; certainly it iswithin the heavens that one hears the lovely coyol bird lift itsvoice, that the various quechol and zacuan birds speak together, there they certainly praise the Cause of All, ohuaya! ohuaya!

3. Niyolpoxahua in nicaquia ni cuicani, acoquiza in notlalnamiquilizoquin pepetlatiquiza in ilhuicame, nelcicihuiliz ehecayotiuh iniquinalquixtia in ompa ontlatenehua in zacuanhuitzitzil in ilhuicatlitic, ohuaya, ohuaya. 

3. I, the singer, labor in spirit with what I heard, that it may liftup my memory, that it may go forth to those shining heavens, that mysighs may be borne on the wind and be permitted to enter where theyellow humming bird chants its praises in the heavens, ohuaya!ohuaya!

4. Auh nohuiampa nictlachialtia in noyollo auh tlacazo nelli in amoixquich quehua in tlazotototl, tlacazo ye oc tlapanahuia in ilhuicatlitic y yollo in tloque in nahuaque mochiuhtica, ca intlacamoteuhyotiuh in notlalnamiquiliz azo huelquinalquixtica ittazo intlamahuizolli in ilhuicac ic papaqui in ilhuicac tlazototome ixpan intloque nahuaque, ohuaya, ohuaya. 

4. And as in my thoughts I gaze around, truly no such sweet birdlifts its voice, truly the things made for the heavens by the Causeof All surpass all others, and unless my memory tends to thingsdivine scarcely will it be possible to penetrate these and witnessthe wondrous sights in heaven, which rejoice the sweet heavenly birdsbefore the face of the Cause of All. 

5. Quenin ah nichocaz in tlalticpac? ye nican onca nemoayáninoztlacahuia, nicitoa aço zan ye ixquich in nican in tlalticpacontlamian toyolia, macuele ehuatl in tloque in nahuaque, ma ompainhuan nimitznocuicatili in ilhuicac mochanecahuan ca noyollo ehuaompa nontlachia in monahuac in motloc tipalnemohua, ohuaya, ohuaya. 

5. How much, alas, shall I weep on earth? Truly I have lived here invain illusion; I say that whatever is here on earth must end with ourlives. May I be permitted to sing to thee, the Cause of All, there inthe heaven, a dweller in thy mansion, there may my soul lift itsvoice and be seen with Thee and near Thee, Thou by whom we live, ohuaya! ohuaya!

6. Ma xicaquin nocuic in tinocniuh xochihuehuetl inic tzotzonayailhuicacuicatl in nicchuaya, ic niquimellelquixtia in teteucti, xochicueponi in noyollo izqui xochitl nictzetzelohuaya ic malitiuh inno cuicatzin ixpan in tloque in nahuaque, ohuaya, ohuaya. 

6. List to my song, thou my friend, and to the flower-decked drumwhich kept time to the heavenly song which I sang, that I might makeglad the nobles, raining down before them the flowery thoughts of myheart as though they were flowers, that my noble song might grow inglory before the face of the Cause of All, ohuaya! ohuaya!

III. 

_OCCE AL MISMO TONO TLAMELAUHCAYOTL. _

_ANOTHER PLAIN SONG, TO THE SAME TUNE. _

1. Xochicalco nihualcalaquia in nicuicani, oncan icac inchalchiuhuehuetl, oncan chialon ipalnemohuani in teteuctin xochitltzetzeliuhtimani, tolquatectitla, xoyacaltitlan, onahuiaxtimani inxochicopal tlenamactli huel teyolquima, cahuia ca ihuintia in toyolloixpan in tloque in nahuaque. 

1. I, the singer, entered into the house strewn with flowers, wherestood upright the emerald drum, where awaiting the Giver of Life thenobles strewed flowers around, the place where the head is bowed forlustration, the house of corrupt odors, where the burning fragrantincense spreads and penetrates, intoxicating our souls in thepresence of the Cause of All. 

2. Ic motomá tocuic xochiahuia ca ihuinti in toyollo? Aoc ticmatiinic nepapan xochicuicatl ic ticcecemeltia in tloque nahuaque quenahtontlaelehuian; tinocniuh ma nohuehuetitlan ximoquetzaya nepapanxochitl ic ximopanaya chalchiuh ocoxochitl mocpac xicmanayaxicehuayan yectli yancuicatl ic melelquixtia in tloque in nahuaque. 

2. Where shall we obtain the fragrance which intoxicates our souls?We do not yet know the various flower-songs with which we may rejoicethe Cause of All, however desirous we are; thou my friend, would thatthou bring to my instrument various flowers, that thou shouldstclothe it in brilliant oco flowers, that thou shouldst offer them, and lift thy voice in a new and worthy song to rejoice the Cause ofAll. 

3. Tleymach tiquilnamiquia can mach in nemian moyollo ic timoyolcecenmanaya ahuicpa tichuica timoyol popoloaya in tlalticpac? Ca machtitlatiuh xihualmocuepaya xiccaquin yectli yancuicatl ximoyolciahuayaxochiaticaya onahuiaxtimani oncan nicehuaya in yectli yancuicatlnicuicani ic nicellelquixtia in tloque in nahuaque. 

3. Wherefore should we recall while the soul is in life that oursouls must be scattered hither and thither, and that wherever we gowe are to be destroyed on earth? Rather let us hide it, turn from it, and listen to some worthy new song; delight thy soul with thepervading fragrance of flowers, as I the singer lift my voice in anew song that I may rejoice the Cause of All. 

4. Xihuallachian tinocniuh in oncan icayan xochihuehuetl tonameyoontotonauhtimani quetzal ecacehuazticaya on xopaleuhtimani in oncanic chialo ic malhuilo inipetl in icpal in tloque in nahuaque; xiccahuaya in mixtecomatla xihualmocuepaya tohuan, xic ehua inyancuicatl nicuicani ic niquellelquixtia in tloque in tlaneciz inicmoyollo caltitlan. 

4. Come hither, thou my friend, to where stands the drum, decked withflowers, gleaming with brightness, green with the outspread plumes ofthe quetzal bird, where are looked for and cared for the seats nearthe Cause of All; leave the place of night and clouds, turn hitherwith us, lift thy voice in the new song I sing so that I may rejoicethe Cause of All, as the dawn approaches in the house of thy heart. 

5. Tleçannen in nicyocoya in nitlaocolcuica inic niquimilnamiqui intepilhuan, in tlazomaquiztin, in tlazoteoxiuhme, in quetzaltotome, inmoteyotico, in motleyotico in tlalticpac? in ocnoma caquizti inintenyo, inin cahuanca, campa neltiazque? Ca zan titlacatico ca ompahuel tochan in canin ximoayan inocapa in yolihuayan aic tlamian. 

5. Of what use is it that I frame my sad songs, that I recall to mindthe youths, the beloved children, the precious relatives, the dearfriends, famous and celebrated as they were on earth? Who now hearstheir fame, their deeds? Where can they find them? All of us are butmortal, and our home is there in the Hereafter, where there is lifewithout end. 

IV. 

_MEXICA OTONCUICATL. _

_AN OTOMI SONG OF THE MEXICANS. _

1. Nicchalchiuhtonameyopetlahuaya, nictzinitzcanihuicaloaya, niquilnamiquia nelhuayocuicatla, nic zacuanhuipanaya yectliyancuicatl nicuicani, nicchalchiuhtlazonenelo ic nichualnextia inxochicueponallotl ic nicellelquixtia in tloque in nahuaque. 

1. I, the singer, polished my noble new song like a shining emerald, I arranged it like the voice of the tzinitzcan bird, I called to mindthe essence of poetry, I set it in order like the chant of the zacuanbird, I mingled it with the beauty of the emerald, that I might makeit appear like a rose bursting its bud, so that I might rejoice theCause of All. 

2. Zacuantlazoihuiticaya tzinitzcan tlauquechol ic nicyaimatia, nocuicatzin teocuitlatzitzilini nocuic nitoz; miahuatototl nocuicacahuantimania, nicehuaya xochitzetzelolpá ixpan in tloque nahuaque. 

2. I skillfully arranged my song like the lovely feathers of thezacuan bird, the tzinitzcan and the quechol; I shall speak forth mysong like the tinkling of golden bells; my song is that which themiaua bird pours forth around him; I lifted my voice and rained downflowers of speech before the face of the Cause of All. 

3. Qualli cuicanelhuayotlo, teocuitlaquiquizcopa nicehuaya, ilhuicaccuicatlo nictenquixtia, nitoz miahuatototl, chalciuhtonameyotica, niccueponaltia yectli yancuicatlo, nicehuaya xochitlenamaquilizticayaic nitlaahuialia nicuicani ixpan in tloque nahuaque. 

3. In the true spirit of song I lifted my voice through a trumpet ofgold, I let fall from my lips a celestial song, I shall speak notesprecious and brilliant as those of the miaua bird, I shall cause toblossom out a noble new song, I lifted my voice like the burningincense of flowers, so that I the singer might cause joy before theface of the Cause of All. 

4. Teoquecholme nechnananquilia in nicuicani coyolicahuacaya yectliyacuicatlan, cozcapetlaticaya chachalchiuhquetzalitztonameyoxopaleuhtimania xopan xochicuiatl onilhuica ahuiaxtimanio, xochiahuachtitlan nihualcuicaya nicuicani. 

4. The divine quechol bird answers me as I, the singer, sing, likethe coyol bird, a noble new song, polished like a jewel, a turquoise, a shining emerald, darting green rays, a flower song of spring, spreading celestial fragrance, fresh with the dews of roses, thushave I the poet sung. 

5. Nictlapalimatia nicxoxochineloaya yectli yancuicatlancozcapetlaticaya, etc. 

5. I colored with skill, I mingled choice roses in a noble new song, polished like a jewel, etc. (as in v. 4). 

6. Nocontimaloaya nocontlamachtiao xochiteyolquima cuicatlanpoyomapoctli ic ye ahuian ye noyollo, nihualyolcuecuechahuaya, nicinecuia ahuiaca, xocomiqui in noyolia, nicinecuia yectliyaxochitla netlamachtiloyan, xochi ye ihuinti noyolia. 

6. I was glorified, I was enriched, by the flower-sweet song as bythe smoke of the poyomatl, my soul was contented, I trembled inspirit, I inhaled the sweetness, my soul was intoxicated, I inhaledthe fragrance of delicious flowers in the place of riches, my soulwas drunken with the flowers. 

V. 

_OTRO MEXICA TLAMELAUHCACUICAYOTL. _

_ANOTHER PLAIN SONG OF THE MEXICANS. _

1. Zanio in xochitl tonequimilol, zanio in cuicatl ic huehuetzi intellel in Dios ye mochan. 

1. I alone will clothe thee with flowers, mine alone is the songwhich casts down our grief before God in thy house. 

2. In mach noca ompolihuiz in cohuayotl mach noca in icniuhyotl inononoya in ye ichan; ye nio Yoyontzin on cuicatillano yeipalnemohuani. 

2. True it is that my possessions shall perish, my friendships, theirhome and their house; thus I, O Yoyontzin, pour forth songs to theGiver of Life. 

3. Ma xiuhquechol xochi, zan in tzinitzcan malintoca zan miqui huaquixochitl zan ic tonmoquimiloa can titlatoani ya ti Nezahualcoyotl. 

3. Let the green quechol birds, let the tzinitzcan twine flowers forus, only dying and withered flowers, that we may clothe thee withflowers, thou ruler, thou Nezahualcoyotl. 

4. Ma yan moyoliuh quimati in antepilhuan in anquauhtin amo celo camochipan titocnihuan, zancuel achic nican timochitonyazque o yeichano. 

4. Ye youths and ye braves, skilled in wisdom, may you alone be ourfriends, while for a moment here we shall enjoy this house. 

5. Ca ye ompolihuiz in moteyo Nopiltzin, ti Tezozomoctli áca cá ye inmocuica? aye a nihualchocao ca nihualicnotlamatica notia ye ichan. 

5. For thy fame shall perish, Nopiltzin, and thou, Tezozomoc, whereare thy songs? No more do I cry aloud, but rest tranquil that ye havegone to your homes. 

6. An ca nihuallaocoya onicnotlamati ayo quico, ayoc quemanian, namech aitlaquiuh in tlalticpac y icanontia ye ichan. 

6. Ye whom I bewailed, I know nevermore, never again; I am sad hereon earth that ye have gone to your homes. 

VI. 

_OTRO CHALCAYOTL, CANTO DE TETLEPAN QUETZANITZIN. _

_ANOTHER CHALCO-SONG, A POEM OF TETLEPAN QUETZANITZIN. _

1. Aua nocnihue ninentlamatia zan ninochoquilia in monahuac ayayehuan Dios, quexquich onmitzicnotlamachtia momacehual cemamanahuacontonitlanililo in ic tontlahuica tontecemilhuitiltia in tlalticpac. 

1. Alas, my friend, I was afflicted, I cried aloud on thy account toGod. How much compassion hast thou for thy servant in this world senthere by thee to be thy subject for the space of a day on this earth!

2. Macazo tleon xoconyoyocoya ti noyollo, yehua cuix ic nepohualoyanin oncan nemohua yehua, in atle tlahuelli in antecocolia huel onyecnemiz in tlalticpac. 

2. However that may be, mayst thou so dispose my heart, that it maypass through this place of reckoning, without anger, without injury, and live a good life on earth. 

3. In quimati noyollo nichoca yehua huel eza ye nelli in titicnihuan, huellenelli nemoa in tlalticpac in tonicniuh tlatzihuiz yehuan Dios. 

3. My heart knows how truly I weep for my friend, how truly as itlives on earth it cries aloud for thee, my friend, to God. 

4. Xontlachayan huitztlampayan, iquizayan in tonatiuh, ximoyollehuayan oncan manian teoatl tlachinolli, oncan mocuica inteucyotl in tlatocayotl yectliya xochitl in amo zannen mocuia, inquetzallalpilo niaya macquauhtica, chimaltica neicaloloyan intlalticpac ic momacehuaya in yectliya xochitl in tiquelehuia inticnequia in tinocniuh in quitemacehualtia in quitenemactia in tloquein nahuaque. 

4. Let thy soul awake and turn toward the south, toward the rising ofthe sun, rouse thy heart that it turn toward the field of battle, there let it win power and fame, the noble flowers which it will notgrasp in vain; adorned with a frontlet of quetzal feathers I wentforth armed with sword and shield to the battlefield on earth, that Imight merit these noble flowers with which we may rejoice as we wishour friends, as the Cause of All may reward and grant to us. 

5. Nentiquelehuia in tictemoaya in tinocniuh yectliya xochitl canticuiz intlacamo ximicaliya, melchiquiuhticaya, mitonalticayaticmacehuaya in yectliyaxochitla, yaochoquiztli ixayoticaya inquitemacehualtica in tloque in nahuaque. 

5. Vainly, O friends, do we desire and seek where we may cull thosenoble flowers unless we fight with bared breasts, with the sweat ofthe brow, meriting these noble flowers, in bitter and painful war, for which the Cause of All will give reward. 

VII. 

_OTRO. _

_ANOTHER. _

1. Tleinmach oamaxque on in antocnihuan in an Chiapaneca Otomi, omachamelelacic: in ic oamihuintiqueo octicatl in oanquique icoamihuintique, xicualcuican, in amo ma in anhuehuetztoqueo, ximozcalicano in antocnihuan nipatiazque in tochano, xopantlalpan yenican, ma quiza in amihuintiliz, on xitlachiacano ohuican yeanmaquia, O!

1. What have you done, O you our friends, you Chiapanecs and Otomis, why have you grieved, that you were drunken with the wine which youtook, that you were drunken? Come hither and sing: do not liestretched out; arise, O friends, let us go to our houses here in thisland of spring; come forth from your drunkenness, see in what adifficult place you must take it. 

2. Ca yeppa yuhqui in tizaoctli in tlalticpac, quitemacao ohuican ictecalaquiao teoatl tlachinolli quitoao texaxamatzao teopopoloao oncanin xaxamanio in tlazochalchihiuitl, in teoxihuitl, in maquiztlitlazotetl in tepilhuan in coninio in xochitizaoctlio cuel can inantocnihuan in tonicahuacao. 

2. For formerly it was so on earth that the white wine was taken indifficult places, as on entering the battlefield, or, as it was said, where the stones were broken and destroyed, where were broken intofragments the lovely emeralds, the turquoises, the honored preciousstones, the youths, the children; therefore take the flowery whitewine, O friends and brothers. 

3. Ma ye ticiti in xochitlalpan in tochan xochitlalticpacilhuicacpacoin huel ic xochiamemeyallotl on ahuiaxtimani, teyolquima yolilizahuach xochitl in tochan in Chiappan, oncan timalolo in teucyotl intlatocayotl in chimalxochitl oncuepontimani tonacatlalpan. 

3. Let us drink it in the flowery land, in our dwelling surrounded bythe flowery earth and sky, where the fountains of the flowers sendtheir sweetness abroad; the delicious breath of the dewy flowers isin our homes in Chiapas; there nobility and power make them glorious, and the war-flowers bloom over a fertile land. 

4. Quemach in amo antlacaquio in antocnihuan tohuian tohuianoxicahuacano, in tizaoctlio teoatlachinoloctli; ma ye ticiti in ompatinectilo in tochan xochiahuachoctli, zan ic ahuiaca ihuinti intoyollo, tetlamachtio teyolquimao tixochiachichinatihuinetlamachtiloyan in toquizayan xochitlalpan tonacatlalpan: tlemachoamaxqueo? xichualcaquican in tocuic in tamocnihuan, etc. 

4. Is it possible, oh friends, that you do not hear us? Let us go, let us go, let us pour forth the white wine, the wine of battle; letus drink where the wine sweet as the dew of roses is set forth in ourhouses, let our souls be intoxicated with its sweetness; enriched, steeped in delight, we shall soak up the water of the flowers in theplace of riches, going forth to a land of flowers, a fertile spot. What have you done? Come hither and listen to our songs, O friends. 

VIII. 

_OTRO, QUEUH CE TLATOHUANI IN QUIMILNAMIQUI IN TLATOQUE. _

_COMPOSED BY A CERTAIN RULER IN MEMORY OF FORMER RULERS. _

1. Tlaocolxochi ixayoticaya ic nichuipana in nocuic nicuicani, niquimilnamiqui in tepilhuan, in teintoque, in tlaçotitoque in campain ximohuaya, in oteuctico, in otlatocatico in tlallia icpac, inquetzalhuahuaciuhtoque in chalchiuhteintoque in tepilhuan, in maocimixpan in maoc oquitlani; in ye itto in tlalticpac iximachoca intloque in nahuaque. 

1. Weeping, I, the singer, weave my song of flowers of sadness; Icall to memory the youths, the shards, the fragments, gone to theland of the dead; once noble and powerful here on earth, the youthswere dried up like feathers, were split into fragments like anemerald, before the face and in the sight of those who saw them onearth, and with the knowledge of the Cause of All. 

2. Y yo ya hue nitlaocolcuicaya in niquimilnamiqui in tepilhuan, mazan itla ninocuepa, ma niquimonana, ma niquinhualquixti in ompa inximoayan, ma oc oppa tihua in tlalticpac, ma oc quimahuizoqui intepilhuan in ticmahuizoa, azo huel yehuantin tlatlazomahuizozquia inipalnemohualoni, quemmach tomazehual in tlazaniuh ticmatican inticnopillahueliloque ic choca in noyollo nino tlalnamiquiliz huipanain nicuicani choquiztica tlaocoltica nitlalnamiquia. 

2. Alas! alas! I sing in grief as I recall the children. Would that Icould turn back again; would that I could grasp their hands oncemore; would that I could call them forth from the land of the dead;would that we could bring them again on earth, that they mightrejoice and we rejoice, and that they might rejoice and delight theGiver of Life; is it possible that we His servants should reject himor should be ungrateful? Thus I weep in my heart as I, the singer, review my memories, recalling things sad and grievous. 

3. Manozo zan nicmati in nechcaquizque intla itla yectli cuicatlniquimehuili in ompa ximohuayan, ma ic niquipapacti, ma icniquimacotlaza inin tonez inin chichinaquiliz in tepilhuan. Cuix onmachiaz? Quennel nihualnellaquahua? Aquen manian ompa niquimontocaz?Ano niquin nonotztaciz in ye yuh quin in tlalticpac. 

3. Would only that I knew they could hear me, there in the land ofthe dead, were I to sing some worthy song. Would that I could gladdenthem, that I could console the suffering and the torment of thechildren. How can it be learned? Whence can I draw the inspiration?They are not where I may follow them; neither can I reach them withmy calling as one here on earth. 

IX. 

_OTRO TLAOCOLCUICA OTOMITL. _

_AN OTOMI SONG OF SADNESS. _

1. In titloque in tinahuaque nimitzontlaocolnonotzaya, nelcicihuilizmixpantzinco noconiyahuaya, ninentlamati in tlalticpac ye nicannitlatematia, ninotolinia, in ayc onotechacic in pactli, innecuiltonolli ye nican; tlezannen naicoyc amo y mochiuhyan, tlacazoatle nican xotlacueponi in nentlamachtillia, tlacazo zan ihuian inmotloc in monahuac; Macuelehuatl ma xicmonequilti ma monahuactzincooc ehuiti in noyolia, ninixayohuatzaz in motloc monahuactipalnemohuani. 

1. To thee, the Cause of All, to thee I cried out in sadness, mysighs rose up before thy face; I am afflicted here on earth, Isuffer, I am wretched, never has joy been my lot, never good fortune;my labor has been of no avail, certainly nothing here lessens one'ssuffering; truly only to be with thee, near thee; may it be thy willthat my soul shall rise to thee, may I pour out my tears to thee, before thee, O thou Giver of Life. 

2. Quemachamiqueo in motimalotinemi co y in tlalticpac in ayaccontenmatio in atlamachilizneque o tlacazo can moztla cahuia on in[)a]mitztenmati in titloque in tinahuaque inic momatio ca mochipatlalticpac, nemizqueo ninotlamatli motlaliao niquimittao, tlacazomixitl tlapatl oquiqueo ic nihualnelaquahua in ninotolinia o tlacazoompa in ximohuayan neittotiuh o, cazo tiquenamiqueo quiniquac yepachihuiz ye teyolloa. 

2. Happy are those who walk in thy favor here on earth, who neverneglect to offer up praise, nor, leaving till to-morrow, neglectthee, thou Cause of All, that thou mayest be known in all the earth;I know that they shall live, I see that they are established, certainly they have drunk to forgetfulness while I am miserable, certainly I shall go to see the land of the dead, certainly we shallmeet where all souls are contented. 

3. Ma cayac quen quichihuaya in iyollo in tlalticpac ye nican intitlaocaxtinemi in tichocatinemia, ca zacuel achic ontlaniizoo, tlacazo zan tontlatocatihuio in yuho otlatocatque tepilhuan, ma icximixcuiti in tinocniuh in atonahuia in atihuelamati in tlalticpac o;ma oc ye xim[)a]pana in tlaocolxochitl, choquizxochitl, xoyocatimaloo xochielcicihuiliztlio in ihuicpa toconiyahuazon in tloque innahuaque. 

3. Never were any troubled in spirit on the earth who appealed tothee, who cried to thee, only for an instant were they cast down, truly thou caused them to rule as they ruled before: Take as anexample on earth, O friend, the fever-stricken patient; clothethyself in the flowers of sadness, in the flowers of weeping, givepraises in flowers of sighs that may carry you toward the Cause ofAll. 

4. Ica ye ninapanao tlaocolxochicozcatlon, nomac ommanianelcicihuilizchimàlxochitlon, nic ehuaya in tlaocolcuicatloo, nicchalchiuhcocahuicomana yectli yancuicatl, nic ahuachxochilacatzoa, yn o chalchiuhuehueuhilhuitl, itech nictlaxilotia in nocuicatzin innicuicani ye niquincuilia in ilhuicac chanequeo zacuantototl, quetzaltzinitzcantototl teoquechol inon tl[)a]toa quechol in quicecemeltia in tloque, etc. 

4. I array myself with the jewels of saddest flowers; in my hands arethe weeping flowers of war; I lift my voice in sad songs; I offer anew and worthy song which is beautiful and melodious; I weave songsfresh as the dew of flowers; on my drum decked with precious stonesand plumes I, the singer, keep time to my song, as I take it fromthose dwellers in the heavens, the zacuan bird, the beautifultzinitzcan, the divine quechol, those melodious birds who give joy tothe Cause of All. 

X. 

_MEXICA XOPANCUICATL TLAMELAUHCAYOTL. _

_A SPRING SONG OF THE MEXICANS, A PLAIN SONG. _

1. Tlaocoya in noyollo nicuicanitl nicnotlamatia, yehua za yeyxochitl y zan ye in cuicatlin, ica nitlacocoa in tlalticpac ye nican, ma nequitocan intech cocolia intech miquitlani moch ompa onyazquecano y ichan, ohuaya. 

1. My heart grieved, I, the singer, was afflicted, that these are theonly flowers, the only songs which I can procure here on earth; seehow they speak of sickness and of death, how all go there to theirhomes, alas. 

2. I inquemanian in otonciahuic, in otontlatzihuic tocon ynayaz inmomahuizco in motenyo in tlalticpac, ma nenquitocane, ohuaya, etc. 

2. Sometimes thou hast toiled and acquired skill, thou takest refugein thy fame and renown on earth; but see how vain they speak, alas. 

3. Inin azan oc huelnemohuan in tlalticpac mazano ihuian yehuan Diosquiniquac onnetemoloa in tiaque in canin ye ichan, ohuaya. 

3. As many as live on earth, truly they go to God when they descendto the place where are their homes, alas. 

4. Hu inin titotolinia ma yuhquitimiquican ma omochiuh in mantechonittocan in tocnihuan in matech onahuacan in quauhtin y a ocelotl. 

4. Alas, we miserable ones, may it happen when we die that we may seeour friends, that we may be with them in grandeur and strength. 

5. Mazo quiyocoli macaoc xictemachican, can antlahuicaya y cayaamechmotlatili in ipalnemohuani, ohuaya. 

5. Although He is the Creator, do not hope that the Giver of Life hassent you and has established you. 

6. Ay ya yo xicnotlamatican Tezcacoacatl, Atecpanecatl mach nelamihuihuinti in cozcatl in chalchihuitli, ma ye anmonecti, ma yeantlaneltocati. 

6. Be ye grieved, ye of Tezcuco and Atecpan, that ye are intoxicatedwith gems and precious stones; come forth to the light, come andbelieve. 

XI. 

_OTRO. _

_ANOTHER. _

1. Nicchocaehua, nicnotlamati, nicelnamiqui ticauhtehuazque yectliyaxochitl yectli yancuicatl; ma octonahuiacan, ma oc toncuicacan centiyahui tipolihui ye ichan, etc. 

1. I lift my voice in wailing, I am afflicted, as I remember that wemust leave the beautiful flowers, the noble songs; let us enjoyourselves for a while, let us sing, for we must depart forever, weare to be destroyed in our dwelling place. 

2. Achtleon ah yuhquimati in tocnihuan cocoya in noyollo qualaniyehua ay oppan in tlacatihua ye ay oppa piltihuaye yece yequixoantlalticpac. 

2. Is it indeed known to our friends how it pains and angers me thatnever again can they be born, never again be young on this earth?

3. Oc achintzinca y tetloc ye nican tenahuacan aic yezco on aicnahuiaz aic nihuelamatiz. 

3. Yet a little while with them here, then nevermore shall I be withthem, nevermore enjoy them, nevermore know them. 

4. In can on nemian noyollo yehua? Can huel ye nochan? Can huelnocallamanian? Ninotolinia tlalticpac. 

4. Where shall my soul dwell? Where is my home? Where shall be myhouse? I am miserable on earth. 

5. Zan ye tocontemaca ye tocontotoma in mochalchiuh, ye onquetzalmalintoc, zacuan icpac xochitl, za yan tiquinmacayan tepilhuanO. 

5. We take, we unwind the jewels, the blue flowers are woven over theyellow ones, that we may give them to the children. 

6. In nepapan xochitl conquimilo, conihuiti ye noyollo nimannichocaya ixpan niauh in tonan. 

6. Let my soul be draped in various flowers; let it be intoxicated bythem, for soon must I weeping go before the face of our mother. 

7. Zan nocolhuia: ipalnemohua ma ca ximozoma, ma ca ximonenequintlalticpac, mazo tehuantin motloc tinemican y, zan ca ye moch anailhuicatlitica. 

7. This only do I ask:--Thou Giver of Life, be not angry, be notsevere on earth, let us live with thee on earth, take us to theHeavens. 

8. Azo tle nello nicyaitohua nican ipalnemohua, zan tontemiqui y, zantoncochitlehuaco, nicitoa in tlalticpac ye ayac huel tontiquilhuia yenicana. 

8. But what can I speak truly here of the Giver of Life? We onlydream, we are plunged in sleep; I speak here on earth; but never canwe speak in worthy terms here. 

9. In manel ye chalchihuitl, mantlamatilolli, on aya mazo yaipalnemohuani ayac hueltic ilhuia nicana. 

9. Although it may be jewels and precious ointments (of speech), yetof the Giver of Life, one can never here speak in worthy terms. 

XII. 

_XOPANCUICATL NENONOTZALCUICATL IPAMPA IN AQUIQUE AMO ON MIXTILIA INYAOC. _

_A SPRING SONG, A SONG OF EXHORTATION, BECAUSE CERTAIN ONES DID NOTGO TO THE WAR. _

1. Nictzotzonan nohuehueuh nicuicatlamatquetl ic niquimonixitia icniquimitlehua in tocnihuan in atle in yollo quimati in aic tlathuiipan inin yollo yaocochmictoque in inpan motimaloa inmixtecomatlayohualli anen niquito huay motolinia y, maquicaqui qui yxochitlathuicacuicatl occeh tzetzeuhtimania huehuetitlana, ohuaya, ohuai. 

1. I strike on my drum, I the skillful singer, that I may arouse, that I may fire our friends, who think of nothing, to whose mindsplunged in sleep the dawn has not appeared, over whom are yet spreadthe dark clouds of night; may I not call in vain and poorly, may theyhear this song of the rosy dawn, poured abroad widely by the drum, ohe! ohe!

2. Tlahuizcalteochitla oncuepontimani in ixochiquiyaopan in tloque innahuaque, onahuachtotonameyotimani in teyolquima; ma xiqualitacan inatle ipan ontlatao, zannen cuepontimanio ayac mahaca quelehuiao inantocnihuan amo zannen ya xochitl yoliliztlapalneucxochitla e. 

2. The divine flowers of dawn blossom forth, the war flowers of theCause of All; glittering with dew they scatter abroad theirfragrance; bring them hither that they be not hidden nor bloom invain, that they may rejoice you our friends, and not in vain shall bethe flowers, the living, colored, brilliant flowers. 

3. Quiyolcaihuintiaya in teyolia, zan oncan ye omania, zan oncan yeoncuepontimania quauhtepetitlan in ya hualiuhcancopa yixtlahuatlitica oncan inemaya oc teoatl tlachinolli a. Oncan inepoyahuayan in teoquauhtli oncan iquiquinacayan, in ocelotl, ipixauhyan in nepapan tlazomaquiztetl, in emomolotzayan in nepapantlazopilihuitl, oncan teintoque oncan xamantoque in tepilhuan. 

3. They intoxicate the soul, but they are only found, they blossomonly on the lofty mountains, on the broad plains where glorious warfinds its home. There is where the eagles gather in bands of sixties, there the tigers roar, there the various beloved stones rain down, there the various dear children are cut to pieces; there the youthsare split into shards and ground into fragments. 

4. Tlacuah yehuantin in tepilhuani conelehuiao, intlahuizcalxochitlan ya nemamallihuao ic tetlan[)e]nectiao, inilhuicac onocon iceolitzin yn iotepiltzina quitzetzelotimanio a intepilhuan in quauhtliya ocelotl, in quimemactiao inxochicueponalotlon in quimihuintia yeyolxochiahuechtlia. 

4. Stoutly do those youths rejoice, laboring for the rose of the dawnthat they may win it; and in heaven, He, the only one, the noble one, pours down upon the youths strength and courage, that they may pluckthe budding flowers of the pathway, that they may be intoxicated withthe dew-damp flowers of the spirit. 

5. In ic timomatia in tinocniuh zan ne yan xochitlon in tiquelehuiaonin tlalticpac, quen toconcuizon quen ticyachihuazon, timotolinia intiquimiztlacoa a in tepilhuan xochitica cuicatica; ma xihuallachicanin atle y ica mitl, ehuaon zan moch yehuantin in tepilhuanzacuanmeteoquecholtitzinitzcatlatlauhquecholtin moyeh yectitinemio inonmatio in ixtlahuatlitican. 

5. Know, my friend, that these are the only flowers which will givethee pleasure on earth; mayest thou take them and make them; O poorone, search out for thy children these flowers and songs. Look nothither without arrows, let all the youths lift up their voices, likezacuan birds, divine quechols, tzinitzcans, and red quechols, wholive joyous lives, and know the fields. 

6. Chimalxochitl, quauhpilolxochitl ic oquichtlamatimani in yantepilhuan xochicozcaocoxochitl ic mapantimanian, quitimaloaoyectliya cuicatl, yectliya xochitl, imezo imelchiquiuh patiuhmochihuaya in quicelia on in teoatl tlachinolli; y iantocnihuantliliuhquitepeca in tiyaotehua huey otlipana, ma huel xoconmanao y yemochimalo, huel xonicaon in ti quauhtliya ocelotla. 

6. O youths, here there are skilled men in the flowers of shields, inthe flowers of the pendant eagle plumes, the yellow flowers whichthey grasp; they pour forth noble songs, noble flowers; they makepayment with their blood, with their bare breasts; they seek thebloody field of war. And you, O friends, put on your black paint, forwar, for the path of victory; let us lay hands on our shields, andraise aloft our strength and courage. 

XIII. 

_HUEXOTZINCAYOTL. _

_A SONG OF HUEXÔTZINCO. _

1. Zan tlaocolxochitl, tlaocolcuicatl on mania Mexico nican ha inTlatilolco, in yece ye oncan on neiximachoyan, ohuaya. 

1. Only sad flowers, sad songs, are here in Mexico, in Tlatilolco, inthis place these alone are known, alas. 

2. Ixamayo yectli in zan ca otitech icneli ipalnemohuani, in za cantipopolihuizque in timacehualta, ohuaya. 

2. It is well to know these, if only we may please the Giver of Life, lest we be destroyed, we his subjects, alas. 

3. Ototlahueliltic, zan titotolinia timacehualtinquezo hueltehuantin, otiquittaque in cococ ye machoyan, ohuaya. 

3. We have angered Him, we are only wretched beings, slaves by blood;we have seen and known affliction, alas. 

4. Ticmomoyahua, ticxoxocoyan in momacehualy in Tlatilolco cococmoteca cococ ye machoyan ye ic ticiahuia ipalnemoani, ohuaya. 

4. We are disturbed, we are embittered, thy servants here inTlatilolco, deprived of food, made acquainted with affliction, we arefatigued with labor, O Giver of Life, alas. 

5. Choquiztli moteca ixayotl pixahui oncan a in Tlatilolco; in atlanyahqueon o in Mexica ye cihua nelihui ica yehuilo a oncan ontihui intocnihuan a, ohuaya. 

5. Weeping is with us, tears fall like rain, here in Tlatilolco; asthe Mexican women go down to the water, we beg of them for ourselvesand our friends, alas. 

6. In ic neltic o ya cahua Atloyantepetl o in Mexico in poctliehuatoc ayahuitl onmantoc, in tocon ya chihuaya ipalnemoani, ohuaya. 

6. Even as the smoke, rising, lies in a cloud over Mount Atloyan, inMexico, so does it happen unto us, O Giver of Life, alas. 

7. In anMexica ma xiquilnamiquican o yan zan topan quitemohuia yellelon i mahuizo yehuan zan yehuan Dios, yehua anquin ye oncan incoyonacazco, ohuaya. 

7. And you Mexicans, may you remember concerning us when you descendand suffer before the majesty of God, when there you shall howl likewolves. 

8. Za can ye oncan zan quinchoquiz tlapaloa o anquihuitzmanatl incanye[)u]ch motelchiuh on ya o anquin ye mochin, ha in tlayotlaqui, ahin tlacotzin, ah in tlacateuctli in oquichtzin y huihui ica ça ye conyacauhqui in Tenochtitlan, ohuaya. 

8. There, there will be only weeping as your greeting when you come, there you will be accursed, all of you, workers in filth, slaves, rulers or warriors, and thus Tenochtitlan will be deserted. 

9. In antocnihuan ma xachocacan aya ma x[)a]conmatican ica yeticcauhque Mexicayotl huiya, zan ye yatl chichixhuiya no zan yetlaqualli chichixaya zan con aya chiuhqui in ipalnemoani ha inTlatilolco y, ohuaya. 

9. Oh friends, do not weep, but know that sometime we shall have leftbehind us the things of Mexico, and then their water shall be madebitter and their food shall be made bitter, here in Tlatilolco, asnever before, by the Giver of Life. 

10. Tel ah zan yhuian huicoque hon in motelchiuhtzin ha in tlacotzinzan mocuica ellaquauhque ac achinanco in ahiquac in tlepan quixtilotoin coyohuacan, ohuaya. 

10. The disdained and the slaves shall go forth with song; but in alittle while their oppressors shall be seen in the fire, amid thehowling of wolves. 

XIV. 

1. Zan tzinitzcan impetlatl ipan, ohuaya; on tzinitzcan iceliztocaoncan izan in ninentlamatia, in zan icnoxochicuicatica inocon yatemohua ya ohuaya, ohuaya. 

1. Only the tzinitzcan is in power, the tzinitzcan arouses me in myaffliction, letting fall its songs like sad flowers. 

2. In canin nemiya icanon in nemitoconchia ye nican huehuetitlan aayiahue, ye onnentlamacho, ye mocatlaocoyalo ay xopancaliteca, ohuaya, ohuaya. 

2. Wherever it wanders, wherever it lives, one awaits it here withthe drum, in affliction, in distress, here in the house of spring. 

3. Ac ipiltzin? Achanca ipiltzin yehuayan Dios Jesu Christo canquicuilo antlacuiloa quicuilo ancuicatl a ohuaya, ohuaya. 

3. Who is the royal son? Is not the royal son, the son of God, JesusChrist, as was written in your writings, as was written in yoursongs?

4. O achan canel ompa huiz canin ilhuicac y xochintlacuilolxochincalitec a ohuaya ohuaya. 

4. Is not the flowery writing within the house of flowers that heshall come there from heaven?

5. In ma ontlachialoya in ma ontl[)a]tlamahuicolo intlapapalcalimanican y ipalnemoa y tlayocol yehuan Dios, ohuaya. 

5. Look around and wonder at this scene of many colored houses whichGod has created and endowed with life. 

6. Techtolinian techtl[)a]tlanectia y icuicaxochiamilpan, intechontl[)a]tlachialtian ipalnemohua itlayocol yehuan Dios aohuaya. 

6. They make us who are miserable to see the light among the flowersand songs of the fertile fields, they cause us to see those thingswhich God has created and endowed with life. 

7. Ya ixopantla ixopantlatinenemi ye nican ixtlahuatl yteey, zaxiuhquechol quiahuitl zan topan xaxamacay in atlixco ya ohuaya, ohuaya. 

7. They dwell in the place of spring, in the place of spring, herewithin the broad fields, and only for our sakes does theturquoise-water fall in broken drops on the surface of the lake. 

8. Zan ye nauhcampay ontlapepetlantoc, oncan onceliztoc incozahuizxochitl, oncan nemi in Mexica in tepilhuan a ohuaya ohuaya. 

8. Where it gleams forth in fourfold rays, where the fragrant yellowflowers bud, there live the Mexicans, the youths. 

XV. 

_TEZOZOMOCTLI IC MOTECPAC. _

_THE REIGN OF TEZOZOMOCTLI. _

1. Zan ca tzihuactitlan, mizquititlan, aiyahue Chicomoztocpa, mochiompa yahuitze antl[)a]tohuan ye nican, ohuaya, ohuaya. 

1. From the land of the tzihuac bushes, from the land of the mezquitebushes, where was ancient Chicomoztoc, thence came all your rulershither. 

2. Nican momalinaco in colcahuahtecpillotl huiya nican milacatzoa inColhuaca Chichimecayotl in toteuchuahuia. 

2. Here unrolled itself the royal line of Colhuacan, here our noblesof Colhuacan, united with the Chichimecs. 

3. Ma oc achitzinca xomotlanecuican antepilhuan huiya tlacateuhtzinHuitzilihuitl a ya cihuacoatl y Quauhxilotl huia totomihuacanTlalnahuacatl aya zan ca xiuhtototl Ixtlilxochitl y quenmantlatzihuiz quimohmoyahuaquiuh yauh y tepeuh yehuan Dios ica ye chocaTezozomoctli ohuaya ohuaya. 

3. Sing for a little while concerning these, O children, thesovereign Huitzilihuitl, the judge Quauhxilotl, of our bold leaderTlalnahuacatl, of the proud bird Ixtlilxochitl, those who went forth, and conquered and ruled before God, and bewail Tezozomoctli. 

4. Yenoceppa mizquitl yacahuantimani Hueytlalpani, anquican itlatolyehuan Dios a ohuaya, ohuaya. 

4. A second time they left the mezquite bushes in Hue Tlalpan, obeying the order of God. 

5. Can onyeyauh xochitl, can oyeyauh yeh intoca quauhtli ocelotl huiaya moyahuaya xelihuia Atloyantepetl Hueytlalpan y anquizan itlatolipalnemohua ohuaya ohuaya. 

5. They go where are the flowers, where they may gain grandeur andpower, dividing asunder they leave the mountain Atloyan and HueTlalpan, obeying the order of the Giver of Life. 

6. Oncuiltonoloc, onechtlachtiloc, in teteuctin cemanahuac y huelzotoca huipantoca y tl[)a]tol ipalnemohuani, huel quimothuitico, huelquiximatico y yollo yehuan Dios huiya chalchihuitl maquiztliyatlamatelolliya tizatla ihuitla za xochitl quimatico yaoyotla ohuayaohuaya. 

6. It is cause of rejoicing, that I am enabled to see our rulers fromall parts gathering together, arranging in order the words of theGiver of Life, and that their souls are caused to see and to knowthat God is precious, wonderful, a sweet ointment, and that they areknown as flowers of wise counsel in the affairs of war. 

7. Oya in Tochin y miec acalcatli, Acolmiztlan teuctli zan Catocihteuctli Yohuallatonoc y yehuan Cuetzpaltzin Iztaccoyotl totomihuacanTlaxcallan ohuaye Coatziteuctli Huitlalotzin za xochitl quimaticoyaoyotla ohuaya ohuaya. 

7. There were Tochin, with many boats, the noble Acolmiztlan, thenoble Catocih, Yohuallatonoc, and Cuetzpaltzin, and Iztaccoyotl, boldleaders from Tlaxcalla, and Coatziteuctli, and Huitlalotzin, famed asflowers on the field of battle. 

8. Tley an quiyocoya anteteuctin y Huexotzinca? ma xontlachiacanAcolihu[)a]can in quatlapanca oncan ye Huexotla itztapallocan huiayeyahuatimani Atloyantepetl a ohuaya. 

8. For what purpose do you make your rulers, men of Huexotzinco? Lookat Acolhuacan where the men of Huexotzinco are broken with toil, aretrod upon like paving stones, and wander around the mountain Atloyan. 

9. Oncan in pochotl ahuehuetl oncan icaca mizquitl ye oztotlhui[)a]tetlaquahuac quimatia ipalnemohuani oyao ai ya hue ohuaya. 

9. There is a ceiba tree, a cypress tree, there stands a mezquitebush, strong as a cavern of stone, known as the Giver of Life. 

10. Tlacateotl nopiltzin Chichimecatl y tleonmach itla techcocoliaTezozomoctli tech in micitlani ye ehuaya atayahuili quinequia yaoyotlnecaliztlon quima Acolhuacan ohuaya. 

10. Ruler of men, Nopiltzin, Chicimec, O Tezozomoctli, why hast thoumade us sick, why brought us to death, through not desiring to offerwar and battle to Acolhuacan?

11. Tel ca tonehua ticahuiltia ipalnemohuani Colihua o o Mexicatl ytlahcateotl huiaya atayahuili quinequia yaoyotl necaliztl qui manaAcolhuacan a ohuaya ohuaya. 

11. But we lift up our voice and rejoice in the Giver of life; themen of Colhuacan and the Mexican leader have ruined us, through notdesiring to offer war and battle to Acolhuacan. 

12. Zan ye on necuiltonolo in tlalticpac ay oppan titlano chimallixochitl ay oppan ahuiltilon ipalnemohua; ye ic anauia in tlailotlaquixayacamacha huia ho ay ya yi ee ohuaya ha ohuaya. 

12. The only joy on earth will be again to send the shield-flower, again to rejoice the Giver of Life; already are discontented thefaces of the workers in filth. 

13. Inacon anquelehuia chimalli xochitl y yohual xochitlitl[)a]chinol xochitl; ye ic neyahpanalo antepilhuan huiyaQuetzalmamatzin Huitznahuacatl ohuaye ho ha yia yi ee oua yi ahaohuaya. 

13. Therefore you rejoice in the shield-flowers, the flowers ofnight, the flowers of battle; already are ye clothed, ye children ofQuetzalmamatzin and Huitznahuacatl. 

14. Chimal tenamitl oncan in nemohua yehua necalia huilotl oyahuallaicahuaca yehuaya on canin ye nemi in tecpipiltin Xiuhtzinxayacamachani amehuano o anconahuiltia ipalnemohua ohuaya. 

14. Your shield and your wall of safety are where dwells the sweetjoy of war, where it comes, and sings and lifts its voice, wheredwell the nobles, the precious stones, making known their faces; thusyou give joy to the Giver of Life. 

15. In ma huel netotilo mannemamanaloya yaonahuac a onnetlamachtiloyan ipan nechihuallano ohuaye in tepiltzin can yemocuetlaca ohuaya, ohuaya. 

15. Let your dancing, and banqueting be in the battle, there be yourplace of gain, your scene of action, where the noble youths perish. 

16. Quetzalipantica oyo huiloa ahuiltiloni ipalnemohuan yectlahuacanin tapalcayocan a ohuaya ohuaya. 

16. Dressed in their feathers they go rejoicing the Giver of Life tothe excellent place, the place of shards. 

17. Oyo hualehuaya ye tocalipan oyohua yehua Huexotzincatl ytototihua o o Iztaccoyotla ohuaya ohuaya. 

17. He lifted up his voice in our houses like a bird, that man ofHuexotzinco, Iztaccoyotl. 

18. Ace melle ica ton[)a]coquiza y nican topantilemonti Tlaxcaltecatlitocoya cacalia in altepetl y Huexochinco ya ohuaya. 

18. Whoever is aggrieved let him come forth with us against the menof Tlaxcallan, let him follow where the city of Huexotzinco letsdrive its arrows. 

19. Cauhtimanizo polihuiz tlalli yan totomihuacan huia cehuiz yiolloo antepilhuan a Huexotzinca y ohuaya ohuaya. 

19. Our leaders will lay waste, they will destroy the land, and yourchildren, O Huexotzincos, will have peace of mind. 

20. Mizquitl y mancan tzihuactli y mancan ahuehuetl onicacahuiaipalnemohua, xonicnotlamati mochi elimanca Huexotzinco ya zanio oncanin huel on mani tlalla ohuaya ohuaya. 

20. The mezquite was there, the tzihuac was there, the Giver of Lifehas set up the cypress; be sad that evil has befallen Huexotzinco, that it stands alone in the land. 

21. Zan nohuian tlaxixinia tlamomoyahua y ayoc anmocehuiamom[)a]cehual y hualcaco mocuic in icelteotl oc xoconyocoyacanantepilhuan a ohuaya ohuaya. 

21. In all parts there are destruction and desolation, no longer arethere protection and safety, nor has the one only God heard the song;therefore speak it again, you children;

22. Zan mocuepa itlatol conahuiloa ipalnemohua Tepeyacac ohuayeantepilhuan ohuaya ohuaya. 

22. That the words may be repeated, you children, and give joy to theGiver of Life at Tepeyacan. 

23. Canel amonyazque xoconmolhuican an Tlaxcalteca y Tlacomihuatzinhui oc oyauh itlachinol ya yehuan Dios a ohuaya. 

23. And since you are going, you Tlaxcallans, call uponTlacomihuatzin that he may yet go to this divine war. 

24. Cozcatl ihuihui quetzal n[)e]huihuia oc zo conhuipanque zanChichimeca y Totomihua a Iztaccoyotl a ohuaya ohuaya. 

24. The Chichimecs and the leaders and Iztaccoyotl have withdifficulty and vain labor arranged and set in order their jewels andfeathers. 

25. Huexotzinco ya zan quiauhtzinteuctli techcocolia Mexicatlitechcocolia Acolihuiao ach quennelotihua tonyazque quenonamican aohuaye ohuaye. 

25. At Huexotzinco the ruler Quiauhtzin hates the Mexicans, hates theAcolhuacans; when shall we go to mix with them, to meet them?

26. Ay antlayocoya anquimitoa in amotahuan an teteuctin ayoquantzinihuan a in tlepetztic in cacha ohuaya tzihuacpopoca yo huaya. 

26. Set to work and speak, you fathers, to your rulers, to yourlords, that they may make a blazing fire of the smoking tzihuac wood. 

27. Ca zan catcan Chalco Acolihuaca huia totomihuacan y amilpan inQuauhquecholla quixixinia in ipetl icpal yehuan Dios ohoaya ohuaya. 

27. The Acolhuacans were at Chalco, the Otomies were in yourcornfields at Quauhquechollan, they laid them waste by the permissionof God. 

28. Tlazoco a ye nican tlalli tepetl yecocoliloya cemanahuac aohuaya. 

28. The fields and hills are ravaged, the whole land has been laidwaste. 

29. Quennel conchihuazque atl popoca itlacoh in teuctli tlallimocuepaya Mictlan onmatia Cacamatl onteuctli, quennel conchihuazque, ohuaya ohuaya. 

29. What remedy can they turn to? Water and smoke have spoiled theland of the rulers; they have gone back to Mictlan attachingthemselves to the ruler Cacamatl. What remedy can they turn to?

XVI. 

1. On onellelacic quexquich nic ya ittoa antocnihuan ayiauenoconnenemititica noyollon tlalticpac y noconycuilotica, ay niyuh cantinemi ahuian yeccan, ay cemellecan in tenahuac y, ah nonnohuicallanin quenon amican ohuaya. 

1. It is a bitter grief to see so many of you, dear friends notwalking with me in spirit on the earth, and written down with me;that no more do I walk in company to the joyful and pleasant spots;that nevermore in union with you do I journey to the same place. 

2. Zan nellin quimati ye noyollo za nelli nicittoa antocnihuan, ayiahue aquin quitlatlauhtia icelteotl yiollo itlacoca con aya macan. Machamo oncan? In tlalticpac machamo oppan piltihua. Ye nelli nemoain quenon amican ilhuicatl y itec icanyio oncan in netlamachtilo yohuaya. 

2. Truly I doubt in my heart if I really see you, dear friends; Isthere no one who will pray to the one only God that he take thiserror from your hearts? Is no one there? No one can live a secondtime on earth. Truly they live there within the heavens, there in aplace of delight only. 

3. O yohualli icahuacan teuctlin popoca ahuiltilon Diosipalnemohuani: chimalli xochitl in cuecuepontimani in mahuiztlimoteca molinian tlalticpac, ye nican ic xochimicohuayan in ixtlahuacitec a ohuaya ohuaya. 

3. At night rises up the smoke of the warriors, a delight to the Lordthe Giver of Life; the shield-flower spreads abroad its leaves, marvelous deeds agitate the earth; here is the place of the fatalflowers of death which cover the fields. 

4. Yaonauac ye oncan yaopeuhca in ixtlahuac itec iteuhtlinpopoca yamilacatzoa y momalacachoa yaoxochimiquiztica antepilhuan inanteteuctin zan Chichimeca y ohuaya. 

4. The battle is there, the beginning of the battle is in the openfields, the smoke of the warriors winds around and curls upward fromthe slaughter of the flowery war, ye friends and warriors of theChichimecs. 

5. Maca mahui noyollo ye oncan ixtlahuatl itic, noconele hua initzimiquiliztli zan quinequin toyollo yaomiquiztla ohuaya. 

5. Let not my soul dread that open field; I earnestly desire thebeginning of the slaughter, may thy soul long for the murderousstrife. 

6. O anquin ye oncan yaonahuac, noconelehuia in itzi miquiliztli canquinequin toyollo yaomiquiztla ohuaya ohuaya. 

6. O you who are there in the battle, I earnestly desire thebeginning of the slaughter, may thy soul long for the murderousstrife. 

7. Mixtli ye ehuatimani yehuaya moxoxopan ipalnemohuani ye oncanceliztimani a in quauhtlin ocelotl, ye oncan cueponio o in tepilhuanhuiya in tlachinol, ohuaya ohuaya. 

7. The cloud rises upward, rising into the blue sky of the Giver ofLife; there blossom forth prowess and daring, there, in the battlefield, come the children to maturity. 

8. In ma oc tonahuican antocnihuan ayiahuc, ma oc xonahuiacanantepilhuan in ixtlahuatl itec, y nemoaquihuic zan tictotlanehuia o ain chimalli xochitl in tlachinoll, ohuaya, ohuaya, ohuaya. 

8. Let us rejoice, dear friends, and may ye rejoice, O children, within the open field, and going forth to it, let us revel amid theshield-flowers of the battle. 

XVII. 

_XOCHICUICATL. _

_A FLOWER SONG. _

1. Can ti ya nemia ticuicanitl ma ya hualmoquetza xochihuehuetlquetzaltica huiconticac teocuitlaxochinenepaniuhticac y ayamo ayeiliamo aye huiy ohuaya, ohuaya. 

1. Where thou walkest, O singer, bring forth thy flowery drum, let itstand amid beauteous feathers, let it be placed in the midst ofgolden flowers;

2. Tiquimonahuiltiz in tepilhuan teteucto in quauhtlo ocelotl ayamo, etc. 

2. That thou mayest rejoice the youths and the nobles in theirgrandeur. 

3. In tlac[)a]ce otemoc aya huehuetitlan ya nemi in cuicanitlhuia zanqui quetzal in tomaya quexexeloa aya icuic ipalnemoa qui ya nanquiliain coyolyantototl oncuicatinemi xochimanamanaya taxocha ohuaya, ohuaya. 

3. Wonderful indeed is it how the living song descended upon thedrum, how it loosened its feathers and spread abroad the songs of theGiver of Life, and the coyol bird answered, spreading wide its notes, offering up its flowery songs of flowers. 

4. In canon in noconcaqui in tlatol aya tlacazo yehuatl ipalnemoaquiyananquilia quiyananquilia in coyolyantototl on cuicatinemixochimanamanaya, etc. 

4. Wherever I hear those words, perhaps the Giver of Life isanswering, as answers the coyol bird, spreading wide its notes, offering up its flowery song of flowers. 

5. In chalchihuitl ohuayee on quetzal pipixauhtimania in amotlatolhuia, noyuh ye quittoa yayoquan yehuayan cuetzpal ohuayeanquinelin ye quimatin ipalnemoa ohuaya. 

5. It rains down precious stones and beauteous feathers rather thanwords; it seems to be as one reveling in food, as one who truly knowsthe Giver of Life. 

6. Noyuh quichihua con teuctlon timaloa yecan quetzalmaquiztlamatilolticoya conahuiltia icelteotlhuia achcanon azo a yan ipalnemoaachcanon azo tle nel in tlalticpac ohuaya. 

6. Thus do the nobles glorify themselves with things of beauty, honorand delight, that they may please the one only god, though one knowsnot the dwelling of the Giver of Life, one knows not whether he is onearth. 

7. Macuelachic aya maoc ixquich cahuitl niquin notlanehui inchalchiuhtini in maquiztini in tepilhuan aya; zan nicxochimalina intecpillotl huia: zan ca nican nocuic ica ya nocon ilacatzohua a inhuehuetitlan a ohuaya ohuaya. 

7. May I yet for a little while have time to revel in those preciousand honorable youths; may I wreathe flowers for their nobility; may Ihere yet for a while wind the songs around the drum. 

8. Oc noncoati nican Huexotzinco y nitl[)a]tohuani ni teca ehuatzinhuiya chalchiuhti zan quetzalitztin y, niquincenquixtia in tepilhuanaya zan nicxochimalina in tecpillotl huia ohuaya ohuaya. 

8. I am a guest here among the rulers of Huexotzinco; I lift up myvoice and sing of precious stones and emeralds; I select from amongthe youths those for whom I shall wreathe the flowers of nobility. 

9. A in ilhuicac itic ompa yeya huitz in yectliyan xochitl yectliyancuicatl y, conpolo antellel conpolo antotlayocol y in tlacazo yehuatlin Chichimecatl teuctli in teca yehuatzin ica xonahuiacan a ohuayaohuaya. 

9. There comes from within the heavens a good flower, a good song, which will destroy your grief, destroy your sorrow; therefore, Chiefof the Chichimecs, be glad and rejoice. 

10. Moquetzal izqui xochintzetzeloa in icniuhyotlaztlacaxtlatlapantica ye onmalinticac in quetzalxiloxochitl imapanonn[)e]nemi conchichichintinemi in teteuctin in tepilhuan. 

10. Here, delightful friendship, turning about with scarlet dyedwings, rains down its flowers, and the warriors and youths, holdingin their hands the fragrant xilo flowers, walk about inhaling thesweet odor. 

11. Zan teocuitlacoyoltototl o huel yectli namocuic huel yectli inanq'ehua anquin ye oncan y xochitl y ya hualyuhcan y xochitl imapanamoncate in amontlatl[)a]toa ye ohuaya ohui ohui ilili y yao ayya hueho ama ha ilili ohua y yaohuia. 

11. The golden coyol bird sings sweetly to you, sweetly lifts itsvoice like a flower, like sweet flowers in your hand, as you converseand lift your voice in singing, etc. 

12. O ach ancati quechol in ipalnemoa o ach ancati tlatocauh yehuanDios huiya achto tiamehuan anquitztoque tlahuizcalli amoncuicatinemiohui, ohui, ilili, etc. 

12. Even like the quechol bird to the Giver of Life, even as theherald of God, you have waited for the dawn, and gone forth singingohui, etc. 

13. Maciuhtiao o in quinequi noyollo, zan chimalli xochitl mixochiuhipalnemoani, quen conchihuaz noyollo yehua onentacico tonquizaco intlalticpac a ohuaya ohuaya. 

13. Although I wish that the Giver of Life shall give for flowers theshield-flower, how shall I grieve that your efforts have been invain, that you have gone forth from the world. 

14. Zan ca yuhqui noyaz in o ompopoliuh xochitla antlenotleyoye inquemmanian, antlenitacihcayez in tlalticpac. Manel xochitl manelcuicatl, quen conchihuaz noyollo yehua onentacico tonquizaco intlalticpac ohuaya ohuaya. 

14. Even as I shall go forth into the place of decayed flowers, sosometime will it be with your fame and deeds on earth. Although theyare flowers, although they are songs, how shall I grieve that yourefforts have been in vain, that you have gone forth from the world. 

15. Manton ahuiacan antocnihuan aya ma on nequech nahualo nican huiyaa xochintlaticpac ontiyanemi yenican ayac quitlamitehuaz in xochitlin cuicatl in mani a ichan ipalnemohuani yi ao ailili yi ao aya hueaye ohuaya. 

15. Let us be glad, dear friends, let us rejoice while we walk hereon this flowery earth; may the end never come of our flowers andsongs, but may they continue in the mansion of the Giver of Life. 

16. In zancuelachitzincan tlalticpac aya ayaoc noiuhcanquennonamicani cuixocpacohua icniuhtihuay auh in amo zanio nicantotiximatizo in tlalticpac y yiao ha ilili yiao. 

16. Yet a little while and your friends must pass from earth. Whatdoes friendship offer of enjoyment, when soon we shall no longer beknown on earth?

17. Noconca con cuicatl noconca o quin tlapitzaya xochimecatl ayoquanteuctliya ahuayie, ohuayiao ayio yo ohua. 

17. This is the burden of my song, of the garland of flowers playedon the flute, without equal in the place of the nobles. 

18. Zan mitzyananquili omitzyananquili xochincalaitec y inaquiauhatzin in tlacateuhtli ayapancatl yahuayia. 

18. Within the house of flowers the Lord of the Waters, of the Gateof the Waters, answers thee, has answered thee. 

19. Can tinemi noteouh ipalnemohuani mitztemohua in quemmanian ymocanitlaocoyan, nicuicanitlhuia, zan ni mitzahuiltiaya ohuiyantililiyanco huia ohuaya ohuaya. 

19. Where thou livest, my beloved, the Giver of Life sends down uponthee sometimes things of sadness; but I, the singer, shall make theeglad in the place of difficulty, in the place of cumber. 

20. In zan ca izqui xochitl in quetzalizqui xochitl pixahui ye nicanxopancalaitec i tlacuilolcalitec, zan nimitzahahuiltiaya ohui. 

20. Here are the many flowers, the beauteous flowers, rained downwithin the house of spring, within its painted house, and I with themshall make thee glad. 

21. O anqui ye oncan Tlaxcala, ayahue, chalchiuhtetzilacuicatoque inhuehuetitlan ohuaye, xochin poyon ayiahue Xicontencatl teuctli inTizatlacatzin in camaxochitzin cuicatica y melelquiza xochiticaya onchielo itlatol ohuay icelteotl ohuaya. 

21. O, you there in Tlaxcala, you have played like sweet bells uponyour drums, even like brilliantly colored flowers. There wasXicontecatl, lord of Tizatlan, the rosy-mouthed, whose songs gave joylike flowers, who listened to the words of the one only God. 

22. O, anqui nohuia y, ye mochan ipalnemohua xochipetlatl ye nocaxochitica on tzauhticac oncan mitztlatlauhtia in tepilhua ohuaya. 

22. Thy house, O Giver of Life is in all places; its mats are offlowers, finely spun with flowers, where thy children pray to thee. 

23. In nepapan xochiquahuitl onicac, aya, huehuetitlan a a yiahue, can canticaya quetzaltica malintimani, ya, yecxochitl motzetzeloayaohuaya ohuaya. 

23. A rain of various flowers falls where stands the drum, beauteouswreaths entwine it, sweet flowers are poured down around it. 

24. Can quetzatzal petlacoatl yepac o, ye nemi coyoltototlcuicatinemiya, can quinanquili teuctli ya, conahuiltianquauhtloocelotl ohuaya ohuaya. 

24. Where the brilliant scolopender basks, the coyol bird scattersabroad its songs, answering back the nobles, rejoicing in theirprowess and might. 

25. Xochitzetzeliuhtoc y, niconnetolilo antocnihuan huehuetitlan aion chielo can nontlamati toyollo yehua ohuaya ohuaya. 

25. Scattering flowers I rejoice you, dear friends, with my drum, awaiting what comes to our minds. 

26. In zan ca yehuan Dios tlaxic, ya, caquican yehual temoya oilhuicatl itic, y, cuicatihuitz, y, quinanquilia o, angelotinontlapitztihuitzteaya oyiahue yaia o o ohuaya ohuaya. 

26. It reaches even to God, he hears it seeking him within theheavens, the song comes and the angels answer, playing on theirflutes. 

27. Zan ninentlamatia can niquauhtenco ayahue can. * * *

27. But I am sad within this wood. 

XVIII. 

_NICAN OMPEHUA TEPONAZCUICATL. _

_HERE BEGIN SONGS FOR THE TEPONAZTLI. _

_Tico, tico, toco, toto, auh ic ontlantiuh cuicatl, tiqui, ti ti, tito, titi. _

_Tico, tico, toco, toto, and as the song approaches the end, tiqui, titi, tito, titi. _

1. Tollan aya huapalcalli manca, nozan in mamani coatlaquetzalliyaqui yacauhtehuac Nacxitl Topiltzin, onquiquiztica ye choquililo intopilhuan ahuay yeyauh in polihuitiuh nechcan Tlapallan ho ay. 

1. At Tollan there stood the house of beams, there yet stands thehouse of plumed serpents left by Nacxitl Topiltzin; going forthweeping, our nobles went to where he was to perish, down there atTlapallan. 

2. Nechcayan Cholollan oncan tonquizaya Poyauhtecatitlan, inquiyapanhuiya y Acallan anquiquiztica ye choquililon ye. 

2. We went forth from Cholula by way of Poyauhtecatl, and ye wentforth weeping down by the water toward Acallan. 

3. Nonohualco ye nihuitz ye nihui quecholi nimamaliteuctla, nicnotlamatia oyah quin noteuc ye ihuitimali, nechya icnocauhyanimatlac xochitl, ayao ayao o ayya y yao ay. 

3. I come from Nonohualco as if I carried quechol birds to the placeof the nobles; I grieve that my lord has gone, garlanded withfeathers; I am wretched like the last flower. 

4. In tepetl huitomica niyaychocaya, axaliqueuhca nicnotlamatiya oyaquin noteuc (etc. As v. 3). 

4. With the falling down of mountains I wept, with the lifting up ofsands I was wretched, that my lord had gone. 

5. In Tlapallan aya mochieloca monahuatiloca ye cochiztla o anca cazanio ayao, ayao, ayao. 

5. At Tlapallan he was waited for, it was commanded that there heshould sleep, thus being alone. 

6. Zan tiyaolinca ye noteuc ic ihuitimali, tinahuatiloya ye Xicalancoo anca zacanco. 

6. In our battles my lord was garlanded with feathers; we werecommanded to go alone to Xicalanco. 

7. Ay yanco ay yanco ayamo aya ayhuiya ayanco ayyanco ayamo ayeahuiya que ye mamaniz mocha moquiapana, oquen ye mamanizmoteuccallatic ya icnocauhqui nican Tollan Nonohualco ya y ya y ya oay. 

7. Alas! and alas! who will be in thy house to attire thee? Who willbe the ruler in thy house, left desolate here in Tollan, inNonohualco?

8. In ye quinti chocaya teuctlon, timalon que ye mamaniz mochan (etc. As v. 7). 

8. After he was drunk, the ruler wept; we glorified ourselves to bein thy dwelling. 

9. In tetl, in quahuitl o on timicuilotehuac nachcan Tollan y inoncan in otontlatoco Naxitl Topiltzin y aye polihuiz ye motoca ye ic yechocaz in momacehual ay yo. 

9. Misfortune and misery were written against us there in Tollan, that our leader Nacxitl Topiltzin was to be destroyed and thysubjects made to weep. 

10. Zan can xiuhcalliya cohuacallaya in oticmatehuac nachcan Tollan yinon can yn otontlatoco Naxitl Topiltzin (etc. As in v. 9). 

10. We have left the turquoise houses, the serpent houses there inTollan, where ruled our leader Nacxitl Topiltzin. 

XIX. 

_Tico toco toco ti quiti quiti quiti quito; can ic mocneptiuh. _

_Tico, toco, toco, tiquiti, quiti, quiti, quito; where it is to turnback again. _

1. Tlapapal xochiceutli niyolaya nepapan tonacan xochitl moyahuayaoncueponti moquetzaco ya naya aya ye teo ya ixpan tonaa Santa Mariaayyo. 

1. Resting amid parti-colored flowers I rejoiced; the many shiningflowers came forth, blossomed, burst forth in honor of our motherHoly Mary. 

2. An ya ya cuicaya zan quetzala xihuitl tomolihui yan aya yenitlachihual icelteotl y ye Dios aya ni itlayocolaoya yecoc ya. 

2. They sang as the beauteous season grew, that I am but a creatureof the one only God, a work of his hands that he has made. 

3. Zan ca tlaauilolpan nemia moyollo amoxpetlatl ipan toncuicayatiquimonyaitotia teteuctin aya in obispo ya zan ca totatzin aya oncantitlatoa atlitempan ay yo. 

3. Mayst thy soul walk in the light, mayst thou sing in the greatbook, mayst thou join the dance of the rulers as our father thebishop speaks in the great temple. 

4. Yehuan Dios mitzyocox aya xochitla ya mitztlacatilo yancuicatlmitzicuiloa Santa Maria in obispo ya. 

4. God created thee, he caused thee to be born in a flowery place, and this new song to Holy Mary the bishop wrote for thee. 

XX. 

1. Tolteca icuilihuia ahaa ya ha on tlantoc amoxtli ya moyollo ya onaya mochonaciticac o o Toltecayootl aic aya ninemiz ye nican ay yo. 

1. The Toltecs have been taken, alas, the book of their souls hascome to an end, alas, everything of the Toltecs has reached itsconclusion, no longer do I care to live here. 

2. Ac ya nechcuiliz, ac ye nohuan oyaz o, nicaz a anni icuihuan aya yyancuicanitl y yehetl y noxochiuh non cuica ihuitequi onteixpan ayyo. 

2. Who will take me? Who will go with me? I am ready to be taken, alas. All that was fresh, the perfume, my flowers, my songs, havegone along with them. 

3. Huey in tetl nictequintomahuac quahuitl, nicicuiloa yancuicatlitech aya oncan nomitoz in quemmanian in can niyaz nocuica machionicyacauhtiaz in tlalticpac, y onnemiz noyol zan ca ye nican yahualla y yancoya nolnamicoca nemiz ye noteyo ay yo. 

3. Great is my affliction, weighty is my burden; I write out a newsong concerning it, that some time I may speak it there where I shallgo, a song to be known when I shall leave the earth, that my soulshall live after I have gone from here, that my fame shall live freshin memory. 

4. Nichocaya niquittoaya nicnotza noyollo ma niquitta cuicanelhuayotlayama nicyatlalaquiya ma ya ica tlalticpac quimman mochihua onnenemiznoyol y. Zan ca teucxochitl ahuiaca ipotocaticac mocepanoayantoxochiuh ay ye ayao ohuiy on can quiya itzmolini ye nocuic celianotlatollaquillo ohua in toxochiuh icac iquiapani ayao. 

4. I cried aloud, I looked about, I reflected how I might see theroot of song, that I might plant it here on the earth, and that thenit should make my soul to live. The sweet exhalations of the lovelyflowers rose up uniting with our flowers; one hears them growing asmy song buds forth, filled with my words our flowers stand upright inthe waters. 

5. Tel ca cahua xochitl ahuiac xeliuhtihuitz a ipotocaya in ahuiyacpoyomatlin pixahua oncan ninenenemi nicuicanitl y ye aya o ohui y onca quiya itzmolinï ye nocuic celia, etc. 

5. But the flowers depart, their sweetness is divided and exhales, the fragrant poyomatl rains down its leaves where I the poet walk insadness; one hears them growing, etc. 

XXI. 

_HUEXOTZINCAYOTL. _

_A SONG OF THE HUEXOTZINCOS, _

_Viniendo los de Huexotzinco à pedir socorro à Moteuczoma Tlaxcalla. _

_Coming to Ask Aid of Montezuma Against Tlaxcalla. _

1. Tlacuiloltzetzeliuhticac moyoliol tiMoteuczom[=a]tzinichuicatihuitz nictzetzelotihuitz y o huetzcanixochinquetzalpapalotl moquetzalizouhtihuitz noconitotiachalchiuhatlaquiquizcopa niyahueloncuica chalchiuhhuilacapitzlinicteocuitlapitza ya ho ay la ya o haye ohuichile amiyacale. 

1. Raining down writings for thy mind, O Montezuma, I come hither, Icome raining them down, a very jester, a painted butterfly; stringingtogether pretty objects, I seem to be as one cementing togetherprecious stones, as I chant my song on my emerald flute, as I blow onmy golden flute, ya ho, ay la, etc. 

2. Ohuaya ye onniceelehuia moxochiuh aya ipalnemoani yehuay[=a] Diosaya ilihu[=a]ca nahuiche nictzetzeloaya noncuicatilo yaha y. 

2. Yes, I shall cause thy flowers to rejoice the Giver of Life, theGod in heaven, as hither I come raining down my songs, ya ho. 

3. Tozmilini xochitl in noyolyol ay yahue tozmilini xochitl noteponazayanco ayancayome oncana y yahue nicxochiamoxtozimmanaya itlatolayanco ayanca yomeho. 

3. A sweet voiced flower is my mind, a sweet voiced flower is mydrum, and I sing the words of this flowery book. 

4. Xompaqui xonahuia annochipanicantiyazque ye ichanonohueyetzinteuctli Moteuczomatzi, totlaneuh tlpc totlaneuh uelicxochitl o ayanco. 

4. Rejoice and be glad ye who live amid the flowers in the house ofmy great lord Montezuma, we must finish with this earth, we mustfinish with the sweet flowers, alas. 

5. Tlachinoltepec yn ahuicacopa tixochitonameyo timoquetzaco y yehuanDios a ocelozacatl ypan quauhtli choca ymopopoyauhtoc y yanco y liyancay yahue ayli y yacalco y ya y ycho zaca y yahue. 

5. At the Mount of Battle we bring forth our sweet and glitteringflowers before God, plants having the lustre of the tiger, like thecry of the eagle, leaving glorious memory, such are the plants inthis house. 

6. Ohuaya yehe nipa tlantinemia ixpan Dios aninozozohuayatlauhquechol, zaquan quetzal in tlayahualol papalotlmopilihuitzetzeloa teixpana xochiatlaquiquizcopa oh tlatoca ye nocuicy yanco ili, etc. 

6. Alas! in a little while there is an end before God to all living;let me therefore string together beauteous and yellow feathers, andmingling them with the dancing butterflies rain them down before you, scattering the words of my song like water dashed from flowers. 

7. Nehcoya ompa ye nihuithuiya xoxouhqui hueyatla ymancan zannimanolini pozoni tetecuica ic nipa tlania, zan iquetzal in tototlxiuhquechol tototl no chiuhtihuitz'y ni yahuinac ya HuexotzincoAtzalan ayome. 

7. I would that I could go there where lies the great blue watersurging, and smoking and thundering, till after a time it retiresagain: I shall sing as the quetzal, the blue quechol, when I go backto Huexotzinco among the waters (_or_, and Atzalan). 

8. Zan niquintocaz aya niquimiximatitiuh nohueyotzitzinhuanchalchiuhquechol y canca xiuhquechol in teocuitlapapalotl incozcatototl ontlapia ye onca Huexotzinco Atzalan ayame;

8. I shall follow them, I shall know them, my beloved Huexotzincos;the emerald quechol birds, the green quechol, the golden butterflies, and yellow birds, guard Huexotzinco among the waters (_or_, andAtzalan). 

9. Xochi Atzalaan teocuitlaatl chalchiuhatl y nepaniuhyan itlatoayain quetzalcanauhtli quetzalnocuitlapilli cuecueyahuaya yliya yliyayaho ayli yaho aye huichile anicale. 

9. Among the flowery waters, the golden waters, the emerald waters, at the junction of the waters which the blue duck rules moving herspangled tail. 

10. Huecapan nicac nicuicanitl huiya zaquan petlatolini, ma nicayeninemia nicyeyectian cuicatla in nic xochiotia yayaho yahii. 

10. I the singer stand on high on the yellow rushes; let me go forthwith noble songs and laden with flowers. 

XXII. 

_Tico tico ticoti tico tico ticoti auh ic ontlantiuk in cuicatltotoco totoco. _

_Tico, tico, ticoti, tico, tico, ticoti, and then the song ends withtotoco, totoco. _

1. Xichocayan nicuicanitl nicitta noxochiuh zan nomac ommania zanquihuintia ye noyollo ni cuicatl aya nohuian nemia, zan ca ye noyollonotlayocola in cayo. 

1. In the place of tears I the singer watch my flowers; they are inmy hand; they intoxicate my soul and my song, as I walk alone withthem, with my sad soul among them. 

2. Xiuhtlamatelolla quetzalchalchiuhtla ipan ye nicmatia nocuic ayama yectlaxochitl y, zan nomac ton mania, etc. 

2. In this spot, where the herbage is like sweet ointment and greenas the turquoise and emerald, I think upon my song, holding thebeauteous flowers in my hand, etc. (as in v. 1). 

3. In quetzalin chalchiuhtla ipan ye nicmatia yectli ye nocuic yectlinoxochiuh annicuihuan tepilhuan aya xonahuiacan a ayac onnemiz o intlalticpac ayo. 

3. In this spot of turquoise and emerald, I think upon beauteoussongs, beauteous flowers; let us rejoice now, dear friends andchildren, for life is not long upon earth. 

4. O an niquitquiz ye niaz yectli nocuic yectli noxochiuhuiannicuihuan tepilhuan aya. 

4. I shall hasten forth, I shall go to the sweet songs, the sweetflowers, dear friends and children. 

5. O huayanco o nichocaya a huayanco o cahua y yahue nictzetzeloxochitl ay yo. 

5. O he! I cried aloud; O he! I rained down flowers as I left. 

6. Mach nohuan tonyaz quennonamica o ah nicitquiz xochitl zannicuicanitl huiya ma yo a xonahuiyacan to ya nemia ticaqui ye nocuicahuaya. 

6. Let us go forth anywhere; I the singer shall find and bring forththe flowers; let us be glad while we live; listen to my song. 

7. Ay ca nichocaya nicuicanitl ya icha ahuicaloyan cuicatl ha Mictlantemohuiloya yectliya xochitl onca ya oncaa y yao ohuayan ca ya ilacatziuhan ca na y yo. 

7. I the poet cry out a song for a place of joy, a glorious songwhich descends to Mictlan, and there turns about and comes forthagain. 

8. Amo nequimilool amo neccuiltonol antepilhuan aychaa ohuicaloyancuicatl. 

8. I seek neither vestment nor riches, O children, but a song for aplace of joy. 

XXIII. 

_YCUIC NEZAHUALCOYOTZIN. _

_SONGS OF THE PRINCE NEZAHUALCOYOTL. _

_Totoco totoco tico, totoco totoco ic ontlantiuh tico titico ti ticotico. _

_Totoco, totoco, tico, totoco totoco, then it ends with tico titico, titico, tico. _

1. Nicaya quetza con tohuehueuh aoniquimitotia quauhtlocelo yn catiyayhcac in cuicaxochitl, nictemoan cuicatl ye tonequimilol ayyo. 

1. I bring forth our drum that I may show the power and the grandeurin which thou standest, decked with flowers of song: I seek a songwherewith to drape thee, ah! oh!

2. Ti Nopiltzi o ti Nezahualcoyotl o tiya Mictl a quenonamica y yecemiyoncan ay yo. 

2. Thou, my Lord, O thou Nezahualcoyotl, thou goest to Mictlan insome manner and at a fixed time, ere long. 

3. Quiyon quiyon caya nichocaya ya ni Nezahualcoyotl huiya queni yenoyaz o ya nipolihuiz oya miquitla ye nimitzcahua noteouh ypalnemo otinechnahuatia ye niaz nipolihuiz aya, yo. 

3. For this, for this, I weep, I Nezahualcoyotl, inasmuch as I am togo, I am to be lost in death, I must leave thee; my God, the Giver ofLife, thou commandest me, that I go forth, that I be lost, alas. 

4. Quenon maniz tlallin Acolihuacan huiya cuixoca quen mano oticmomoyahuaz in momacehuali ye nimitzcahua noteouh, etc. 

4. How shall the land of Acolhuacan remain, alas? How shall we, thyservants, spread abroad its fame? I must leave thee; my God, etc. 

5. Can yio cuicatli tonequimilol quipoloaya a in totlacuilolitepilhuan oo maya o huitihua nican aya ayac ichan tlalticpac ooticyacencahuazque huelic ye xochitl ayio. 

5. Even this song for thy draping may perish, which we have writtenfor our children, it will no longer have a home here on earth when weshall wholly leave these fragrant flowers. 

6. O ayac quitlamitaz monecuiltonol ypalnemoa a noyolquimaticuelachic otictlanehuico Nezahualcoyotzin ay oppatihua nican anaya ychan tlpc. Oon yn ay oppatihua in tlalticpacqui, zan nicuicanitlayaho onnichocaya niquelnamiqui Nezahualcoyotl aya ho. 

6. Alas! thy riches shall end; the Giver of Life teaches me that butfor a little while do we enjoy the prince Nezahualcoyotl, nor asecond time will he come to his house on earth; no second time willhe rejoice on earth; but I the singer grieve, recalling to memoryNezahualcoyotl. 

7. Xo acico ye nican in teotl aya ypalnemoa, ayaho on nichocaya aniquelnamiqui Nezalhuacoyotl ayio. 

7. Let us seek while here the god, the Giver of Life; I grieve, recalling to memory Nezahualcoyotl. 

XXIV. 

_Quititi, quititi, quiti tocoto, tocoti tocoto tocoti zan icmocueptiuh. _

_Quititi, quititi, quiti tocoto, tocoti, tocoto, tocoti, then it isto turn back again. _

1. Ma xochicuicoya ma ichtoa nichuana ayyahue teyhuinti xochitl ao yanoyehcoc ye nica poyoma xahuallan timaliuhtihuitz ay yo. 

1. Let me pluck flowers, let me see them, let me gather the reallyintoxicating flowers; the flowers are ready, many colored, varied inhue, for our enjoyment. 

2. Ma xochitl oyecoc ye nican ayyahuc can tlaahuixochitla moyahuayamotzetzeloa ancazo yehuatl in nepapaxochitl ayyo. Zan commonihuchuetl ma ya netotilo. 

2. The flowers are ready here in this retired spot, this spot offragrant flowers, many sorts of flowers are poured down and scatteredabout; let the drum be ready for the dance. 

3. Yn quetzal poyomatl ayc ihcuilihuic noyol nicuicanitl in xochitlayan tzetzelihui ya ancuel ni cuiya ma xonahuacan ayio zan noyoliticontlapanion cuicaxochitl nicyamoyahuaya yxoochitla. 

3. I the singer take and pour down before you from my soul thebeautiful poyomatl, not to be painted, and other flowers; let usrejoice, while I alone within my soul disclose the songs of flowers, and scatter them abroad in the place of flowers. 

4. Cuicatl ya ninoquinilotehuaz in quemmanian xochineneliuhtiaznoyollo yehuan tepilhuan oonteteuctin in ca yio. 

4. I shall leave my songs in order that sometime I may mingle theflowers of my heart with the children and the nobles. 

5. Zan ye ic nichoca in quemanian zan nicaya ihtoa noxochiteyonocuicatoca nictlalitehuaz in quemanian xochineneliuhtiaz, etc. 

5. I weep sometimes as I see that I must leave the earth and myflowers and songs, that sometime these flowers will be vain anduseless. 

XXV. 

_Tico toco tocoto ic ontlantiuh ticoto ticoto. _

_Tico, toco, tocoto, and then it ends, ticoto, ticoto. _

1. Toztliyan quechol nipa tlantinemia in tlallaicpac oquihuinti yenoyol ahua y ya i. 

1. The sweet voiced quechol there, ruling the earth, has intoxicatedmy soul. 

2. Ni quetzaltototl niyecoya ye iquiapan ycelteotl yxochiticpacnihueloncuica oo nicuicaihtoa paqui ye noyol ahuay. 

2. I am like the quetzal bird, I am created in the house of the oneonly God; I sing sweet songs among the flowers; I chant songs andrejoice in my heart. 

3. Xochiatl in pozontimania in tlallaicpac oquihuinti ye noyol ahua. 

3. The fuming dew-drops from the flowers in the field intoxicate mysoul. 

4. Ninochoquilia niquinotlamati ayac in chan oo tlallicpac ahua. 

4. I grieve to myself that ever this dwelling on earth should end. 

5. Zan niquittoaya ye ni Mexicatl mani ya huiya nohtlatocatequantepec ni yahui polihuin chittepehua a ya ye choca intequantepehua o huaye. 

5. I foresaw, being a Mexican, that our rule began to be destroyed, Iwent forth weeping that it was to bow down and be destroyed. 

6. Ma ca qualania nohueyotehua Mexicatli polihui chile. 

6. Let me not be angry that the grandeur of Mexico is to bedestroyed. 

7. Citlalin in popocaya ipan ye moteca y za ye polihui a zan yexochitecatl ohuaye. 

7. The smoking stars gather together against it; the one who caresfor flowers is about to be destroyed. 

8. Zan ye chocaya amaxtecatl aya caye chocaya tequantepehua. 

8. He who cared for books wept, he wept for the beginning of thedestruction. 

XXVI. 

_Toto tiquiti tiquiti ic ontlantiuh tocotico tocoti toto titiqui tototitiquiti. _

_Toto tiquiti tiquiti, then it ends tocotico, tocoti toto titiquitoto titiquiti. _

1. Oya moquetz huel oon ma on netotilo teteuctin aya maonnetlanehuihuilo chalchihuitl on quetzali patlahuac, ayac ichantlalticpac, ayio zan nomac onmania ooo y xochiuh aya ipalnemoa maonnetlanehuilo chalchihuitl. 

1. Come forth to the dance, ye lords, let there be abundance ofturquoise and feathers; our dwelling on earth is not for long; onlylet the gods give me flowers to my hand, give me abundance ofturquoises. 

2. Oyohual in colinia o on in icelteotl ipalnemaa Anahuac o onnemianoyol ayio. 

2. Come let us move in the dance in honor of the one only god, theGiver of Life, while my soul lives by the waters (_or_, in Anahuac). 

3. In yancuica oncan quixima ipalnemoani ca ye Nonoalco ahuilizapan iin teuctli yehua Nezahualpilli y yece ye oncan aya in tlacochtenanpan Atlixco ayio. 

3. The Giver of Life made known a new song after the lordNezahualpilli entered the strongholds of Nonoalco and sped his arrowswithin the walls of Atlixco. 

4. Zan momac otitemic motlahuan zomal a ica ticahuiltia icelteotl inteuctli yehua. 

4. Thou hast filled thy plate and thy cup in thy hands and hastrejoiced in the one only God, the Lord. 

5. Y yeho aye icnotlamatinoyollo, zan niNonoalcatl, zan can nicolintototl o nocamapan ayaMexicatl in ca yio. 

5. Alas, how I am afflicted in my soul, I, a resident of Nonoalco; Iam like a wild bird, my face is that of a Mexican. 

6. On quetzal pipixauhtoc motlachinolxochiuh in ipalnemoa zan canicolintototl, etc. 

6. The beauteous flowers of thy battles lie abundantly snowed down, OGiver of Life; I am like a wild bird, etc. 

XXVII. 

_Toco toco tiqui tiqui ic ontlantiuh toco tico tocoti. _

_Toco, toco, tiqui, tiqui, and then it ends toco, tico, tocoli. _

1. Ma ya pehualo ya nicuihua in ma ya on acico ye nicaan aya oyay[)e]coc yehuan Dios in cayio in ma ya ca ya onahuilihuan tepilhuan aayamo acico ya yehuan Dios oncan titemoc yehuan Dios a oncan huel inoncan tlacat y ye Yesu Cristo in ca yio. 

1. Let my song be begun, let it spread abroad from here as far as Godhas created; may the children be glad, may it reach to God, there toGod whom we seek, there where is Jesus Christ who was born. 

2. In oncan tlahuizcalli milintimani mochan aya moxochiuhaya Dios ayachalchiuhcueponi maquiztzetzelihui onnetlamachtiloya in ca yio inoncan ya o nepapan izhuayo moxochiuh aya Dios a. 

2. There the dawn spreads widely over the fields, over thy house, andthy flowers, O God, blossom beauteous as emeralds; they rain down inwondrous showers, in that place of happiness; there alone may myflowers, of various leaves, be found, O God. 

3. Zan ye xochitl moyahua oo zan ca itlatol in ipalnemoani o ontepanye moteca anahuac ooica tichuelmana atl on yan tepetl ayio. 

3. There the flowers are the words of the Giver of Life; they areupon the mountains and by the waters; we find them alike by the waterand the mountain. 

4. Zan temomac mania cemilhuitl in niman ye tehuatl toconyaittoayaipalnemoani. 

4. Our day is in thy hand, and soon we shall see thee, thou Giver ofLife. 

NOTES. 

NOTES FOR SONG I. 

The song is an allegory, portraying the soul-life of the poet. By theflowers which he sets forth to seek, we are to understand the songswhich he desires to compose. He asks himself where the poeticinspiration is to be sought, and the answer is the same as was givenby Wordsworth, that it is to the grand and beautiful scenes of Naturethat the poet must turn for the elevation of soul which will lift himto the sublimest heights of his art. But this exaltation bears withit the heavy penalty that it disqualifies for ordinary joys. As inmedieval tales, he who had once been admitted to fairyland, couldnevermore conquer his longing to return thither, so the poet longsfor some other condition of existence where the divine spirit of songmay forever lift him above the trials and the littleness of thisearthly life. 

There is no sign of Christian influence in the poem, and it isprobably one handed down from a generation anterior to the Conquest. 

1. The word _peuhcayotl_ from _peua_, to begin, intimates that thiswas a song chanted at the beginning of a musical entertainment. Theverses are longer, and the phraseology plainer than in many of thosefollowing. There is also an absence of interjections and lengthenedvowels, all of which indicate that the time was slow, and the actionsof the singer temperate, as was the custom at the beginning of a_baile_. (See Introd. , p. 20. )

1. _Ninoyolnonotza_, a reflexive, frequentative form from _notza_, tothink, to reflect, itself from the primitive radicle _no_, mind, common to both the Nahuatl and Maya languages. The syllable _yol_ isfor _yollotl_, heart, in its figurative sense of soul or mind. Thecombination of _yolnonotza_ is not found in any of the dictionaries. The full sense is, "I am thinking by myself, in my heart. "

_ahuiaca_, an adverbial form, usually means "pleasant-smelling, "though in derivation it is from the verb _ahuia_, to be satisfiedwith. 

_quetzal_, for _quetzalli_, a long, handsome blue feather from thequetzal bird, often used figuratively for anything beautiful orprecious. 

_chalchiuh_ for _chalchiuitl_, the famous green-stone, jade oremerald, so highly prized by the Mexicans; often used figurativelyfor anything noble, beautiful and esteemed. 

_huitzitzicatin_, a word not found in the dictionaries, appears to befrom _tzitzilca_, to tremble, usually from cold, but here applied tothe tremulous motion of the humming bird as it hovers over a flower. 

_zacuan_, the yellow plumage of the zacuan bird, and from similarityof color here applied to the butterfly. The zacuan is known toornithologists as the _Oriolus dominicensis_. These birds areremarkably gregarious, sometimes as many as a hundred nests beingfound in one tree (see Eduard Mühlenpfort, _Versuch einer getreuenSchilderung der Republik Mexiko_, Bd. I, p. 183). 

_acxoyatzinitzcanquauhtla_; composed of _acxoyatl_, the wild laurel;_tzinitzcan_, the native name of the _Trogon mexicanus_, renowned forits beautiful plumage; _quauhtli_, a tree; and the place-ending_tla_, meaning abundance. 

_tlauquecholxochiquauhtla_; composed of _tlauquechol_, the nativename of the red, spoon-billed heron, _Platalea ajaja; xochitl_, flower; _quauhtli_, tree; and the place-ending _tla_. 

_tonameyotoc_, the root is the verb _tona_, to shine, to be warm;_tonatiuh_, the sun; _tonameyotl_, a ray of the sun, etc. As warmthand sunlight are the conditions of growth and fertility, manyderivatives from this root signify abundance, riches, etc. 

_mocehcemelquixtia_; _mo_ is the reflexive pronoun, 3d sing. , oftenused impersonally; _cehcemel_, is a reduplicated form of the numeral_ce_, one; it conveys the sense of entire, whole, perfect, and isthus an interesting illustration of the tendency of the untutoredmind to associate the idea of unity with the notion of perfection;_quixtia_ is the compulsive form of _quiza_, to go forth. 

_onechittitique_; 3d person plural, preterit, of the causative formof _itta_, to see; _ittitia_, to cause to see, to show; _nech_, me, accusative form of the pronoun. 

_nocuexanco_; from _cuexantli_, the loose gown worn by the natives, extending from the waist to the knees. Articles were carried in it asin an apron; _no-cuexan-co_, my-gown-in, the terminal _tli_ beingdropped on suffixing the postposition. 

_tepilhuan_; from _pilli_, boy, girl, child, young person, with therelative, indefinite, pronominal prefix _te_, and the pronominalplural termination _huan_, to take which, _pilli_ drops its lastsyllable, _li_; hence, _te-pil-huan_, somebody's children, or ingeneral, the young people. This word is of constant occurrence in thesongs. 

_teteuctin_, plural with reduplication of _teuctli_, a noble, aruler, a lord. The singer addresses his audience by this respectfultitle. 

2. _ixochicuicatzini_; _i_, poss. Pron. 3d sing. ; _xochitl_, flower;_cuicatl_, song; _tzin_, termination signifying reverence oraffection; "their dear flower-songs. "

_yuhqui tepetl_, etc. The echo in the Nahuatl tongue is called_tepeyolotl_, the heart or soul of the mountain (not in Simeon's_Dictionnaire_, but given by Tezozomoc, _Cronica Mexicana_, p. 202). 

_meyaquetzalatl_; from _meya_, to flow slowly, to trickle;_quetzalli_, beautiful; _atl_, water. 

_xiuhtotoameyalli_; the root _xiuh_ meant originally green (or blue, as they were not distinguished apart); hence _xiuitl_, a leaf orplant, the green herbage; as where the Nahuas then were this wasrenewed annually, _xiuitl_ came to mean a year; as a comet seems tohave a bunch of fiery flames growing from it, this too was _xiuitl_, and a turquoise was called by the same term; in the present compound, it is employed adjectively; _xiuh-totol_, turquoise-bird, is the_Guiaca cerulea_, Linn. ; _ameyalli_, from _atl_, water, _meya_, totrickle, and the noun ending. 

_mo-motla_; to throw one's self, to dash one's self againstsomething, etc. 

_centzontlatolli_; literally, " four hundred speeches. " The numeralfour hundred was employed, like the Greek "myriad, " to expressvaguely any extraordinary number. The term may be rendered "themyriad-voiced, " and was the common name of the mocking-bird, calledby ornithologists _Turdus polyglottus_, _Calandria polyglotta_, and_Mimus polyglotta_. 

_coyoltototl_, literally, "the rattle-bird, " so called from itspeculiar notes (_coyolli_ = a rattle), is one of the _Tanegridae_, probably the _Piranga hepatica_. 

_ayacachicahuactimani_; composed of _ayacachtli_, the rattle (see_ante_, page 24); and _icahuaca_, to sing (of birds); to the theme ofthis verb is added the connective syllable _ti_, and the verb _mani_, which, in such connection, indicates that the action of the formerverb is expended over a large surface, broadly and widely (see Olmos, _Gram. De la Langue Nahuatl_, p. 155, where, however, the connective_ti_ is erroneously taken for the pronoun _ti_). 

_hueltetozcatemique_; composed of _huel_, good or well; _tetozca_, from _tozquitl_, the singing voice; and _temo_, to let fall, to drop;_que_ is the plural verbal termination. 

3. _ma n-amech-ellelti_, vetative causative from _elleloa_, to causepain. 

_cactimotlalique_, appears to be a compound of _caqui_, to listen, tohear, and _tlalia_, to seat, to place. 

_amohuampotzitzinhuan_, a compound based on the pronoun of the secondperson plural, _amo_, the particle _po_, which means similarity orlikeness, and the reduplicated reverential plural termination. Thesame particle _po_, appears a few lines later in _toquichpohuan_;_potli_ = comrade, compeer. 

4. _Tepeitic_, from _tepetl_, mountain, _ititl_, belly, from which isderived the proposition _itic_, within, among. The term is applied toa ravine or sequestered valley. 

5. _quauhtliya ocelotl_, the expression _quauhtli, ocelotl_, is offrequent occurrence in the ancient Nahuatl writers. The words meanliterally "eagle, tiger. " These were military titles applied toofficers commanding small bodies of troops; figuratively, the wordsmean control, power, and dignity; also, bravery and virtue. Comp. Agustin de Vetancurt, _Teatro Mexicano_, Tratado II, cap. 3. 

6. _in tloque in nahuaque_; this expression, applied by the ancientNahuas to the highest divinity, is attributed by some toNezahualcoyotl (see above, p. 36). It is composed of twopostpositions _tloc_ and _nahaac_, and in the form given conveys themeaning "to whom are present and in whom are immanent all thingshaving life. " See Agustin de la Rosa, _Analisis de la PlaticaMexicana sobre el Mislerio de la Santisima Trinidad_, p. 11(Guadalajara, 1871). The epithet was applied in heathen times to thesupreme divinity Tonacateotl; see the _Codex Telleriano-Remensis_, inKingsborough's _Mexico_, Vol. VI, p. 107. 

8. _ximoayan_; this word does not appear in the dictionaries ofMolina or Simeon, and is a proof, as is the sentiment of the wholeverse, that the present poem belongs to a period previous to theConquest. The term means "where all go to stay, " and was the name ofthe principal realm of departed souls in the mythology of the ancientNahuas. See Bartholome de Alva, _Confessionario en Lengua Mexicana_, fol. 13 (Mexico, 1634); Tezozomoc, _Cronica Mexicana_, cap. 55; D. G. Brinton; _The Journey of the Soul_ (in Aztec and Aryan Myths), Philadelphia, 1883. 

_yhuintia_, causative form of _ihuinti_, to make drunk. The Nirvanaof the Nahuas was for the soul to lie in dense smoke and darkness, filled with utter content, and free from all impressions ("en loprofundo de contento y obscuridad, " Tezozomoc, _Cronica Mexicana_, cap. 55). 

NOTES FOR SONG II. 

On the signification of the titles given to this poem see theIntroduction, § 3. 

1. _yehnan Dios_; literally "who are God;" the introduction of theSpanish _Dios_, God, is in explanation of _in tloque in nahuaque_; sofar from proving that this song is of late date, this vouches for itsgenuine ancient character, through the necessity for suchexplanation. 

2. _nelhuayotl_, the essence or source of something, its true nature;probably from _nelli_, true. 

_teoquecholme_; the prefix _teotl_, divine, is often added as anexpression of admiration. Sahagun mentions the _teoquechol_ as a birdof brilliant plumage. 

NOTES FOR SONG III. 

The poet recalls a recent attendance on the obsequies of anacquaintance, and seeks to divert his mind from the gloomycontemplation of death and the ephemeral character of mortal joys byurging his friend to join in the pleasure of the hour, and bysuggesting the probability of an after life. 

1. _xochicalco_; compounded of _xochitl_, flower; _calli_, house; andthe postposition, _co_. The term was applied to any room decoratedwith flowers; here, to the mortuary chamber, which Tezozomoc tells uswas decked with roses and brilliant feathers. 

_ipalnemohuani_, literally "the one by whom life exists. " Thecomposition is _i_, possessive pronoun, third person, singular;_pal_, postposition, by; _nemoani_, singular of the present in _ni_of the impersonal form of the verb _nemi_, to live, with the meaningto do habitually that which the verb expresses. It is an ancientepithet applied to the highest divinity, and is found in the _CodexTelleriano-Remensis_, Kingsborough's _Mexico_, Vol. VI, p. 128, note. 

_tolquatectitlan_, from _toloa_, to lower, to bow; _quatequia_, toimmerse the head; _tlan_, place ending. In the ancient funeralceremonies the faces of the assistants were laved with holy water. Onthis rite see the note of Orozco y Berra to his edition of the_Cronica Mexicana_ of Tezozomoc, p. 435 (Mexico, 1878). 

_xoyacaltitlan_; from _xoyaui_, to spoil, to decay, whence_xoyauhqui_, rank, unpleasant, like the odor of decaying substances. 

_xochicopal tlenamactli_, "the incense of sweet copal, " which wasburned in the funeral chamber (see Tezozomoc's description of theobsequies of Axayaca, _Cron. Mex. _, cap. 55). 

2. The translation of this verse offers some special difficulties. 

NOTES FOR SONG IV. 

A poem of unusually rich metaphors is presented, with the title "ASong of the Mexicans, after the manner of the Otomis. " It is arhapsody, in which the bard sings his "faculty divine, " and describesthe intoxication of the poetic inspiration. It has every inherentmark of antiquity, and its thought is free from any tincture ofEuropean influence. 

2. _miahuatototl_, literally, "the corn-silk bird, " _miahua_ beingthe term applied to the silk or tassel of the maize ear when in themilk. I have not found its scientific designation. 

6. _poyomatl_; the poyomatli is described by Sahagun (_Hist. De laNueva España_, Lib. X, cap. 24) as a species of rose, portions ofwhich were used to fill the cane tubes or pipes used for smoking. Henames it along with certain fungi employed for the same purpose, andit probably produced a narcotic effect. 

NOTES FOR SONG V. 

From the wording, this appears to be one of the lost songs ofNezahualcoyotl, either composed by him or sung before him. (See theIntroduction, p. 35. ) It is a funeral dirge, dwelling on the fact ofuniversal and inevitable death, and the transitoriness of life. Thereis in it no hint of Christian consolation, no comfortable hope ofhappiness beyond the grave. Hence it dates, in all likelihood, from aperiod anterior to the arrival of the missionaries. 

1. _tonequimilol_; I take this to be a derivative from _quimiloa_, towrap up, especially, to shroud the dead, to wrap the corpse in itswinding sheets, as was the custom of the ancient Mexicans. The word, however, seems an archaic form, as it does not lend itself readily toanalysis. 

The expression _in Dios_, I explain as in the note to II, 1, and donot consider that it detracts from the authentic antiquity of thepoem. 

2. _yoyontzin_; on the significance of this appellation ofNezahualcoyotl, see Introduction, p. 35. 

3. _ti Nezahualcoyotl_; "thou Nezahualcoyotl. " The princely poet mayhave addressed himself in this expression, or we may suppose the songwas chanted before him. 

5. _Nopiltzin_; the reference is to Quetzalcoatl, the famous "fairGod" of the Nahuas, and in myth, the last ruler of the Toltecs. SeeD. G. Brinton, _American Hero Myths_ (Philadelphia, 1882). The termmeans "my beloved Lord. " On Tezozomoc, see Introduction, p. 35. 

6. The text of the latter part or refrain of verses 5 and 6 iscorrupt, and my translation is doubtful. 

NOTES FOR SONG VI. 

Most of the poems in this collection are not assigned to any author, but this, and apparently the one following, are recorded as thecompositions of Tetlapan Quetzanitzin. He is evidently the personagespoken of by Sahagun as "King of Tlacopan, " as present with Montezumaon the occasion of his first interview with Cortez. Later in thestruggle Tetlapan appears as the associate of Quauhtemoctzin, the"King of Mexico. " (See Sahagun, _Hist. De la Nueva España_, Lib. XII, cap. 16 and 40. ) M. Rémi Simeon explains the name to mean "he whodeceives the people by magic;" deriving it from _quetza_, he places;_te_, the people, _tlepan_, on the fire. A simpler derivation seemsto me possible from _tetlapanqui_, miner, or quarryman (literally, stone-breaker), and _quetzalli_, red; _quetzatzin_, the lord ormaster of the miners. 

Both this and the following are war songs, and have marked similarityin thought and wording. The introduction of the Spanish _Dios_ wasdoubtless substituted by the scribe, for the name of some native godof war, perhaps Huitzilopochtli. 

1. _Aua_; this word I take to be a form of the interjection _yahue_, or, as Olmos gives it in his _Grammar, aa_. 

2. _nepohualoyan_; "the place of counting or reckoning, " from_pohua_, to count. The reference is not clear, and the translationuncertain. In some parts of ancient Mexico they used in theiraccounting knotted cords of various colors, like the Peruvian_quipus_. These were called _nepohualtzitzin_. 

4. This verse is remarkable for its sonorous phrases and the archaicforms of the words. Its translation offers considerable difficulty. 

_xontlachayan_, I take to be an imperative form from _tlachia_, tolook, with the euphonic _on_. 

_teoatl tlachinolli_, literally "the divine water (i. E. Blood), theburning, " and the expression means war, battle. In one of his sermonsFray Juan Bautista describes the fall of Jericho in the words, _otlaltitechya in altepetl teuatl tlachinolli ye opoliuh_, andexplains it, "the town was destroyed with fire and blood" (_Sermonesen Lengua Mexicana_, p. 122). The word _tlachinolli_ is from_chinoa_, to burn. 

_quetzalalpilo_; a compound of _quetzalli_, a beautiful feather, and_tlalpiloni_, the band which passed around the head to keep the hairin place. 

5. _melchiquiuhticaya_; "he who presented his breast, " an imperfect, reflexive form. Molina gives _melchiquiuh petlauhqui_, with thetranslation _despechugado_. _Vocabulario Mexicana, s. V. _

NOTES FOR SONG VII. 

The second specimen from the muse of Tetlapan Quetzanitzin is thenoblest war song in the collection. It is an appeal to his friends tojoin in a foray to Chiapas. The intoxication of the battle field iscompared to that produced by the strong white wine prepared frommaguey, which was drunk only on solemn occasions. The bard likens theexhaustion of his fellow warriors from previous conflicts, to thestupor which follows a debauch, and he exhorts them to throw itaside. 

1. _oamaxque_, _o_, pret. _am_, you, _axque_, 2d pl. Pret. From _ay_, to do. 

_octicatl_, apparently an old form from _octli_, the intoxicatingbeverage prepared from the maguey. 

_oanquique_, 2d pl. Pret. From _cui_, to take. 

_ohuican_, a place of difficulty and danger. The frequent addition ofthe terminal _o_ in this and the succeeding verses is merelyeuphonic. 

2. _teoatl tlachinolli_; see note VI, 4. 

_in maquiztli tlazotetl_, the beloved jewels, a phrase whichindicates that the broken stones and splintered emeralds referred toare the young warriors who fall in battle, the pride of theirparents' hearts, who are destroyed in the fight. 

The _tizaoctli_, white wine (_tizatl_, chalk, hence white, and_octli_, wine), referred to in this passage, is said by Sahagun tohave been drunk especially at the feast of the god Papaztac, one ofthe many gods of the wine cup. _Hist. De Nueva España_. Lib. II, App. Tezozomoc mentions it as handed to the mourners at funeralceremonies. _Cronica Mexicana_, cap. 55. 

3. _xochitlalticpacilhtuicacpao_; in this long compound of _xochitl_, flower, _tlalti_, earth, and _ilhuicatl_, sky, with variouspostpositions and the euphonic terminal _o_, the final _pa_ gives thesense of location, towards, in the direction of. 

_chimalxochiti_; "the shield flower, " the shield or buckler of theancient warriors, ornamented with tassels and feathers, is notunaptly called the flower of war. 

NOTES FOR SONG VIII. 

The entire absence in this lament for the dead of any consolationdrawn from Christian doctrines, points clearly to a date for itscomposition earlier than the teachings of the missionaries. Its cryof woe is hopeless, and the title attributes its authorship to one ofthe old chieftains, _tlatoani_, who held the power before theSpaniard arrived. 

1. _quetzalhuahuaciuhtoque_, from _quetzalli, huaqui_; _inteintoque_, the splinters; the same simile is employed in VII, 2. 

2. _ximoayan_, see note to I, 8. The occurrence of this term here andin verse 3 testifies to the fact of a composition outside ofChristian influences. 

NOTES FOR SONG IX. 

The title does not necessarily mean that this song is a translationfrom the Otomi language, but merely that the time to which it waschanted was in the Otomi style; or, the term _Otomi_ may havereference to the military officer so called. The word is perhaps acompound of _otli_, path, and _mitl_, arrow. 

The bard sings the vanity of earthly pleasures, and the reality ofearthly pains; he exhorts himself and his hearers not to neglect theduties of religion, and lauds his own skill in song, which hecompares to the sweet voices of melodious birds. There is nothing inthe poem which reflects European influence. 

1. _xotlacueponi_; the meaning of this compound is obscure. It is notfound in the dictionaries. 

2. The terminal _o_ is inserted several times in the passage toexpress emotion and fill the metre. 

_mixitl tlapatl_. A phrase signifying the stupor or drunkenness thatcomes from swallowing or smoking narcotic plants. See Olmos, _Grammaire de la Langue Nahuatl_, pp. 223, 228; _oquiqueo_ is from_i_, to drink, or _cui_, to take, the _o_ terminal being euphonic. 

NOTES FOR SONG X. 

The poet expresses his grief that his songs all dwell on painfultopics; he exhorts his hearers of the vanity of fame and skill inhandicrafts, and of the uncertainty of life; closing, he appealsespecially to those of Tezcuco and Atecpan to listen and believe hiswarnings. 

In spite of the introduction of the Spanish word _Dios_, and theexhortation to "believe, " in the last line, it is possible that thesubstance of this song was due to purely native inspiration; yet itmay have been, like Song XIX, one of those written at an early periodfor the converts by the missionaries. 

NOTES FOR SONG XI. 

In a similar strain as in the last poem, the bard bewails thebriefness of human life and friendships. He closes with an appeal tothe Master of Life, of whom no mortal tongue can speak in worthy andappropriate terms. 

6. _ihuiti_, apparently a form of _ihuintia_. 

_tonan_; the reference appears to be to _Tonantzin_, Our Mother, otherwise known as Cihuacoatl, the Serpent Woman. She was themythical mother of the human race, and dispensed afflictions andadverse fortune. See Sahagun, _Hist. De la Nueva España_, Lib. I, cap. 6. The name is a proof of the antiquity of the poem, which isthroughout in the spirit of the ancient religion. 

NOTES FOR SONG XII. 

As stated in the Introduction (§ 10), a note prefixed to this songintroduces it as a translation from the Otomi into the Nahuatltongue. It admirably illustrates the poetic flexibility of theNahuatl. 

3. _epoyhuayan_, from _epoalli_, sixty; _teoquauhtli ocelott_, "divine eagles, tigers. " These terms refer to the warriors bearingthese titles. 

_tlazomaquiztetl_, "beloved, precious stones, " a figure of speechreferring to the youths who go to war. The same or similar metaphorsare used in previous songs. 

5. The fifth and sixth verses present serious difficulties ofconstruction which I do not flatter myself I have overcome. 

NOTES FOR SONG XIII. 

The inhabitants of Huexotzinco were in frequent strife with those ofMexico-Tenochtitlan, and on various occasions the latter capturedmany prisoners. The present poem is represented to be a compositionof one of these prisoners when he and his companions were confined inTlatilolco, one of the suburbs of Tenochtitlan. It breathes hatredagainst his captors and an ardent thirst for vengeance. The latestdate at which I find captives from Huexotzinco detained in Mexico is1511, and it is to this year, therefore, that I assign thecomposition of the poem. 

5. _Atloyantepetl_; this name possibly means "the mountain of theplace of the water-falcons" (_atl_, water; _tlatli_, falcon; _yan_, place-ending; _tepetl_, mountain). I have not found it in otherwriters. (See Index. )

8. _tlaylotlaqui_; Siméon, on the authority of Aubin, explains thisterm as the name of a tribe living near Tezcuco. In derivation itappears to be a term of contempt, "workers in filth or refuse, " scum, offscourings. It also appears in Song XV. 

10. The construction of this verse is so obscure, or the text soimperfect, that the translation is doubtful. 

NOTES FOR SONG XIV. 

This poem, chanted in 1551 before the Governor of Azcapotzalco, byFrancisco Placido, a native of Huexotzinco, is a Christian song inthe style and metre of the ancient poetry. See the Introduction, p. 51. 

1. _impetlatl_; the ordinary meaning of _petlatl_ is a mat or rug; itis here to be taken in its figurative sense of power or authority, chiefs and other prominent persons being provided with mats at thecouncils, etc. 

NOTES FOR SONG XV. 

This extremely difficult composition seems to be a war song, in whichthe bard refers to the traditional history of the Nahuas, names someof their most prominent warriors, and incites his hearers to deeds ofprowess on the battle field. I do not claim for my version more thana general correspondence to the thought of the original. In severalparts, especially verse 18, the text is obviously defective. 

1. _tzihuactitlan_; "the land of the tzihuac bushes. " The tzihuactliis a small kind of maguey which grows in rocky localities. The tenthedifice of the great temple at Tenochtitlan was a wall surrounding anartificial rockery planted with these bushes. Sahagun, who mentionsthis fact, adds that the name of this edifice was _Teotlalpan_, whichliterally means "on holy ground. " (_Hist. De la Nueva España_, Lib. II, App. ) The _mizquitl_ is the common _Mimosa circinalis_. 

_Chicomoztoc_; "at the Seven Caves, " a famous locality in Mexicanlegend, and the supposed birthplace of their race. 

2. _Colhuacan_ is probably for Acolhuacan; the early rulers of thelatter were of the blood of the Chichimec chiefs of the Tepanecas. 

4. _Hueytlalpan_, "at the ancient land, " perhaps for Huetlapallan, a1ocality often referred to in the migration myths of the Nahuas. 

5. _Atloyan_; see note to XIII, 6. 

9. The ceiba and cypress trees were employed figuratively to indicateprotection and safeguard. See Olmos, _Gram. De la Langue Nahuatl_, p. 211. 

12. On _tlailotlaqui_, see note to XIII, 8. The interjectionalappendages to this and the following verse are increased. 

15. Tepeyacan was the name of a mountain on which before the Conquestwas a temple dedicated to the "Mother of our Life, " Tonantzin. 

16. _tlapalcayocan_, "the place of shards, " of broken pieces, i. E. , the field of battle. 

19. The word _totomihuacan_, which has already occurred in vv. 3 and7, I have translated as referring to the war captains of the Mexicanarmies, called _otomi_ (see Bandelier, _On the Art of War of theAncient Mexicans_, p. 117). I am quite open for correction however. 

27. _in ipetl icpal_; in a translation of an ancient song, Ixtlilxochitl renders the expression _in ipetl icpal in teotl_, "enel trono y tribunal de Dios, " _Historia Chichimeca_, cap. 32. 

29. _Mictlan_; the place of departed souls in Aztec mythology. 

NOTES FOR SONG XVI. 

In this stirring war-song, the poet reproaches his friends for theirlukewarmness in the love of battle. He reminds them that life istransitory, and the dead rise not again, and that the greatest joy ofthe brave is on the ringing field of fray where warriors win renown. It is in the spirit of the Scotch harper:--

"'Twere worth ten years of peaceful life, One hour of such a day. "

1. Each verse terminates with an interjectional refrain. The frequentintroduction of the particle _on_ is intended to add strength andgravity to the oration. 

2. _oppan piltihua_. Compare this expression with that in v. 22, p. 44. 

3. _xochimicohuayan_, should perhaps be translated, "where thecaptives to be immolated to the Gods are taken. " The _xochimique_, "those destined to a flowery death" were the captives who werereserved for sacrifice to the gods. See Joan Bautista, _Sermonario enLengua Mexicana_, p. 180. 

4. _yaoxochimiquiztica_, "pertaining to the slaughter of the flowerywar. " This adjective refers to the peculiar institution of the"flowery war, " _guerra florida_, which obtained among the ancientMexicans. It appears to have been a contest without provocation, andmerely for the display of prowess and to take captives to supply thedemand for human sacrifices in the religious rites. On this seeTezozomoc, _Cronica Mexicana_, cap. 96. 

NOTES FOR SONG XVII. 

In this long fragment--the closing strophes are missing in myMS. --the bard represents himself as a stranger appearing before thenobles of Huexotzinco at some festival. The first two verses appearto be addressed to him by the nobles. They ask him to bring forth hisdrum and sing. He begins with a laudation of the power of music, proceeds to praise the noble company present, and touches thoseregretful chords, so common in the Nahuatl poetry, which hint at theephemeral nature of all joy and the certainty of death and oblivion. An appeal is made to the Master of Life who inspires the soul of thepoet, and whose praises should be ever in mind. 

The words _Dios_ and _angelotin_, in verse 26th, indicate that thepoem has received some "recension" by the Spanish copyist; but thegeneral tone impresses me as quite aboriginal in character. 

2. _quauhtlocelotl_, see note to I, 5. 

3. In this verse, as frequently elsewhere, the syllable ya isintroduced merely to complete the metre. Ordinarily it is the sign ofthe imperfect tense, and has other meanings (see the Vocabulary), butin many instances does not admit of translation. 

8. _noncoati_, for _ni-on-coatl_, I am a guest. 

18. The references in this verse are obscure, and I doubt if I havesolved them. 

20. "The house of spring;" compare the expression in v. 1, ofNezahualcoyotl's song, p. 42. 

21. A long oration of Xicontecatl, lord of Tizatlan, may be found inClavigero, _Hist. Antica di Messico_, Tom. III, p. 40. The expressionin _camaxochitzin_, from _camatl_, mouth, _xochitl_, rose, flower, and the reverential _tzin_, is noteworthy. 

24. _petlacoatl_, the centipede or scolopender; from _petlatl_, mat, and _coatl_, serpent, as they are said to intertwine with each other, like the threads of a mat (Sahagun, Lib. XII, cap. 4). 

NOTES FOR SONG XVIII. 

At this portion of the MS. Several poems are preceded by a line ofsyllables indicating their accompaniment on the teponaztli (seeIntroduction, p. 32). 

The present number is one of the most noteworthy songs of thecollection. It belongs to the ancient cyclus of Quetzalcoatl myths, and gives a brief relation of the destruction of Tollan and thedeparture and disappearance of the Light God, Quetzalcoatl Ce Acatl. As I have elsewhere collated this typical myth at length, andinterpreted it according to the tenets of modern mythologic science, I shall not dwell upon it here (see D. G. Brinton, _American HeroMyths_, Phila. , 1882). 

The text of the poem is quite archaic, and presents manydifficulties. But my translation, I think, gives the general sensecorrectly. 

1. _huapalcalli_; literally, "the house constructed of beams. " Thisname was applied to the chief temple of the Toltecs; the ruins of anancient structure at Tollantzinco were pointed out at the time of theConquest as those of this building (see Sahagun, _Hist. De la NuevaEspaña_, Lib. X, cap. 29). 

_coatlaquetzalli_; this edifice, said to have been left incomplete byQuetzalcoatl, when he forsook Tollan, had pillars in the form of aserpent, the head at the base, the tail at the top of the pillar. (See Orozco y Berra, _Hist. Antigua de Mexico_, Tom. III, pp. 30 and46. ) The structure is mentioned as follows in the _Anales deCuauhtitlan_:--

_Auh iniquac nemia Quetzalcoatl quitzintica, quipeuahtica iteocalquimaman coatlaquetzali ihuan amo quitzonquixti, amo quipantlaz. "_

"And when Quetzalcoatl was living, he began and commenced the templeof his which is the Coatlaquetzali (Serpent Plumes), and he did notfinish it, he did not fully erect it. "

_Nacxitl Topiltzin_, "Our Lord the four-footed. " _Nacxitl_ appears tohave been the name of Quetzalcoatl, in his position as lord of themerchants. Compare Sahagun, ubi supra, Lib. I, cap. 19. 

2. _Poyauhtecatl_, a volcano near Orizaba, mentioned by Sahagun. _Acallan_, a province bordering on the Laguna de los Terminos. Themyth reported that Quetzalcoatl journeyed to the shores of the Gulfabout the isthmus of Tehuantepec and there disappeared. 

3. _Nonohualco_; the reference is to the _cerro de Nonoalco_, whichplays a part in the Quetzalcoatl myth. The words of the song arealmost those of Tezcatlipoca when he is introduced to Quetzalcoatl. Asked whence he came, he replied, "Nihuitz in Nonohualcatepetlitzintla, etc. " (_Anales de Cuauhtitlan_). 

4. The occurrences alluded to are the marvels performed byQuetzalcoatl on his journey from Tulan. See my American Hero Myths, p. 115. 

5. The departure of Quetzalcoatl was because he was ordered to repairto Tlapallan, supposed to be beyond Xicalanco. 

8. _quinti_, for _iquintia_; the reference is to the magic draughtgiven Quetzalcoatl by Tezcatlipoca. 

9. _In tetl, in quahuitl_; literally, "stone and stick;" a verycommon phrase in Nahautl, to signify misfortunes. 

NOTES FOR SONG XIX. 

In this song we have avowedly a specimen of an early chant preparedprobably by Bishop Zummarraga for the native converts. Theaccompaniment on the teponaztli is marked at the beginning. Thelanguage is noticeably different from the hymn to Quetzalcoatl justgiven (XVIII). 

NOTES FOR SONG XX. 

Another song of the antique Quetzalcoatl cyclus. It bewails the lossof Tulan, and the bard seeks in vain for any joyous theme to inspirehis melody, reflecting on all that has bloomed in glory and now isgone forever. 

3. _Tetl-quahitl_; see note to XVIII, 9. 

NOTES FOR SONG XXI. 

The occurrence to which this poem alludes took place about the year1507. The chroniclers state that it was in the early period of thereign of Montezuma II, that the natives of Huexotzinco, at that timeallies of the Mexicans, were severely harassed by the Tlascallans, and applied, not in vain, to their powerful suzerain to aid them. (See Tezozomoc, _Cronica Mexicana_, cap. 97. )

The poet does not appear to make a direct petition, but indirectlypraises the grandeur of Montezuma and expresses his own ardent lovefor his native Huexotzinco. The song would appear to be used as adelicate prelude to the more serious negotiations. It is one of thefew historical songs in the collection. From the references in verses1 and 3 we infer that this singer held in his hand the painted bookfrom which he recited the couplets. This may explain the presentationof the piece. 

1. _huetzcani_; one who laughs, a jester, perhaps the designation ofone who sang cheerful songs. 

_chalchiuhatlaquiquizcopa_; a. Word of difficult analysis. I suspectan omission of an _l_, and that the compound includes _tlaquilqui_, one who fastens and puts together, a mason, etc. 

5. The sense is that the warriors of Montezuma when on the field ofbattle, shine in their deeds like beautiful flowers in a field, andwin lasting fame by their exploits. 

_mopopoyauhtoc_. The grammarian Olmos explains the reflexive verb_mopopoyauhtiuh_ to signify "he leaves an honored memory of hisexploits. " See Siméon, _Dictionaire de la Langue Nahuatl_, sub voce. 

7. _Huexotzinco atzalan_; "Huexotzinco amid the waters. " Thisexpression, repeated in verse 8, appears inappropriate to the town ofHuexotzinco, which lies inland. In fact, the description in verse 7applies to Tenochtitlan rather than the singer's own town. But thetext does not admit this translation. Perhaps we should read"Huexotzinco and Atzalan, " as there are yet two villages of that namein the state of Puebla (which embraced part of ancient Huexotzinco). 

10. _petiatolini_, I have derived from _petlatl_, suspecting an errorin transcription. The reference is to the rushes in the mat on whichthe singer stood. 

NOTES FOR SONG XXII. 

The ordinary sad burden of the Nahuatl poets is repeated withemphasis in this plaint. It is a variation of the Epicurean advice, "Eat, drink, and be merry, for to-morrow we die. " Both the sentimentand the reference to Mictlan in verse 7, point it out as a productionuninfluenced by Christian teaching. 

7. The word _ahuicaloyan_, place of sweetness, would seem to beidentical with _ohuicaloyan_, place of difficulty, in v. 8; I haveregarded the latter as an error of transcription. 

NOTES FOR SONG XXIII. 

Although No. V. Is probably one of the lost songs of Nezahualcoyotl, the present is the only one of the collection which is definitelyattributed to him. The language is very archaic, and in the sentimentthere is every mark of antiquity. 

The text is apparently a dialogue, which was chanted as strophe andantistrophe, the one singer speaking for the King, the other for thebard himself. 

The word _teotl_ is used for divinity, and it is doubtless this wordfor which the copyists of some of the other songs have substitutedthe Spanish _Dios_, thus conveying an impression that the chantsthemselves were of late date. 

The last verse, however, seems to be by one who lives after the timeof the great poet-prince, and is calling him to memory. 

NOTES FOR SONG XXIV. 

It will be seen that there is a wearisome sameness in the theme ofmost of the short poems. Probably the bards followed conventionalmodels, and feared for the popularity of their products, did theyseek originality. Here again are the same delight in flowers andsongs, and the same grief at the thought that all such joys areevanescent and that soon "death closes all. "

I consider the poem one of undoubted antiquity and purely native inthought and language. 

NOTES FOR SONG XXV. 

The destruction of the Mexican state was heralded by a series ofomens and prodigies which took place at various times during the tenyears preceding the arrival of Cortes. They are carefully recorded bySahagun, in the first chapter of the 12th book of his history. Theyincluded a comet, or "smoking star, " as these were called in Nahuatl, and a bright flame in the East and Southeast, over the mountains, visible from midnight to daylight, for a year. This latter occurredin 1509. The song before us is a boding chant, referring to suchprognostics, and drawing from them the inference that the existenceof Mexico was doomed. It was probably from just such songs thatSahagun derived his information. 

1. _toztliyan_, I suppose from _tozquitl_, the singing voice, in thelocative; literally, "the quechol in the place of sweet-singing. "

2. _iquiapan_, from _i_, possessive prefix, _quiauatl_, door, entrance, house, _pan_, in. 

5. An obscure verse; _tequantepec_, appears to be a textual error;_tequani_, a ravenous beast, from _qua_ to eat; _tepec_, a mountain;but _tequantepehua_ occurring twice later in the poem induces thebelief _tequani_ should be taken in its figurative sense ofaffliction, destruction, and that _tepec_ is an old verbal form. 

7. _Xochitecatl_, "one who cares for flowers, " is said by Sahagun tohave been the name applied to a woman doomed to sacrifice to thedivinities of the mountains (_Hist. Nueva España_, Lib. II, cap. 13). 

8. _amaxtecatl_, or _amoxtecatl_, as the MS. May read, from_amoxtli_, a book. 

NOTES FOR SONG XXVI. 

This seems to be a song of victory to celebrate an attack uponAtlixco by the ruler of Tezcuco, the famous Nezahualpilli. Thismonarch died in 1516, and therefore the song must antedate thisperiod, if it is genuine. It has every intrinsic evidence ofantiquity, and I think may justly be classed among those preservedfrom a time anterior to the Conquest. According to the chronologiespreserved, the attack of Nezahualpilli upon Atlixco was in the yearXI _tochtli_, which corresponds to 1490, two years before thediscovery by Columbus (see Orozco y Berra, _Hist. Antigua de Mexico_, Tom. III, p. 399). 

NOTES FOR SONG XXVII. 

My MS. Closes with a Christian song in the style of the ancientpoetry. It is valuable as indicating the linguistic differencesbetween these later productions of the sixteenth century and thoseearlier ones, such as XXVI, which I have not hesitated to assign toan epoch before the Spaniards landed upon the shores of New Spain. 

VOCABULARY. 

The Roman numerals refer to the songs, the Arabic to the verses, inwhich the word occurs. Abbreviations: _lit_. , literally; _ref_. , reflexive; _pret_. , preterit; _rev_. , reverential; _freq_. , frequentative; _post_. , postposition; _Span_. , a Spanish word. 

A, _adv_. No, not, in comp. A, _n_. For atl, water, in comp. ; as _acalli_, water-house, _i. E. _, a boat. A, _interj_. Oh! ah! placed after the word on which stress is laid. AC, _pron. , interj_. Who?ACA, _pron_. Some, any; somebody. ACALLI, _n_. A boat, of any kind. ACH, _dubitative particle_. Indeed? is it not? etc. ACHITZINCA, _adv_. A little while, a short time. ACHQUEN, _adv_. At what time? When?ACI, _v_. To reach, to acquire. ACOHUETZI, _v_. To console, to make glad. I, 3. ACOQUIZA, _v_. To lift up, to raise, to increase in dignity or power. ACOTLAZA, _v_. To console. ACXOYATL, _n_. The wild laurel. AHAUIA, _v_. To rejoice, take pleasure in; freq. Of _ahuia_. AHUACHIA, _v_. To wet one's self, to bathe. VII, 4. AHUACHTLI, _n_. Dew, moisture. AHUEHUETL, _n_. The cypress tree; _Cupressus disticha_. AHUIA, _v_. To rejoice, to be joyful. AHUIAC, _adj_. Agreeable, pleasant, sweet. AHUIAN, _adj_. Content, satisfied. AHUICPA, _adv_. From one place to another. III, 3. AIC, _adv_. Never. ALTEPETL, _n_. Town, city, citadel. AMECH, _pron. Ret_. You, to you. AMEYALLI, _n_. A fountain, a stream; _lit_. , flowing water. AMILLI, _n_. Watered and arable land. XIV, 6. AMO, _adv_. No, not; _amo ma_, no other; _amo zannen_, not in vain; _pron_. , you, yours. AMOXPETLATL, _n_. Book-mat. See XIX, 3. AMOXTECATL, _n_. See XXV, 8, note. AN, _pron_. You. ANA, _v_. To take, to grasp, to seize. ANAHUIA, _v_. To be dissatisfied. ANCA, _adv_. Of the kind that. XVII, 12. ANE, _adv_. Hollo! in calling. ANGELOTIN, _n_. Angels. Span. XVII, 26. ANO, _adv_. As little, neither. ANOZO, _conj_. Or, perhaps. AOC, _adv_. Not yet. APANA, _v_. To clothe. APANO, _v_. To ford, to cross water. XVIII, 2. AQUEN, _adv_. Nothing, in no manner. AQUIN, _pron_. Who? _in aquin_, he who. AT, _adv_. Perhaps, perchance. ATAYAHUILI, for _at aya ueli_. Not yet, not even. ATIHUELMATI, _v_. Not to be well. IX, 3. ATL, _v_. Water. ATLAMACHTIA, _v_. To praise one; _ref_. , to be proud. ATLE, _pron_. Nothing. ATLEY, _in atley_. Without. ATONAUIA, _v_. To have a fever, to be sick. AUH, _conj_. And, even, also. AXALLI, _n_. Bar-sand, water-sand. AY, _v_. Pret. _oax_. To do, to make. AYA, _adv_. Not yet, not now. AYACACHTLI, _n_. A musical instrument. See p. 24. AYAHUITL, _n_. Fog, mist, vapor. AYAUH COZAMALOTL, _n_. The rainbow; _lit_. , "mist of water jewels. "AYOC, _adv_. Already not. _Ayoctle_, nothing more. AYOQUAN, _adv_. Aoc-iuan. Nothing like it, unequaled. XVII, 17. AYOQUIC, _adv_. Nevermore. V, 6. AZAN, _adv_. Not a little, not a few. AZO, _conj_. Or, perhaps, perchance. AZTLACAPALLI, _n_. The tail feathers of a bird. XVII, 10. 

C, _pron. Rel_. He, her, it, him; _postpos_. , with, by, in, from, at. CA, _adv_. Already, yes, because, for, truly, only. CA, _v_. To be (in a place). _CA_, _postpos_. With, by, by means of. CACALI, _v_. To discharge arrows. CACOPA, _post_. Toward, towards. CAHUA, _v_. To leave, to let, to desert, to stop, to lay down. CALAQUIA, _v_. To enter, to go in. CALLI, _n_. A house; in comp. _cal_, as _nocal_, my house. CALMECAC, _n_. A public school, p. 10. CAMAPANTLI, _n_. The cheeks, the face. XXVI, 5. CAMATL, _n_. The mouth. CAMPA, _adv_. Where, whither. CAN, _adv_. And _postpos_. Where. CANAUHTLI, _n_. A duck. XXI, 9. CANEL, _adv_. Since, as, because. CAQUI, _v_. To hear, to listen to. CATLEHUATL, _pron_. Who? which? whoever, whatever. CATQUI, _v. Irreg_. From _ca_, to be (in a place). CAUHTEHUA, _v_. To leave a place. CAXTLAUITL, _n_. A kind of ochre. XVII, 10. CE, _adj_. And _art_. One, a, an. CECE, or Cecen, _adj_. Each, every. CECEMELQUIXTIA, _v_. To come forth wholly, perfectly. I, 1. CECEMELTIA, _v. Ref_. To rejoice, to feel glad. CECEMELTIC, _adj_. Complete, whole, entire. CECEMMANA, _v_. To disperse, to scatter. CEHUIA, _v_. To rest, to repose. CEL, Sole only. CELIA, _v_. 1. To receive, to obtain. 2. To blossom, to bloom. CEMANAHUATL, _n_. The world, the universe. CEMELLE, _adv_. With peace or joy. Usually with a negative _aic cemelle_, never peacefully. XV, 18; XVI, 1. CEMILHUILTILIA, _v_. To detain one for a day. CEMILHUITL, _n_. One day. CEN, _adv_. Forever, for always; _cen yauh_, to go forever, to die. CENCA, _adv_. Very much, exceedingly. CENCI, _adv_. Elsewhere. CENQUIXTIA, _v_. To select from, to pick from. CENTZONTLATOLLI, _n_. The mocking bird, _Turdus polyglottus_; _lit_. , "the myriad-voiced. "CENTZONTLI, _adj. Num_. Four hundred, used for any large number. CEPANOA, _v_. To unite, to join together. CHALCHIUHITL, _n_. The Mexican jade or green stone; emerald _fig_. , green; precious. CHANE, _n_. Inhabitant or resident of a place. CHANTLI, _n_. A dwelling, a residence; in comp. , _chan_. CHIA, _v_. To wait, to expect. CHIALONI, _n_. That which is awaited or expected. CHICAHUAC, _adj_. Strong, powerful. CHICHIA, _v_. 1. To make bitter. 2. To obey. XIII, 9. CHICHINA, _v_. To snuff up, imbibe, or suck up, especially the odors of burning incense, through a tube. VII, 4; XVII, 10. CHICHINAQUILIZTLI, _n_. Torment, pain, suffering. CHIHUA, _v_. To make, to do, to happen; _chihua in noyollo_, my heart is troubled, I am pained. CHIMALLI, _n_. The native shield or buckler. VI, 4. CHITONI, _v_. To sparkle, to glitter. CHITONIA, _v_. To gain, to realize a profit. V, 4. CHITTOLINI, _v_. To bow down, to sink. CHOCA, _v_. To cry (of animals and man). CIAHUI, _v_. To fatigue one's self, to tire. CIHUACOATL, _n_. A magistrate of high rank; _lit_. , "woman serpent. "CIHUATL, _n_. A woman. CITLALIN, _n_. A star. CO, _postpos_. In, from. COA, or COHUA, _v_. To buy, to purchase. COCHITIA, _v_. To sleep. COCOA, _v_. To pain, to give pain. COCOLIA, _v_. To hate. COCOYA, _v_. To be sick. COHUATL, or COATL, _n_. A serpent; a guest; a twin; the navel; a spade. COHUAYOTL, _n_. Buying, purchasing. V, 2. COLLI, _n_. Ancestor, forefather. COLOA, _v_. To twist, to turn, to bend. COMONI, _v_. To crackle (of a fire); to be turbulent (of people). XXIV. CON, _pron_. Some one; comp. Of _c_ and _on_. COPA, _postpos_. By, toward. COPALLI, _n_. Resin, gum copal. COYOUA, _v_. To cry, to yell. XIII, 7. COYOHUACAN, _n_. The place of wolves. XIII, 10. COYOLTOTOTL, _n_. The coyol bird, _Piranga hepatica_. COYOTL, _n_. The coyote, the Mexican wolf. COZCATIA, _v_. To deck with golden chains. IV, 4. COZCATL, _n_. Jewel, precious stone; a string of such; a chain or collar. CUECUEXANTIA, _v_. To gather in the folds of the robe. CUECUEYA, _v_. To move to and fro. XXI, 9. CUEPA, _v_. To turn, to return, to bring back. CUEPONI, _v_. To blossom, to bud, to bloom. CUETLANI, _v_. To wilt, to perish. XV, 15. CUETZPALTI, _v_. To act as a glutton, to revel in. XVII, 5. CUEXANTLI, _n_. Gown, robe, petticoat. CUI, _v_. To take, to gather, to collect. CUICA, _n_. A song, a poem. CUICANI, _n_. A singer, a poet. CUICOYAN, _n_. A place for singing. See note to p. 10. CUIHUA, _v_. Pass. Of _cui_, q. V. CUILIA, _v_. Rev. Of _cui_, q. V. CUILOA, _v_. To paint, to write. CUILTONOA, _v_. To be rich; to rejoice greatly; to enrich or cause joy. XV, 6. CUITLATL, _n_. Excrement, dung. CUIX, _adv_. An interrogative particle. 

ECACEHUAZTLI, _n_. A fan. EHECATL, _n_. Wind, air. EHECAYO, _adj_. Full of wind, stormy. EHUA, _v_. To lift up, especially to raise the voice in singing. ELCHIQUIHUITL, _n_. The breast, the stomach. ELCHIQUIUHEUA, _v_. To fatigue, to tire. VI, 5. ELCICIHUILIZTLI, _n_. A sigh, a groan. ELEHUIA, _v_. To desire ardently, to covet. ELLAQUAHUA, _v_. To animate, to inspire. ELLELACI, _v_. To suffer great pain. ELLELLI, _n_. Suffering, pain. ELLELQUIXTIA, _v_. To cause joy, to make glad. ELLELTIA, _v. Ref_. , to regret, to repent, to abstain; _act_. , to prevent, to hinder, to impede, to cause pain. EPOALLI, _adj. Num_. Sixty. EZTLI, _n_. Blood. 

HUAHUAQUI, _u_. To dry up, to wither wholly. VIII, 1. HUAL, _adv_. Hither, toward this place. HUALLAUH, _v. Irreg_. To come hither. HUAN, _postpos_. In company with; also, a plural termination. HUAPALCALLI, _n_. Houses of planks. See XVIII, 1. HUAQUI, _v_. To dry up, to wither. HUECAPAN, _adj_. Lofty. HUECATLAN, _adj_. Deep, profound. HUEHUETL, _n_. A drum. See page 22. HUEHUETZI, _v. Freq_. To fall often. HUEIYOTL, _n_. Greatness, grandeur. HUEL, _adv_. Well, good, pleasant. HUELIC, _adj_. Sweet, pleasant, fragrant. HUELMANA, _v_. To make smooth, or even; to polish, to burnish. HUETZCANI, _n_. A jester, a laugher. XXI, 1. HUETZI, _v_. To fall. HUETZTOC, _v_. To be stretched out, to be in bed. HUEY, _adj_. Great, large. HUEYATLAN, _n_. Place of increase, from _hueya_, to grow greater. HUIC, _postpos_. Toward, against. HUICA _v_. To accompany; to carry off; to govern, to rule, to direct. HUIHUICA, _v_. To follow in crowds, or often. HUIHUITEQUI, _v_. To gather, to pluck. HUILOHUAYAN, _n_. Bourne, goal, terminus; from _huiloa_, all go. HUIPANA, _v_. To put in order, to arrange. HUITOMI, _v_. To split, to fall. XVIII, 4. HUITZ, _v_. To come. HUITZITZICATIN, _n_. The humming bird. I, 1. HUITZITZILIN, _n_. The humming bird, _Trochilus_. HUITZLI, _n_. A thorn, especially of the maguey. HUITZTLAN, _n_. The south; _huitztlampa_, from or to the south. 

I, _v_. Pret. _oic_. To drink. I, _pron_. His, her, its, their. IC, _conj_. For, since, because; _prep_. With, towards, by, in; _adv_. Where? when? _zan ic_, as soon as, often, only, on purpose. ICA, _post_. With him, her, it, etc. ICÂ, _adv_. Sometimes, occasionally. ICAC, _v_. To stand upright. ICAHUACA, _v_. To sing (of birds). ICALI, _v_. To war, to fight. VI, 5. ICAUHTLI, _n_. Younger brother. VII, 2. ICELIA, _v_. To incite another, to devote one's self to. ICNELIA, _v_. To do good, to benefit. ICNIUHTLI, _n_. A friend, a companion; _tocnihuan_, our friends. ICNOPILLAHUELILOCATI, _v_. To be ungrateful. ICNOTLAMACHTIA, _v_. To excite compassion. ICPAC, _postpos_. Upon, over. IHUAN, _conj_. And, also. IHUI, _adv_. Of this kind, in this way. IHUINTI, _v_. To intoxicate, to make drunk. IHUITL, _n_. Feather, plumage. ILACATZIUI, _v_. To twist, to twine. ILACATZOA, _v_. To twine around, to wind about. XV, 2. ILCAHUA, _v_. To forget. ILHUIA, _v_. To speak, to say, to tell. ILHUICATL, _n_. Heaven, the sky. ILNAMIQUILIA, _v_. To remember, to call to mind. ILPIA, _v_. To bind, to fasten. IM, See _in_. IMATI, _v_. To be skillful or wise; to prepare or arrange something skillfully. IN, _art. And pron_. He, they, the, which, etc. ; _in ma oc_, meanwhile; _in ic_, so that, in order that. INAYA, _v_. To confer, to hide. X, 2. INECUI, _v_. To smell something, to perceive an odor. IV, 6. INIC, _adv_. For, in order that, after that. ININ, _pron_. These, they. INIQUAC, _conj_. When. INNE, _conj_. But. INOC, _adv_. While, during. INON, _pron_. Those. INTLA, _conj_. If. INTLACAMO, _adv_. Unless, if not. IPALNEMOANI, _n_. A name of God. See III, 1, note. IPAMPA, _adv_. Because. IPOTOCTLI, _n_. Smoke, vapor, exhalation. ITAUHCAYOTL, _n_. Fame, honor. XVII, 14. ITHUA, _v_. To see, for _itla_. XV, 6. ITIA, _v_. 1. To drink; to cause to drink. 2. To suit, to fit. ITIC, _postpos_. Within, inside of. ITLANI, _v_. To ask, to solicit, to demand. ITOA, _v_. To say, to speak, to tell. ITONALIZTLI, _n_. Sweat; _fig_. , hard work. VI, 5. ITOTIA, _n_. To dance in the native fashion. ITOTILIZTLI, _n_. Dance. ITTA, _v_. To see, to behold. ITTITIA, _v_. To show, to make evident. ITZMOLINI, _v_. To be born, to sprout, to grow. XX, 4. ITZTAPALLI, _n_. Paving stone. XV, 8. ITZTOC, _v_. To watch, to keep awake, to wait for. XVII, 12. IXAMAYO, _adj_. Known, recognized. XIII, 2. IXAYOTL, _n_. A tear (from the eyes). IXCUITIA, _v_. To take example. IXIMACHOCA, _n_. The knowledge of a person. IXIMATI, _v_. To know personally. IXITIA, _v_. To awake, to arouse. IXPAN, _postpos_. Before the face of, in presence of. IXQUICH, _adv_. As many as. IXTIA, _v_. To face a person, especially the enemy; to watch. IXTLAHUATL, _n_. Open field, savanna, desert. IXTLAN, _postpos_. Before the face of. IXTLI, _n_. Face, visage; eye. IZA, _v_. To awaken, to arouse. IZCALI, _v_. To arise, to rise up. IZHUATL, _n_. A leaf of a tree, etc. IZHUAYO, _adj_. Leafy, with leaves. IZQUI, _adj. , pl_. Izquintin. As many, so many, all; _izqui in quezqui_, as many as. IZTAC, _adj_. White. IZTLACAHUIA, _v_. To deceive, to cheat. IZTLACOA, _v_. To search for; _ref_. , to take counsel. 

MA, _adv_. Sign of optative, subjunctive and vetative; _ma oc_, yet a while. MACA, _v_. To give, to present. MA CA, _neg_. Do not. MACAIC, _adv_. Never. MACAZO TLEIN, _neg_. No matter, for all that. VI, 2. MACEHUALLOTL, _n_. Servitude, slavery. MACEUALTI, _v. Defect_. To merit; to be happy. MACEHUALTIA, _v_. 1. _nino_, to make another a vassal, to reduce to vassalage; _nite_, to give vassals to one; _nita_, to impose a penance on one. MACH, _adv_. An intensive particle. MACHTIA, _v_. To cause to know, to teach, to learn. MACIUI, _adv_. Although, granted that. XVII, 13. MACQUAITL, _n_. The native sword. VI, 4. MACUELE, _adv_. Would that--sign of the optative. MAHACA, _adv_. Not, no. MAHUI, _v_. To fear, to have fear. MAHUIZTI, _v_. To be esteemed, to be honored. MAITL, _n_. The hand, the arm. In comp. _ma_, as _noma_, my hand. MALACACHOA, _v_. To twine, to fold. XVI, 4. MALHUIA, _v_. To regale, to treat well, to take care of. MALINA, _v_. To twine, to wreathe. MALINTIUH, _v_. To twine, to twist, to enwreathe. MAMALIA, _v_. To carry. MAMALLI, _v_. To enter, to penetrate. XII, 4. MAMANA, _v_. To arrange a feast, to set in order. XV, 15. MAMANI, _v_. See Mani. MANA, _v_. To offer offerings. XVII, 3. MANCA, _v_. Imp. Of _Mani_. MANEN, _neg_. That not, that it does not happen, etc. MANI, _v_. To be (of broad or wide things); to be stretched out. MANOZO, _adv_. Or, if. MAQUIZTLI, _n_. A bracelet or other ornament of the arm. III, 5. MATI, _v_. To know. _Ref_. , to think, to reflect; _qui-mati noyollo_, I presume, I doubt; _nonno-mati_, I attach myself to a person or thing. MATILOA, _v_. To anoint, to rub. MAZO, _adv_. Although. MEYA, _v_. To flow, to trickle. MIAHUATOTOTL, _n_. A bird. IV, 2. MICOHUANI, _adj_. Mortal, deadly. MIEC, _adv_. Much, many. MILLI, _n_. Cultivated field. MIQUI, _v_. To die, to kill. MIQUITLANI, _v_. To desire death. X, 1. MITZ, _pron_. Thee, to thee. MIXITL, _n_. A narcotic plant. See _tlapatl_. IX, 2. MIXTECOMATL, _n_. A dark night, a dark place. III, 4. MIZQUITL, _n_. The mesquite. XV, 1. MO, _pron_. 1. Thy, thine; 2. _Pron. Ref_. 3 sing. , he, him, they, them. MOCHI, _adj_. All. MOCHIPA, _adv_. Always. MOLINIANI, _n_. One who moves, or agitates. XVI, 3. MOMOLOTZA, _v_. To cause to foam, to cut to pieces. XII, 3. MOTELCHIUH, _n_. The governor of Tenochtitlan. XIII, 8. --See _telchihua_. MOTLA, _v_. To throw, to fall. I, 1. MOTLALI, _adj_. Seated, placed, in repose. MOYAUA, _v_. To conquer; to become cloudy or troubled (of water); to talk about; to boast. MOZTLA, _adv_. To-morrow. 

NAHUAC, _postpos_. Toward, by, along, near to. NAHUI, _adj. Num_. Four. NALQUIXTIA, _v_. To cause to penetrate, causative of _nalquiza_, to penetrate. NANANQUILIA, _v_. To answer, to reply to. NANTLI, _n_. Mother, _tonan_, our mother, etc. NAUHCAMPA, _adv_. In four directions, to four places. NE, _pron_. Reflexive pronoun 3d person in verbal substantives and impersonal verbs. NE, _pron_. For _nehuatl_. I, me. NECALIZTLI, _n_. Battle, combat. NECH, _pron_. Me, to me. NECHCA, _adv_. There, down there; like the French _là-bas; ocye nechca_, formerly, once. NECI, _v_. To appear, to show one's self or others. NECO, _v_. Pass, of _nequi_, q. V. NECTIA, _v_. To desire, to wish for. NECUILTONOLLI, _n_. Riches, possessions. NEICALOLOYAN, _n_. The field of battle. NEIXIMACHOYAN, _n_. A place where one is taught. XIII, 1. NEL, _adv_. But. NELHUAYOTL, _n_. A root; _fig_. , principle, foundation, essence. NELIHUI, _adv_. It is thus, even thus; _mazo nelihui_, though it be thus. NELLI, _adv_. Truly, verily. NELOA, _v_. To mingle, to shake, to beat. NELTIA, _v_. To verify, to make true. NEMACTIA, _v_. 1. To receive, to obtain. 2. To give, to grant. NEMAYAN, _adv_. In the course of the year. XII, 3. NEMI, _v_. To live, to dwell, to walk. NEMOA, _v. Impers_. To live, to dwell. NEN, _adv_. Vainly, in vain. NENCHIUA, _v_. To do in vain. NENECTIA, _v_. To obtain by effort. XII, 4. NENELIUHTICA, _adj_. Mixed up, mingled together. NENELOA, _v_. To mix, to mingle. NENEPANOA, _v. Freq_. To mix, to mingle. XVII, 1. NENEQUI, _v_. To act tyrannically; to feign; to covet. XI, 7. NENNEMI, _v_. To wander about. NENONOTZALCUICATL, _n_. A song of exhortation. NENTACI, _v_. To fail, to come to naught. XVII, 13, 14. NENTLAMACHTIA, _v. Ref_. To afflict one's self, to torment one's self. NENTLAMATI, _v_. To be afflicted, disconsolate. NEPA, _adv_. Here, there. _Ye nepa_, a little further, beyond. XXI, 6. _Oc nepa_, further on. NEPANIUI, _v_. To join, to unite. NEPANTLA, _postpos_. In the midst of. NEPAPAN, _adj_. Various, diverse, different. NEPOHUALOYAN, _n_. The place where one is reckoned, read, or counted. VI, 2. NEQUI, _v_. To wish, to desire. NETLAMACHTILIZTLI, _n_. Riches, property. NETLAMACHTILOYAN, _n_. A prosperous place. IV, 6; VII, 4. NETLANEHUIHUIA, _v_. To have an abundance of all things. XXVI, 1. NETOTILIZTLI, _n_. Dance, dancing. NETOTILOYAN, _n_. Place of dancing. NI, _pron. Pers_. I. Before a vowel, _n_. NICAN, _adj_. Here, hither. NIHUI, _adv_. From _no-ihui_, thus, of the same manner. XVIII, 3. NIMAN, _adv_. Soon, promptly. NINO, _pron. Ref_. I myself. NIPA, _adv_. Here, in this part, there. NO, _adv_. Also, like, _no yuh_, in the same way, thus. _Pron_. My, mine. NOCA, _pron_. For me, for my sake, by me. NOHUAN, _pron_. With me. NOHUIAMPA, _adv_. In all directions, on all sides. NOHUIAN, _adv_. Everywhere, on all sides. NONOYAN, _n_. Place of residence. V, 2. NONOTZA, _v_. To consult, to take counsel, to reflect. NOTZA, _v_. To call some one. NOZAN, _adv_. Even yet, and yet, to this day. 

OBISPO, _n_. Bishop. _Span_. XIX, 4. OC, _adv_. Yet, again; _oc achi_, yet a little; _oc achi ic_, yet more, comparative; _oc pe_, first, foremost. OCELOTL, _n_. The tiger; a warrior so called. See note to I, 5. OCOXOCHITL, _n_. A fragrant mountain flower. III, 2. OCTICATL, _n_. See note to VII, 1. OCTLI, _n_. The native wine from the maguey. In comp. , _oc_. OHUAGA, _interj_. Oh! alas!OHUI, _adj_. Difficult, dangerous. OHUICALOYAN, _n_. A difficult or dangerous place. XXII, 7. OHUICAN, _n_. A difficult or dangerous place. OME, _adj_. Two. OMITL, _n_. A bone. OMPA, _adv_. Where. ON, _adv_. A euphonic particle, sometimes indicating action at a distance, at other times generalizing the action of the verb. ONCAN, _adv_. There, thither. ONOC, _v_. To be lying down. OPPA, _adv_. A second time, twice. OQUICHTLI, _n_. A male, a man. OTLI, _n_. Path, road, way. OTOMITL, _n_. An Otomi; a military officer so called. OTONCUICATL, _n_. An Otomi song. II, 1. 

PACHIUI NOYOLLO, _v_. I am content, satisfied. IX, 2. PACQUI, _v_. To please, to delight. PACTLI, _n_. Pleasure, joy. PAL, _postpos_. By, by means of. PAMPA, _postpos_. For, because. PAN, _postpos_. Upon; _apan_, upon the water. PAPALOTL, _n_. The butterfly. PAPAQUI, _v_. To cause great joy. PATIUHTLI, _n_. Price, wages, reward. PATLAHUAC, _adj_. Large, spacious. PATLANI, _v_. To fly. PEHUA, _v. Pret. , opeuh_, to begin, to commence. PEPETLACA, _v_. To shine, to glitter. PEPETLAQUILTIA, _v_. To cause to shine. PETLACOATL, _n_. The scolopender, the centipede. XVII, 24. PETLATL, _n_. A mat, a rug (of reeds or flags); _fig_. , power, authority. PETLATOTLIN, _n_. A rush suitable to make mats. XXI, 10. PETLAUA, _v_. To polish, to rub to brightness. PEUHCAYOTL, _n_. Beginning, commencement. PILIHUI, _v_. To fasten to, to mingle with. XXI, 6. PILIHUITL, _n_. Beloved child. XII, 3. PILLI, _n_. Son, daughter, child. A noble, a chief, a ruler, a lord. _Tepilhuan_, the children, the young people. _Nopiltzin_, my lord. PILOA, _v_. To hang down, to suspend. PILTIHUA, _v_. To be a boy, to be young. PIPIXAUI, _v_. To snow, to rain heavily. PIXAUI, _v_. To snow, to rain. POCHOTL, _n_. The ceiba tree; _fig_. , protector, chief. POCTLI, _n_. Smoke, vapor, fog, mist. POLOA, _v_. To destroy; to perish. POPOLOA, _v_. Freq. Of _poloa_. POPOYAUHTIUH, _v_. To leave a glorious memory. XXI, 5. POXAHUA, _v_. To work the soil, to labor. POYAUA, _v_. To color, to dye. XVII, 21. POYAUI, _v_. To become clear, to clear off. POYOMATL, _n_. A flower like the rose. IV, 6. POZONI, _v_. To boil, to seethe; fig. , to be angry. 

QUA, _v_. To eat. QUAHTLA, _n_. Forest, woods. QUAHUITL, _n_. A tree; a stick; _fig_. , chastisement. QUAITL, _n_. Head, top, summit. QUALANI, _v_. To anger, to irritate. QUALLI, _adj_. Good, pleasant. QUATLAPANA, _v_. To break one's head; to suffer much. QUAUHTLI, _n_. The eagle; a warrior so called; bravery, distinction. I, 5. QUEMACH, _adv_. Is it possible!QUEMMACH AMIQUE, _rel_. Those who are happy, the happy ones. IX, 2. QUENAMI, _adv_. As, the same as. QUENAMI CAN, _adv_. As there, the same as there, sometimes with _on_ euphonic inserted, _quenonami_. QUENIN, _adj_. How, how much. QUENNEL, _adv_. What is to be done? What remedy?QUENNONAMICAN, See under _quenami_. QUEQUENTIA, _v_. To clothe, to attire. QUETZA, _v. Nino_, to rise up; to unite with; to aid; _nite_, to lift up. QUETZALLI, _n_. A beautiful feather; _fig_. , something precious or beautiful. QUETZALTOTOTL, _n_. A bird; _Trogon pavoninus_. QUEXQUICH, _pron_. So many as, how much. QUI, _pron. Rel_. He, her, it, they, them. QUIAUATL, _n_. Entrance, door. XVII, 18. QUIAUITL, _n_. Rain, a shower. QUIMILOA, _v_. To wrap up, to clothe, to shroud the dead. XI, 6. QUIN, _pron. Rel_. They, then. QUIQUINACA, _v_. To groan, to buzz, etc. QUIQUIZOA, _v_. To ring bells. IV, 3. QUIZA, _v_. To go forth, to emerge. QUIZQUI, _adj_. Separated, divided. QUIZTIQUIZA, _v_. To go forth hastily. XXII. 

TAPALCAYOA, _v_. To be full of potsherds and broken bits. XV, 16. TATLI, _n. And v_. See p. 19. TE, _pron. Pers_. 1. Thou. 2. _Pron. Rel. Indef_. Somebody. TEAHUIACA, _adj_. Pleasing, agreeable. TECA, _pron_. Of some one; _te_ and _ca_. TECA, _v_. To stretch out, to sleep; to concern one's self with. _Moteca_, they unite together. TECH, _postpos_. In, upon, from. _Pron_. Us. TECOCOLIA, _n_. A hated person, an enemy. TECOMAPILOA, _n_. A musical instrument. See p. 23. TECPILLI, _n_. Nobleman, lord. TECPILLOTL, _n_. The nobility; noble bearing, courtesy. TEHUAN, _pron_. 1. We. 2. With some one. TEHUATL, _pron_. Thou. TEINI, _v_. To break, to fracture. TEL, _conj_. But, though. TELCHIHUA, _v_. To detest, to hate, to curse. TEMA, _v_. To place something somewhere. TEMACHIA, _v_. To have confidence in, to expect, to hope for. TEMI, _v_. To be filled, replete; to be stretched out. XXVI, 4. TEMIQUI, _v_. To dream. TEMO, _v_. To descend, to let fall. TEMOA, _v_. To search, to seek. TENAMITL, _n_. A town; the wall of a town. TENAUAC, _post_. With some one, near some one. TENMATI, _v_. To be idle, negligent, unfortunate. TENQUIXTIA, _v_. To speak forth, to pronounce, to declare. TENYOTL, _n_. Fame, honor. TEOATL, _n_. Divine water. See VI, 4, note. TEOCUITLA, _n_. Gold, of gold. TEOHUA, _n_. A priest. XVII, 19. TEOQUECHOL, _n_. A bird of beautiful plumage. TEOTL, _n_. God, divinity. TEOXIHUITL, _n_. Turquoise; _fig_. , relation, ruler, parent. TEPACCA, _adj_. Causing joy, pleasurable. TEPEITIC, _n_. Narrow valley, glade, glen. TEPETL, _n_. A mountain, a hill. TEPEUA, _v_. To spread abroad, to scatter, to conquer. XV, 3. TEPONAZTLI, _n_. A drum. See p. 22. TEPOPOLOANI, _v_. To slay, to slaughter. TEQUANI, _n_. A wild beast, a savage person. TEQUI, _v_. To cut. TETECUICA, _v_. To make a loud noise, to thunder. XXI, 7. TETL, _n_. A stone, a rock. In comp. , _te_. TETLAMACHTI, _n_. That which enriches, glorifies, or pleases. TETLAQUAUAC, _adj_. Hard or strong as stone. Comp. Of _tetl_ and _tlaquauac_. TETOZCATEMO, _v_. To let fall or throw forth notes of singing. I, 2. TETZILACATL, _n_. A copper gong. XVII, 21. See p. 24. TEUCTLI, _n_. , pl. _teteuctin_. A noble, a ruler, a lord; _in teteuctin_, the lords, the great ones. TEUCYOTL, _n_. Nobility, lordship. TEUH, _postpos_. Like, similar to. TEUHYOTL, _n_. Divinity, divineness. TEYOLQUIMA, _adj_. Pleasing, odorous, sweet. TEYOTL, _n_. Fame, honor. TI, _pron_. 1. Thou; _timo_, ref. ; _tic_, act. 2. We; _tito_, ref. ; _tic_, act. TILANI, _v_. To draw out. TILINI, _v_. To crowd, to press. XVII, 19. TIMALOA, _v_. To glorify, to exalt, to praise. TIMO, _pron. Ref_. Thou thyself. TITO, _pron. Ref_. We ourselves. TIZAITL, _n_. Chalk; anything white; an example or model. TIZAOCTLI, _n_. White wine. See VII, 2. TLA, _adv_. , for _intla_, if; _pron. Indef_. , something, anything; _postpos_. In abundance. TLACACE, _interj_. Expressing astonishment or admiration. XVII, 3. TLACAQUI, _v_. To hear, to understand. TLACATEUCTLI, _n_. A sovereign, a ruler. TLACATI, _v_. To be born. TLACATL, _n_. Creature, person. TLACAZO, _adv_. Truly, certainly. TLACHIA, _v_. To see, to look upon. TLACHIHUAL, _n_. Creature, invention. TLACHINOLLI, _n_. Battle, war; from _chinoa_, to burn. TLACOA, _v_. To injure, to do evil, to sin. TLACOCHTLI, _n_. The arrow. TLACOCOA, _v_. To buy, to purchase. X, 1. TLACOHUA, _v_. To buy, to purchase. TLACOHUA, _v_. To beat, to chastise. TLACOTLI, _n_. A servant, slave. TLACOUIA, _v_. To split, to splinter. TLACUILOA, _v_. To inscribe, to paint in, to write down. TLAELEHUIANI, _adj_. Desirous of, anxious for. TLAHUELLI, _n_. Anger, ire. TLAHUICA, _n_. Servant, page; also, a native of the province of Tlahuican. (See _Index_. }TLAILOTLAQUI, _n_. "Workers in filth;" scum; a term applied in contempt. XIII, 8; XV, 12, 14. Also a proper name. (See _Index_. )TLALAQUIA, _v_. To bury, to inter. TLALLI, _n_. Earth, ground; _tlalticpac_, on the earth. TLALNAMIQUI, _v_. To think of, to remember. TLALPILONI, _n_. An ornament for the head. VI, 4, from _ilpia_. TLAMACHTI, _v. Ref_. To be rich, happy, prosperous. TLAMAHUIZOLLI, _n_. Miracle, wonder. TLAMATILLOLLI, _n_. Ointment; anything rubbed in the hands. XI, 9. TLAMATQUI, _adj_. Skillful, adroit. TLAMATTICA, _adj_. Calm, tranquil. TLAMELAUHCAYOTL, _n_. A plain or direct song. II, 1. TLAMI, _v_. To end, to finish, to come to an end. TLAMOMOYAUA, _v_. To scatter, to destroy. XV, 21. TLAN, _postpos_. Near to, among, at. TLANECI, _v_. To dawn, to become day. _Ye tlaneci_, the day breaks. TLANEHUIA, _v. Nicno_. To revel, to indulge one's self in. XXI, 8. TLANELTOCA, _v_. To believe in, to have faith in. TLANIA, _v_. To recover one's self, to return within one's self. TLANIICZA, _v_. To abase, to humble. IX, 3. TLANTIA, _v_. To terminate, to end. TLAOCOL, _adj_. Sad, melancholy, pitiful, merciful. TLAOCOLIA, _v_. To be sad, etc. TLAOCOLTZATZIA, _v_. To cry aloud with grief. I, 3. TLAPALHUIA, _v. , rel_. To be brilliant or happy; act_. , to salute a person; to paint something. TLAPALLI, _n_. And _adj_. Colored; dyed; red. TLAPALOA, _v_. To salute, to greet. TLAPANAHUIA, _adj_. Surpassing, superior, excellent; used to form superlatives. TLAPANI, _v_. To dye, to color. XVII, 10. TLAPAPALLI, _adj_. Striped, in stripes. TLAPATL, _n_. The castor-oil plant; the phrase _mixitl tlapatl_ means stupor, intoxication. IX, 2. TLAPEPETLANI, _v_. To sparkle, to shine forth. TLAPITZA, _v_. Fr. _pitza_, to play the flute. XVII, 26. TLAQUALLI, _n_. Food, eatables. TLAQUAUAC, _adj_. Strong, hard. TLAQUAUH, _adj_. Strongly, forcibly. TLAQUILLA, _adj_. Stopped up, filled. XX, 4. TLAQUILQUI, _n_. One who plasters, a mason. XXI, 1. TLATEMMATI, _v_. To suffer afflictions. TLATENEHUA, _v_. To promise. TLATHUI, _v_. To dawn, to become light. TLATIA, _v_. 1. To hide, to conceal; 2. To burn, to set on fire. TLATLAMANTITICA, _adj_. Divided, separated. TLATLATOA, _v_. To speak much or frequently. XVII, 11. TLATLAUHTIA, _v_. To pray. XVI, 3. TLATOANI, _n_. Ruler, lord. TLATOCAYOTL, _n_. The quality of governing or ruling. TLATOLLI, _n_. Word, speech, order. TLATZIHUI, _v_. To neglect, to be negligent; to be abandoned, to lie fallow; to leave, to withdraw. TLAUANTLI, _n_. Vase, cup. XXVI, 4. TLAUHQUECHOL, _n_. A bird, the red heron, _Platalea ajaja_. TLAUILLOTL, _n_. Clearness, light. X, 1. TLAXILLOTIA, _v_. To arrange, sustain, support. IX, 4. TLAXIXINIA, _v_. To disperse, to destroy. TLAYAUA, _v_. To make an encircling figure in dancing. TLAYAUALOLLI, _adj_. Encircled, surrounded. XXI, 6. TLAYLOTLAQUI, _n_. See XIII, 8. TLAYOCOLIA, _v_. To make, to form, to invent. XIV. TLAYOCOYALLI, _n_. Creature, invention. TLAZA, _v_. To throw away; _fig_. , to reject, to despise. TLAZOTLA, _v_. To love, to like. TLE, _pron. Int_. And _rel_. What? That. TLEAHUA, _v_. To set on fire, to fire. TLEIN, _pron. , int_. And _rel_. What? That. TLEINMACH, _adv_. Why? For what reason?TLENAMACTLI, _n_. Incense burned to the gods. III, 1. TLEPETZTIC, _adj_. Shining like fire, _tletl_, _petzlic_. XV, 26. TLETL, _n_. Fire. TLEYMACH, _adv_. Why? Wherefore?TLEYOTL, _n_. Fame, honor. TLEZANNEN, _adv_. To what good? Cui bono?TLILIUHQUI, _adj_. Black, brown. TLILIUI, _v_. To blacken, to paint black. XII, 6. TLOC, _postpos_. With, near to. TLOQUE NAHUAQUE, _n_. A name of divinity. See I, 6, note. TO, _pron. Posses_. Our, ours. TOCA, _v_. To follow. TOCI, _n_. "Our ancestress, " a divinity so called. TOCO, _v_. Impers. Of _toca_. TOHUAN, _pron_. With us. TOLINIA, _v_. To be poor, to be unfortunate. TOLQUATECTITLAN, _n_. The place where the head is bowed for lustration. III, 1. TOMA, _v_. To loosen, to untie, to open. XVII, 3. TOMAHUAC, _adj_. Great, heavy, large. TONACATI, _v_. To be prosperous or fertile. TONACATLALLI, _n_. Rich or fertile land. TONAMEYO, _adj_. Shining like the sun, glittering. TONAMEYOTL, _n_. Ray of the sun, light, brilliancy. TONATIUH, _n_. The sun. TONEUA, _v_. To suffer pain; _nite_, to inflict pain. TOQUICHPOHUAN, _n_. Our equals. I, 3. TOTOTL, _n_. A bird, generic term. TOZMILINI, _adj_. Sweet voiced. XXI, 3. TOZNENETL, _n_. A parrot, _Psittacus signatus_. TOZQUITL, _n_. The singing voice, p. 21. TZALAN, _postpos_. Among, amid. TZATZIA, _v_. To shout, to cry aloud. TZAUHQUI, _v_. To spin. XVII, 22. TZETZELIUI, _v_. To rain, to snow; _fig_. , to pour down. TZIHUAC, _n_. A species of bush. XV, 1. TZIMIQUILIZTLI, _n_. Slaughter, death. XVI, 5. TZINITZCAN, _n_. A bird, _Trogon Mexicanus_. TZITZILINI, _n_. A bell. TZOTZONA, _v_. To strike the drum. 

UALLAUH, _v_. To come. See _huallauh_. UITZ, _v_. To come. ULLI, _n_. Caoutchouc. See p. 22. 

XAHUA, _v_. To paint one's self, to array one's self in the ancient manner. XXIV, 1. XAMANI, _v_. To break, to crack. XAXAMATZA, _v_. To cut in pieces, to break into bits. XAYACATL, _n_. Face, mask. XELIHUI, _v_. To divide, to distribute. XEXELOA, _v_. To divide, to distribute. XILOTL, _n_. Ear of green corn. XILOXOCHITL, _n_. The flower of maize. XVII, 10. XIMOAYAN, _n_. A place of departed souls. See I, 8. XIMOHUAYAN, _n_. Place of departed spirits. VIII, 1. XIUHTOTOTL, _n_. A bird, _Guiaca cerulea_. XIUITL, _n_. A leaf, plant; year; anything green. XOCHICALLI, _n_. A house for flowers, or adorned with them. XOCHIMECATL, _n_. A rope or garland of flowers. XOCHIMICOHUAYAN, _n_. See XVI, 3, note. XOCHITECATL, _n_. See XXV, 7, note. XOCHITL, _n_. A flower, a rose. XOCHIYAOTL, _n_. Flower-war. See XVI, 4, note. XOCOMIQUI, _v_. To intoxicate, to become drunk. XOCOYA, _v_. To grow sour. XIII, 4. XOPALEUAC, _n_. Something very green. XOPAN, _n_. The springtime. XOTLA, _v_. To blossom, to flower; to warm, to inflame; to cut, to scratch, to saw. XOXOCTIC, _adj_. Green; blue. XVI, 6. XOYACALTITLAN, _n_. The house or place of decay. III, 1. 

Y. , Abbrev. For _ihuan_, and _in_, q. V. YA, _adv_. Already, thus; same as _ye_; _v_. , to suit, to fit. Part. Euphonic or expletive. See note to XVII, 3. YAN, _postpos_. Suffix signifying place. YANCUIC, _adj_. New, fresh, recent. YANCUICAN, _adv_. Newly, recently. YAOTL, _n_. War, battle. YAOYOTL, _n_. Warfare. YAQUI, _adj_. Departed, gone, left for a place. YAUH, _v. , irreg_. To go. YE, _adv_. Already, thus; _ye no ceppa_, a second time; _ye ic_, already, it is already. YE, _pron_. He, those, etc. YE, _adj. Num_. Three. YECE, _adv_. But. YECEN, _adv_. Finally, at last. YECNEMI, _v_. To live righteously. YECOA, _v_. To do, to finish, to conclude. YECTENEHUA, _v_. To bless, to speak well of. YECTLI, _adj_. Good, worthy, noble. YEHUATL, _pron_. He, she, it. Pl. _yehuan, yehuantin_. YEHUIA, _v_. To beg, to ask charity. YEPPA YUHQUI. Formerly, it was there. VII, 2. YHUINTIA. See _ihuinti_. YOCATL, _n_. Goods, possessions; _noyocauh_, my property. XV, 26. YOCAUA, _n_. Master, possessor, owner. YOCOLIA, _v_. To form, to make. YOCOYA, _v_. To make, to invent, to create. YOHUATLI, _n_. Night, darkness. YOLAHUIA, _v_. To rejoice greatly. YOLCIAHUIA, _v_. To please one's self, to make glad. YOLCUECUECHOA, _v_. To make the heart tremble. IV, 6. YOLEHUA, _v_. To excite, to animate. YOLIHUAYAN, _n_. A place of living III, 5. YOLLO, _adj_. Adroit, skillful; also for _iyollo_, his heart. YOLLOTL, _v_. Heart, mind, soul. YOLNONOTZA, _v_. See note to I, 1. YOLPOXAHUA, _v_. To toil mentally. YUHQUI, _adv_. As, like. YUHQUIMATI, _v_. To understand, to realize. 

ZACATL, _n_. Herbage, straw, hay. XXI, 5. ZACUAN, _n_. Feather of the zacuan bird; _fig_. , yellow; prized. ZACUAN TOTOTL, _n_. The zacuan bird, _Oriolus dominicensis_. ZAN, _adv_. Only, but; _zan cuel_, in a short time; _zanen_, perhaps; _Zan nen_, in vain. ZANCUEL ACHIC, _adv_. A moment, an instant; often; _zan ye_, but again, but quickly. ZANIO, _pron_. I alone, he or it alone. ZOA, _v_. To pierce; to spread out; to open; to sew; to string together; to put in order. ZOLIN TOTOTL, _n_. The quail. ZOMA, _v_. To become angry. ZOMALE, _adj_. For _comalli_, vase, cup. XXVI, 4. 

INDEX OF NAHUATL PROPER NAMES, WITH EXPLANATIONS. 

ACALLAN, 105. "The place of boats, " from _acalli_, boat. An ancientprovince at the mouth of the Usumacinta river; but the name wasprobably applied to other localities also. 

ACATLAPAN, 41. A village southeast of Chalco. From _acatla_, a placeof reeds, and _pan_, in or at. 

ACHALCHIUHTLANEXTIN, 46. The first chief of the Toltecs; another formof _chalchiuhtonac_. Both names mean "the gleam of the preciousjade. " Compare Torquemada, _Monarquia Indiana_. Lib. III. , cap. 7;Orozco y Berra, _Hist. Antigua de Mexico_, Tom. III. , p. 42. The dateof the beginning of his reign is put at A. D. 667 or 700. 

ACOLHUACAN, 40, 91, 119. A compound of _atl_, water, and _colhuacan_, (q. V. ) = "Colhuacan by the water, " the name of the state of whichTetzcuco was the capital, in the valley of Mexico. 

ACOLMIZTLAN, 89, from

ACOLMIZTLI, 35. A name of Nezahualcoyotl (see p. 35), also of otherwarriors. 

ANAHUAC, 125. From _atl_, water, _nahuac_, by, = the land by thewater. The term was applied first to the land by the lakes in theValley of Mexico, and later to that along both the Gulf of Mexico andthe Pacific Ocean. 

ATECPAN, 77. "The royal residence by the water" (_atl, tecpan_). I donot find this locality mentioned elsewhere. 

ATLIXCO, 125. "Where the water shows its face" (_atl, ixtli, co_). Alocality southeast of Tezcuco, near the lake, so called from a largespring. See Motolinia, _Historia de los Indios_, Trat. III, cap. 18. 

ATLOYANTEPETL, 85, 89, 91. Perhaps for _atlauantepetl_, "the mountainthat rules the waters. " But see note to XIII, v. 6. 

ATZALAN, 114. "Amid the waters" (_atl, tzalan_). Perhaps not a propername; but two villages in the present State of Puebla are calledAtzala (see Orozco y Berra, _Geografia de las Lenguas de Mexico_, pp. 212, 213). 

AXAXACATZIN, 43. Probably for _axayacatzin_, reverential of_axayacatl_, the name of a species of marsh fly. It was also the nameof the sixth ruler of Mexico (flor. About 1500), and doubtless ofother distinguished persons. See Ixtlilxochitl, _HistoriaChichimeca_, cap. 51. 

AZCAPOTZALCO, 50, 51. An ancient town in the valley of Mexico, oncethe capital city of the Tepanecas (q. V. ). The word means "place ofthe ant-hills, " from _azcaputzalli_. 

AZTECS, 25. A Nahuatl tribe who derived their name from theirmythical ancient home, Aztlan. The derivation is obscure, butprobably is from the same radical as _iztac_, white, and, therefore, Father Duran was right in translating Aztlan, "place of whiteness, "the reference being to the East, whence the Aztecs claim to havecome. See Duran, _Historia de las Indias_, cap. II. 

CACAMATL, 94, 95. The reference appears to be to Cacamatzin (the_Noble Sad One_, from _cacamaua_, fig. To be sad), last ruler ofTezcuco, son and successor, in 1516, of Nezahualpilli. He was put todeath by Cortes. 

CATOCIH, 89. A doubtful word, which may not be a proper name. 

CHALCO, 16, 69, 95. A town and lake in the valley of Mexico. Thepeople were Nahuas and subject to Mexico. The word is probablyderived from _Challi_, with the postpos. _co_, meaning "at the mouth"(of a river). See Buschmann, _Ueber die Aztekischen Ortsnamen_, s. 689, and comp. _Codex Ramirez_, p. 18. 

CHIAPA, CHIAPANECA, 70, 71. The province and inhabitants of Chiapas, in Southern Mexico. There were colonies of Nahuas in Chiapas, thoughmost of the natives spoke other tongues. The derivation is probablyfrom _chia_, a mucilaginous seed highly esteemed in Mexico. 

CHICHIMECATL or CHICHIMECS, 88, 89, 91, 101. A rude hunting tribe, speaking Nahuatl, who settled, in early times, in the valley ofMexico. The name was said to be derived from _chichi_, a dog, onaccount of their devotion to hunting (_Cod. Ramirez_). Others say itwas that of their first chieftain. 

CHICOMOZTOC, 88, 89. "At the seven caves, " the name of the mythicallocality from which the seven Nahuatl tribes derived their origin. The _Codex Ramirez_ explains the seven caves to mean the seven housesor lineages (totems) of which the nation consisted. 

CHILILITLI, 36. Name of a tower of sacred import. It is apparently acompound of _chia_ or _chielia_, to watch, and _tlilli_, blackness, obscurity, hence "a night watch-tower. " It was probably used for thestudy of the sky at night. 

CHIMALPOPOCA, 43. "The smoking shield, " from _chimalli_, shield, and_popoca_. The name of several distinguished warriors and rulers inancient Mexico. 

CHOLULA or CHOLOLLAN, 105. Name of a celebrated ancient state andcity. From _choloa_, with the probable meaning, "place of refuge, ""place of the fugitives. "

CIHUAPAN, 41. Name of a warrior, otherwise unknown. From _cihuatl_, woman, _pan_, among, with. 

COATZITEUCTLI, 89. A name compound of _coatzin_, reverential form of_coatl_, serpent, and _teuctli_, lord. 

COLHUA, A people of Nahuatl affinity, who dwelt in ancient times inthe valley of Mexico. See _Colhuacan_. 

COLHUACAN, 88, 89, 91. A town in the valley of Mexico. In spite ofthe arguments to the contrary, I believe the Colhua were of Nahuatllineage, and that the name is derived from _colli_, ancestor;_colhuacan_, the residence of the ancestors; with this signification, it was applied to many localities. It must be distinguished from_Acolhuacan_. Its ikonomatic symbol was a hill bent over at the top, from _coloa_, to bend. 

COLZAZTLI, 39. Probably for Coltzatztli, one who cries out or callsto the ancestors (_colli, tzatzia_). A chief whom I have not foundelsewhere mentioned. 

CONAHUATZIN, 41. A warrior not elsewhere mentioned. By derivation itmeans "noble son of the lord of the water" (_conetl, ahua, tzin_). 

CUETZPALTZIN, 89. A proper name, from _cuetzpalli_, the 4th day ofthe month. 

CUEXTLA, 33. A province of ancient Mexico. See Torquemada, _MonarquiaIndiana_. Lib. II, caps. 53, 56. 

CULTEPEC, 42. A village five leagues from Tezcuco, at the foot of themountains. Deriv. , _colli_, ancestor, _tepetl_, mountain or town, with post-pos. _c_; "at the town of the ancestors. "

HUETLALPAN or HUETLAPALLAN, 89. The original seat of the mythicalToltecs. The name is a compound of _hue_, old, and _Tlapallan_, q. V. 

HUEXOTZINCO, 50, 83, 91, 99, 113. An independent State of ancientAnahuac, south of Tlascala and west of Cholula. The name means "atthe little willow woods, " being a diminutive from _huexatla_, placeof willows. 

HUITLALOTZIN, 89. From _huitlallotl_, a species of bird, with thereverential termination. Name of a warrior. 

HUITZILAPOCHTLI, 16. Tribal god of the Mexicans of Tenochtitlan. Thename is usually derived from _huitzitzilin_, humming bird, and_opochtli_, left (_Cod. Ramirez_, p. 22), but more correctly from_huitztli_, the south, _iloa_, to turn, _opochtli_, the left hand, "the left hand turned toward the south, " as this god directed thewanderings of the Mexicans southward. The humming bird was used asthe "ikonomatic" symbol of the name. 

HUITZILIHUITL, 89. "Humming-bird feather. " Name of an ancient rulerof Mexico, and of other warriors. 

HUITZNAHUACATL, 91. A ruler of Huexotlan (Clavigero); a member of theHuitznahua, residents of the quarters so called in Tezcuco andTenochtitlan (Ixtlilxochitl, _Hist. Chichimeca_, cap. 38). 

IXTLILXOCHITL, 35, 46, 89. A ruler of Acolhuacan, father ofNezahualcoyotl. Comp. _ixtli_, face, _tlilxochitl_, the vanilla(literally, the black flower). 

IZTACCOYOTL, 89, 93. "The white wolf. " Name of a warrior otherwiseunknown. 

MEXICANS, 67, 83, 85, 87, 123, 125. See

MEXICO, 83, 123. Name of the town and state otherwise calledTenochtitlan. _Mexitl_ was one of the names of the national godHuitzilopochtli, and Mexico means "the place of Mexitl, " indicatingthat the city was originally called from a fane of the god. 

MICTLAN, 95, 117, 119. The Mexican Hades, literally, "the place ofthe dead. "

MONTEZUMA, 14, 41, 113. The name of the ruler of Mexico on thearrival of Cortes. The proper form is _Moteuhzomatzin_ or_Motecuhzomatzin_, and the meaning, "he who is angry in a noblemanner. " ("señor sañudo, " _Cod. Ramirez_, p. 72; "qui se fache enseigneur, " Siméon, _Dict. De la Langue Nahuatl_, s. V. ). 

MOQUIHUIX, 33. The fourth ruler of Tlatilolco. He assumed the powerin 1441, according to some writers (Bustamente, _Tezcoco, en losUltimas Tiempos de sus Antiguos Reyes_, p. 269). The name probablymeans "He who comes forth a freeman. " See Ixtlilxochitl, _HistoriaChichimeca_, caps. 36, 51. 

NACXITL TOPILTZIN, 105, 107. Nacxitl, "the four footed" (_nahui, ixitl_), was the name of one of the gods of the merchants (Sahagun, _Hist, de Nueva España_, Lib. I, c. 19). In the song it is applied toQuetzalcoatl, who was also regarded as a guardian of merchants. 

NAHUATL, (9, etc. ). A term applied to the language otherwise known asAztec or Mexican. As an adjective it means "well-sounding, " or, pleasant to the ear. From this, the term _Nahua_ is used collectivelyfor all tribes who spoke the Nahuatl tongue. _Nahuatl_ also meansclever, skillful, and the derivation is probably from the root _na_, to know. 

NECAXECMITL, 46. Name of uncertain meaning of a person otherwiseunknown. 

NEZAHUALCOYOTL, 35, 67, 119. Chief of the Acolhuas, and ruler inTezcuco from 1427 to 1472, or thereabouts. He was a distinguishedpatron of the arts and a celebrated poet. See p. 35, et seq. 

NEZAHUALPILLI, or NEZAHUALPIZINTLI, 14, 125. Ruler of Acolhuacan, sonof Nezahualcoyotl. His accession is dated in 1470 or 1472. 

NONOHUALCO, 105, 125. Name of one of the quarters of the ancient cityof Mexico; also of a mountain west of the valley of Mexico. Thederivation is probably from _onoc_, to lie down; _onohua_, to sleep;_onohuayan_, a settled spot, an inhabited place. The _co_ is apostposition. 

NOPAL or NOPALTZIN, 46. Ruler of Acolhuacan, A. D. 1260-1263, according to some chronologies. The name is from _nopalli_, thecactus or opuntia. 

NOPILTZIN, 67, 91. "My son, " or "my lord, " a term of deferenceapplied to superiors, from _pilli_, which means son and also lord, like the old English _child_. Cf. _Topiltzin_. 

OTOMIS, 16, 49, 58, 64, 71, 95. A nation which inhabited a portion ofthe valley of Mexico and region adjacent, entirely dissimilar inlanguage and appearance from the Nahuas. The etymologies suggestedare unsatisfactory. 

POPOCATEPETL, 46. "The smoking mountain, " the name of a famousvolcano rising from the valley of Mexico. 

POYAUHTECATL, 105. A volcano near Orizaba (Sahagun. _Hist. De NuevaEspaña_, Lib. I, cap. 21). Derived from _poyaua_, to color, tobrighten. 

QUANTZINTECOMATZIN, 41. A warrior not otherwise known. The name is adouble reverential, from _quani_, eater, and _tecomatl_, vase, "Thenoble eater from the royal dish. "

QUAUHQUECHOLLAN, 95. A village and plain near the southern base ofPopocatepetl. It means "the place of the quechol woods, " or the treesamong which quechol birds are found. See Motolinia, _Historia de losIndios_, Trat. III, cap. 18. 

QUAUHXILOTL, 89. Name of a large tree, and applied to a warrior, ruler of Iztapallocan, whom Ixtlilxochitl, King of Tezcuco, placed atthe head of his troops in his war with Tezozomoc. See Clavigero, _Storia Antica di Messico_, Tom. I, p. 185. 

QUETZALCOATL, 32, 143, 144. See note on p. 143. 

QUETZALMAMATZIN, 91. Name of a warrior, "the noble one of thebeautiful hands" (_quetzalli, mama_, pl. Of _maitl_, and rev. Term, _tzin_). Perhaps the same as Quetzalmemalitzin, ruler of Teotihuacan, mentioned by Ixtlilxochitl, _Historia Chichimeca_, cap. 35. 

QUIAUHTZIN, 93. Name of a warrior, "The noble rain" (_quiauitl, tziri_). 

TENOCHTITLAN, 85. The current name for the City of Mexico; literally, "at the stone-nopal, " from _tetl_, stone, _nochtli_, nopal, andpostpos. , _tlan_. The term refers to an ancient tradition. 

TEPANECAS or TECPANECAS, 35. A powerful nation of Nahuatl lineage, who dwelt in the valley of Mexico. They were destroyed in 1425 by theAcolhuas and Mexicans, and later the state of Tlacopan was formedfrom their remnants. Comp. Probably from _tecpan_, a royal residence, with the gentile termination. 

TEPEYACAC, TEPEYACAN, 93. From _tepetl_, mountain, _yacatl_, nose, point, and postpos, _c_. 1. A small mountain on which the celebratedchurch of the Virgin of Guadalupe now stands. 2. A large town andstate subject to ancient Mexico, now Tepeaca in the province ofPuebla. 

TETLAPAN QUETZANITZIN, 68, 69. A ruler of Tlatilolco, contemporary ofthe conquest. See Note to Song VI. 

TETZCOCO, now TEZCUCO, 14, 35, 36, 77. Capital city of Acolhuacan, and residence of Nezahualcoyotl. It has been called "the Athens ofAnahuac. " The derivation of the name is from a plant called_tetzculli_ (_Cod. Ramirez_). 

TEZOZOMOC, TEZOZOMOCTLI, 35, 39, 67, 88, 89. A ruler of theTepanecas, celebrated for his warlike skill and severity. His deathis placed in the year 1427. The name, like Montezuma, is derived from_zoma_, to be angry, in this case from the reduplicated frequentativeform, _zozoma_. 

TIZATLAN, 103. "The place of white varnish" (_tizatl_), the name ofone of the four quarters of the city of Tlascala. 

TLACOMIHUATZIN, 93. "The noble cousin of the lynx" (_tlacomiztli_, lynx, huan, postpos. , denoting affinity, _tzin_, reverential). Thename of a warrior. 

TLACOPAN, now TACUBA, 135. A small state west of Mexico and subjectto it, built up on the ruins of the ancient Tepanecas. Comp. From_tlacotli_, a slave. 

TLAHUICAN, 118. A Nahuatl province south of the valley of Mexico, socalled from the cinnabar, _tlahuitl_, there obtained (Buschmann; butthe _Cod. Ramirez_ gives the meaning "toward the earth, " from_tlalli_ and _huic_). [*Transcriber's note: TLAHUICAN not found intext. See Tlahuica in Vocabulary. ]

TLAILOTLACAN, 140. One of the seven divisions of the city of Tezcuco(_Ixtlilxochitl_, _Hist. Chichimeca_, cap. 38). [*Transcriber's note:TLAILOTLACAN not found in text. ]

TLAILOTLAQUI, 84. Literally, "workers in refuse, " or "scavengers. "Said by M. Aubin to have been a tribe who settled in Tezcuco in thereign of Quinantzin. The term is apparently one of contempt. [*Transcriber's note: TLAILOTLAQUI not found on page 84 in text. SeeTlailotlaqui in Vocabulary. ]

TLALMANALCO, 42. A village near the foot of the volcano Popocatepetl. Derived from _tlalmanalli_, level ground, with postpos. _co_. 

TLALNAHUACATL, 89. "Dweller on the land;" name of a warrior. 

TLALOC, 45. God of rain and the waters; a famous divinity among theancient Mexicans. The word means "stretched on the earth, " and theidol of the god represented a man extended on his back holding avase. 

TLAPALLAN, 105. A mythical land from which the Toltecs were fabled tohave come and to which Quetzalcoatl returned. The derivation is from_tlapalli_, color, especially red. 

TLATETOLCO, TLATILULCO, 33, 83, 85. A suburb of the ancient city ofMexico, founded in 1338; from _tlatelli_, a mound, _ololoa_, to makeround, the sense being "an island. " See Motolinia, _Historia de losIndios_, Trat. III, cap. 7. 

TLAXCALLAN, now TLASCALA, 89, 93, 103. "The place of bread, " from_tlaxcalli_, bread. Site of a warlike tribe of Nahuatl descent, eastof the valley of Mexico. 

TLATZIN, 46. Chief of a town of the Chichimecs, situated on LakeChalco. He flourished toward the close of the 14th century. From_tlatli_, a falcon. 

TOCHIN, 89. From _tochtli_, rabbit; name of the brother of theTezcucan ruler Quinantzin, and of many other personages. 

TOLLAN, or TULAN, 46, 105, 107. The ancient mythical capital of theToltecs. The common derivation from _tolin_, a rush, is erroneous. The name is a syncopated form of _tonatlan_, "the place of the sun. "

TOLTEC, properly TOLTECATL, 46, 111. An inhabitant of Tollan. TheToltecs were a mythical people, whose civilization was supposed tohave preceded that of the Aztecs. 

TOPILTZIN, 46, 105. "Our son" or "Our lord" (see Nopiltzin). The termwas especially applied to Quetzalcoatl, q. V. See Orozco y Berra, _Hist. Antig. De Mexico_, Tom. III, p. 54. 

TOTOQUILHUATLI, 41. From _totoquilia_, to act as agent or lieutenant. Ruler of Tlacopan. The verse of the song in which this name occurs isgiven in the original Nahuatl by Ixtlilxochitl, who says it was verypopular throughout New Spain. See his _Historia Chichimeca_, cap. 32. 

XICALANCO, 107. A locality on the borders of the province Tabasco. The people spoke Nahuatl. Deriv. _xicalli_, gourd or jar, andpostpos. _co_. 

XICOMATZINTLAMATA, 43. Name of a warrior not otherwise known. Thecompound seems to mean "skillful with angry hand" (_xicoa, maitl, tlamati_). 

XICONTECATL, 103. Name of several distinguished Tlascalan warriors, lords of Tizatlan. See Clavigero, _Hist. Antica di Messico_, Tom. III, pp. 38 and 40, One was a favorite of Nezahualcoyotl. SeeIxtlilxochitl, _Historia Chichimeca_, cap. 40. 

XIUHTEUCTLI, 15. The god of fire, literally, "the lord of the year, "or "of the foliage. "

XIUHTZAL, 46. A queen of ancient Tollan, said by Clavigero to haveruled from A. D. 979 to 984. Other writers give the name morecorrectly Xiuhtlaltzin, "Lady of the Green Fields, " and place herdeath in 987. (Orozco y Berra, _Hist. Antig. De Mexico_, Tom. III, p. 45. )

XOLOTL, 46. An early if not the first king of the Chichimecs. Hisdeath occurred in 1232. 

YOHUALLATONOC, 89. "Shining at night. " Name of a warrior. 

YOPICO, 22. A division of the ancient city of Mexico, containing atemple of this name. The word means "the place of the tearing out ofhearts" (_yolltol, pi, co_), from the form of sacrifice there carriedout. 

YOYONTZIN, 35, 40, 66, 67. A name of Nezahualcoyotl. See p. 35. 

FOOTNOTES. 

[Footnote 1: Diego Duran, _Historia de las Indias de Nueva España_, Tom. I, p. 233; and compare Geronimo de Mendieta, _HistoriaEclesiastica Indiana_, Lib. II, cap. 31. ]

[Footnote 2: Sahagun, _Historia de Nueva España_, Lib. VIII, cap. 26. ]

[Footnote 3: Sahagun, _Historia de Nueva España_, Lib. III, cap. 8. ]

[Footnote 4: _Cuicoyan_, from _cuica_, song, and the place-ending_yan_, which is added to the impersonal form of the verb, in thisinstance, _cuicoa_. Mr. Bancroft entirely misapprehends Tezozomoc'swords about these establishments, and gives an erroneous rendering ofthe term. See his _Native Races of the Pacific Coast_, Vol. II, p. 290, and Tezozomoc, _Cronica Mexicana_, cap. 18. ]

[Footnote 5: Juan de Torquemada, _Monarquia Indiana_, Lib. VI, cap. 43. ]

[Footnote 6: Torquemada, _Monarquia Indiana_, Lib. XVII, cap. 3. Didacus Valades, who was in Mexico about 1550, writes of the natives:"Habent instrumenta musica permulta in quibus semulatione quadam seexercent. " _Rhetorica Christiana_, Pars. IV, cap. 24. ]

[Footnote 7: Descriptions are given by Edward Mühlenpfordt, _DieRepublik Mexico_, Bd. I, pp. 250-52 (Hannover, 1844). ]

[Footnote 8: Molina translates _piqui_, "crear ô plasmar Dios algunacosa de nuevo. " _Vocabulario de la Lengua Mexicana_, s. V. ]

[Footnote 9: Sahagun, _Historia de Nueva España_, Lib. X, cap. 8. ]

[Footnote 10: Boturini, _Idea de una Nueva Historia General_, p. 97. ]

[Footnote 11: Clavigero, _Storia antica di Messico_, Lib. VII, p. 175. ]

[Footnote 12: Torquemada, _Monarquia Indiana_, Lib. X, cap. 34. ]

[Footnote 13: Duran, _Hist. De la Indias de Nueva España_, Tom. I, p. 233. ]

[Footnote 14: Tezozomoc, _Cronica Mexicana_, cap. 64. ]

[Footnote 15: Ixtlilxochitl, _Historia Chichimeca_, cap. 47. ]

[Footnote 16: Boturini, _Idea de una Nueva Historia General_, p. 90. ]

[Footnote 17: Tezozomoc, _Cronica Mexicana_, cap. 53. ]

[Footnote 18: See Sahagun, _Historia de Neuva España_, Lib. IV, chap. 17, and Tezozomoc, _Cronica Mexicana_, cap. 64. ]

[Footnote 19: _Cuitlaxoteyotl_, from _cuitatl_, mierda;_tecuilhuicuicatl_, from _tecuilhuaztli_, sello, _tecuilonti_, el quelo haze a otro, pecando contra natura. Molina, _Vocabulario_. ]

[Footnote 20: William A. Hammond, _The Disease of the Scythians(morbus feminarum) and Certain Analogous Conditions_, in the_American Journal of Neurology and Psychiatry_, 1882. ]

[Footnote 21: _Cronica Mexicana_, cap. 2. ]

[Footnote 22: On this subject the reader may consult Parades, _Compendio del Arte de la Lengua Mexicana_, pp. 5, 6, and Sandoval, _Arte de la Lengua Mexicana_, pp. 60, 61. Tapia Zenteno whose _ArteNovissima de la Lengua Mexicana_ was published in 1753, rejectsaltogether the saltillo, and says its invention is of no use exceptto make students work harder! (pp. 3, 4. ) The vowels with saltillo, he maintains, are simply to be pronounced with a slight aspiration. Nevertheless, the late writers continue to employ and describe thesaltillo, as Chimalpopoca, _Epitome á Modo Facil de aprender elIdioma Nahuatl_, p. 6. (Mexico, 1869. )]

[Footnote 23: _Arte Novissima de la Lengua Mexicana_, pp. 3, 4. ]

[Footnote 24: Duran, _Historia de Nueva España_, Tom. I, p. 230. ]

[Footnote 25: The singer who began the song was called _cuicaito_, "the speaker of the song. "]

[Footnote 26: The most satisfactory description of these concerts isthat given by Geronimo de Mendieta, _Historia Eclesiastica Indiana_, Lib. II, cap. 31. I have taken some particulars from Boturini andSahagun. ]

[Footnote 27: Literally, "the broken drum, " from _tlapana_, to break, as they say _tlapanhuimetzli_, half moon. It is described byTezozomoc as "un atambor bajo. " _Cronica Mexicana_, cap. 53. ]

[Footnote 28: From _yollotl_, heart, and _pi_, to tear out. Theinstrument is mentioned by Tezozomoc, _Cronica Mexicana_, cap. 48. Onthe Yopico, and its ceremonies, see Sahagun, _Historia de NuevaEspaña_, Lib. II, cap. 1, and Appendix. ]

[Footnote 29: Simeon, however, thinks the name arose from the growingand swelling of the sound of the instrument (notes to Jourdanet'stranslation of Sahagun, p. 28). Mr. H. H. Bancroft gives theastonishing translation of teponaztli, "wing of stone vapor!"(_Native Races of the Pacific States_, Vol. II, p. 293. ) Brasseurtraced the word to a Maya-Quiche root, _tep_. In both Nahuatl andMaya this syllable is the radicle of various words meaning toincrease, enlarge, to grow strong or great, etc. ]

[Footnote 30: Sahagun, _Hist. De Nueva España_, Lib. II, cap. 27. ]

[Footnote 31: See _The Güegüence, a Comedy ballet in the NahuatlSpanish dialect of Nicaragua_, Introd. , p. 29. (Philadelphia, 1883. )]

[Footnote 32: Theodor Baker, _Ueber die Musik der Nord-AmerikanischenWilden. _, pp. 51-53. (Leipzig, 1882. )]

[Footnote 33: _Omitl_, bone, _chicahuac_, strong. A specimen made ofthe bone of a fossil elephant is possessed by Señor A. Chavero, ofMexico. See Tezozomoc, _Cronica Mexicana_, cap. 55, and the note ofOrozco y Berra to that passage in the Mexican edition. Also Sahagun, _Hist. De Nueva España_, Lib. VIII, cap. 20, who likewise describesmost of the instruments referred to in this section. ]

[Footnote 34: H. T. Cresson, _On Aztec Music_, in the _Proceedings ofthe Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia_, 1883. ]

[Footnote 35: Sahagun, _Historia de Nueva España_, Lib. II, Appendice. ]

[Footnote 36: Duran, _Historia de las Indias de Nueva España_, Tom. I, p. 233. ]

[Footnote 37: Boturini, _Idea de una Nueva Historia General_, Appendice, p. 95. ]

[Footnote 38: Echevarria, _Historia del Origen de las Gentes de NuevaEspaña_, Discurso Preliminar. ]

[Footnote 39: Clavigero, _Storia Antica di Messico_, Lib. VII, p. 175. ]

[Footnote 40: "Ihre Sprachen sind überreich an doppelsinnigenAusdrücken die sie absichtlich anwenden um ihre Gedanken zuverbergen. Geistliche haben mir versichert, dass sie obgleich derAztekischen Sprache vollständig mächtig, oft den wahren Sinn einerBeichte nicht zu verstehen vermochten, weil die Beichtende sich inräthselhafter und metaphorreicher Weise auszudrücken pflegten. "Carlos von Gagern, _Charakteristik der Indianischen BevölkerungMexico's_, p. 17 (in the _Mit. Der Geog. Gesell. _, Wien. 1837). ]

[Footnote 41: Carochi's translations are not quite literal. Thefollowing notes will explain the compounds:--

1. _Tlauitl_, red ochre, _quecholli_, a bird so called, _aztatl_, aheron, _ehualtia_, reverential of _ehua_, to rise up; hence, "It (orhe) shone like a noble red-winged heron rising in flight. "

2. _Ayauitl_, mist; _coçamalotl_, rainbow; _tonameyotl_, shining, brightness; _ti_, connective; _mani_, substantive verb. "Thebrightness of the rain bow is there. " There is no conjunction "and";Father Carochi seems to have carelessly taken _ayauh_, which is theform of _ayauitl_ in composition, for the conjunction _auh_, and. Each of the lines given is a detached fragment, without connectionwith the others. 

3. _xiuitl_, something blue or green; _coyolli_, bells;_tzitzilicaliztli_, tinkling. "The golden drum'sturquoise-bell-tinkling. "

4. _xiuhtic_, blue or green; _tlapalli_, red; _cuiloa_, to paint orwrite; _amoxtli_, book; _manca_, imperf. Of _mani_. "There was a bookpainted in red and green. " 5. _chalchiuhuitl_, the jade; _cozcatl_, a jewel; _mecatl_, a string; _totoma_, frequentative of _toma_, tounfold, unwind. "I unwind my song like a string of precious jewels. "]

[Footnote 42: See above, page 10]

[Footnote 43: _On the Ikonomatic Method of Phonetic Writing, withspecial reference to American Archeology_. By D. G. Brinton, inProceedings of the American Philosophical Society, for October, 1886. ]

[Footnote 44: This fact is mentioned by Lord Kingsborough in hisgreat work on Mexico, Vol. VI, p. 533. ]

[Footnote 45: It is described in the _Anales del Museo Nacional_, Tom. III, p. 262. ]

[Footnote 46: Echevarria's words are "los pongo en su idioma. " _Hist. Del Origen de las Gentes que poblaron la Nueva España, DiscursoPreliminar_, in Kingsborough's _Mexico_, Vol. VIII. ]

[Footnote 47: See his _Tezcuco en los Ultimas Tiempos de sus AntiguosReyes_. Parte IV (Mexico, 1826). ]

[Footnote 48: See the description of this fragment of Boturini bySeñor Alfredo Chavero in the _Anales del Museo Nacional_, Tom. III, p. 242. ]

[Footnote 49: M. Aubin, _Notice sur une Collection d'AntiquitésMexicaines_, pp. 8, 9. (Paris, 1851. )]

[Footnote 50: Printed very incorrectly in Lord Kingsborough's editionof Ixtlilxochitl's _Relaciones Historicas_ (Rel. X, Kingsborough, _Antiquities of Mexico_, Vol. IX, p. 454). ]

[Footnote 51: See Sahagun, _Historia de Nueva España_, Lib. II, Appendix. ]

[Footnote 52: Bustamente puts the number of the songs ofNezahualcoyotl at eighty, of which he could find only one extant, andthis, as I understand his words, in Spanish only. See his _Tezcuco enlos Tiempos de sus Antiguous Reyes_, p. 253 (Mexico, 1826). WhenAlexander von Humboldt visited Mexico he sought in vain for anyfragment of the songs of the royal bard. _Vues lies Cordillères_, etc. , Tom. II, p. 391. ]

[Footnote 53: _Tardes Americanas_, pp. 90-94. (Mexico, 1778. )]

[Footnote 54: Torquemada, _Monarquia Indiana_, Lib. II, cap. 45. Theword _huehuetitlan_, seems to be a misprint for _ahuehuetitlan_, from_ahuehuetl_, with the ligature _ti_, and the postposition _tlan_, literally "among the cypresses. "]

[Footnote 55: _Op. Cit. _ Tom. I, p. 795. ]

[Footnote 56: _Grammatica del Idioma Mexicano_, p. 180. (Mexico, 1880. )