Note 467 — Chapter XVI · MEETING WITH MONTEZUMA. November, 1519.

‘Cenzeño ... y el rostro algo largo, è alegre.’ Bernal Diaz, Hist. Verdad., 67. ‘Motecçuma quiere dezir hõbre sañudo y graue.’ Gomara, Hist. Mex., 103; Acosta, Hist. Ind., 502-3. It is from this, probably, that so many describe him as serious in expression. A number of portraits have been given of the monarch, differing greatly from one another. The best known is Prescott’s, taken from the painting for a long time owned by the Condes de Miravalle, the descendants of Montezuma; but this lacks the Indian type, and partakes too much of the ideal. Clavigero’s, Storia Mess., iii. 8, appears more like him, though it is too small and too roughly sketched to convey a clear outline. Far better is the half-size representation prefixed to Linati, Costumes, which indeed corresponds very well with the text description. The face in Armin, Alte Mex., 104, indicates a coarse Aztec warrior, and that in Montanus, Nieuwe Weereld, 244-5, an African prince, while the native picture, as given in Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., ii. 6, is purely conventional. The text description, based chiefly on Bernal Diaz, is not inappropriate to the weak, vacillating character of the monarch. Clavigero makes him nearly 54 years old, and Brasseur de Bourbourg 51; but 40, as Bernal Diaz calls him, appears to be more correct.