Note 732 — Chapter XXII · ALVARADO’S MERCILESS MASSACRE. May, 1520.

Tapia’s testimony to this and other criminating points is particularly valuable, as he was a bitter opponent of Alvarado. The latter states that Montezuma declared himself powerless to prevent the premeditated sacrilege to the Christian images. Ramirez, Proceso contra Alvarado, 36-7, 66-7. But this plea, if made, must, according to other accounts, be interpreted to apply only to pagan ceremonies, held almost before the images, and which might be regarded as a sacrilege. Torquemada writes that arms had been collected within the temple and everything prepared for the day when the Spaniards attended by invitation to witness the dance of the nobles. At a given signal an evidently simultaneous attack was to be made on the assembled guests and on the fort, thus taking the Spaniards at a disadvantage. Jars stood prepared, filled with certain liquids, wherein to cook their bodies for the feast. i. 489-90. The general inclination of those who follow the Spanish version, of which Torquemada, usually so stanch for the natives, is here the best exponent, has been to assume that the attack was arranged for the day of the great dances; and this is not unlikely, although the original writers and their commentators appear to be ignorant of or oblivious to certain features of the festival. Another view has been to place the attack during the installation of the new image of the war-god. This ceremony belonged to the preceding day, a fact not as a rule understood, and therefore the source of much confusion. Brasseur de Bourbourg, who is clearest on these points, assumes that the raising of the idol would involve the casting forth of the Christian emblems, and be the signal for attack. But evidences are conclusive that the natives were not ready on that day. They were too occupied with the celebration, and Alvarado, with his small force, was not so negligent as to wait till the last moment, when the enemy was fully prepared. He and several of his men indicate clearly enough that they attended the temple at the installation. The uprising must therefore have been appointed for the following or even a later day. See note 25. Vetancurt, Teatro Mex., iii. 139, is among the authorities who follow the version of Torquemada in general. One of the fervid-minded witnesses of Alvarado repeats the account of pots and jars for cooking the Spaniards. Helps supposes that Huitzilopochtli’s festival had not yet been entered upon, and that Tezcatlipoca’s image is the one in question; but the Spaniards, who knew the difference between these idols, all affirm that the celebration of the war-god was now held. See Ramirez, Proceso contra Alvarado, 69, 113, 130, 137, and 150.