Note 55 — Chapter II · ORIGIN AND LANDSCAPE (B) THE GROUP OF THE HIGHER CULTURES

And was there an element of panem et circenses in the mass-sacrifice of captives? May it be that the acceptance of the Spaniard as the expected manifestation of the god Quetzalcoatl (“redeunt Saturnia regna”), and the serious disputations on matters of religion that took place between Montezuma and the Christians, were presages of the phase which Spengler calls the “Second Religiousness” (see below, p. 310) of the Civilization?—Tr.