Note 17 — Chapter III · THE GREAT GODS
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Sahagun says of Uitzilopochtli that, being originally a man, he was a sort of Hercules, of great strength and warlike, a great destroyer of towns and slayer of men. In war he had been a living fire, very terrible to his adversaries; and the device he bore was a dragon’s head, frightful in the extreme, and casting fire out of its mouth. A great wizard he had been, and sorcerer, transforming himself into the shape of divers birds and beasts. While he lived, the Mexicans esteemed this man very highly for his strength and dexterity in war, and when he died they honoured him as a god, offering slaves, and sacrificing them in his presence. And they looked to it that those slaves were well fed and well decorated with such ornaments as were in use, with earrings and visors; all for the greater honour of the god. In Tlaxcala also they had a deity called Camaxtli, who was similar to this Huitzilopochtli.17