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full view, Scene 11

full view, Scene 11

"This is that powerful and great king, whom they bore in a litter to present to Don Fernando Cortes: because he did not wish to believe in God, and for this cause he was filled with indignation and rage. (It is probable that this is Montezuma since next to this passage, Chalco is represented.)" [Frederick Starr's English translation of the text found in the corresponding scene in the version he saw in the pueblo in 1898, published in his The Mapa de Cuauhtlantzinco (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1898), p.15] Starr's footnote: "Probably not Montezuma; it may be Cacamatzin. In Bernal Díaz we read: 'Early in the morning, when we were on the point of marching, a sentinel came to inform us that a great number of Mexicans, richly dressed, were upon the road. Cortes, therefore, ordered us to return into our quarters, and at that instant four of the principal courtiers of Mexico arrived, and, waiting on Cortes with great respect, informed him that Cacamatzin, Lord of Tezcuco, nephew of the great Montezuma, was approaching, and requested that he would wait to receive him. Cacamatzin followed in the greatest pomp, carried in a magnificent litter adorned with green plumes, and enriched jewels set in the branched pillars of solid gold. He was borne by eight lords, who assisted him out of the litter and swept the way by which he was to pass.' (p. 130.) While the picture does not closely fit the description, it certainly fits that of Montezuma’s litter no better. It may be the panoply of plumes deserves notice: it is better shown in the same picture of the second series." [p. 15]