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I
I
,
Royal
Commentaries.
BOOK
VIII.
Indian
Servants,
wbofe
lndufrry
and Faithfulnefs
they
might
entruft
ith
all confidence. But they
anfw=ered,
That they would upon no Terms what–
foever fo far
'abafe and
degrade themfelves;
for
being
Gentlemen they
more efteemed their
Gentility•
than all the Gold and Silver in
Peru.'
The
which Anfwer the Steward making known to his Mafter, and how much the
young Gentlemen fiood on the Punctilio's of their Noble Blood; their
good
Kinfman
Lorenpo
de
Aldana,
with much calmnefs made aofwer,
If
thefe
are
fuch
Gentlemen,
how
come
they
fa
poor?
.dnd
if
they
are
fa
poor, hfJW
come they
[Heh
Gentlemen?
So
Aldana
never
troubled
his
Kinfmen, nor
himfelf
farther
to put
them in a
way
of livelyhood, but fuffered them
to pafs
meanly'
and in neceffity., as
l
have feen them ; tho' not
fo
much as to want Diet:
or Cloathing.
for when
they came from
Areq11epa
to
Cozco,
they lodged in
the
Houfe of
my
Lord
Garfilajfo,,
where
they
were provided with
all
things
neceffary; and when they paffed to other Cities? the Houfes of their Coun–
try-men of
Eflremadllra
were
always
open
to
them ;
for-
in
thofe
days
the
very
name
of a
Country-·man,
·was fufficient
to
make them as welcome as
if
they had been Sons, or the neareft telation to a Family. Thefe four
Gen–
tlemen,
whom
we have
mentioned
in•
this place,
w~re
all of
the
Ancient
Conquerours
of
Peru
who dyed in their Beds
of
a
natural Death;
the which
we
f
pecifie as a
thing
rare, and ftrange ; for as
appears
by
the preceding
Hiftory, there is not an Example of
any
who have dyed in
this
manner,
but all
have
come
to
their Ends
by
violent deaths. Wherefore chefe wor–
thy
Perfons,
having been Conquerours,
illd
Planters of this
Empire~
and
dying in a
Happy
and Bleffed manner, were greatly amen.red
by
the
People,
for the fingular
Vertuc,
Honour, and
Goodnefs, with
which they
were endued.
Tho' there were no exprefs Law of God, which fhould command us
t4'
honour our Parents,
yet
the
Law
of Nature teaches
it
to the
moft
bar
barous People of the World,
and
inclines
them
to
omi~
no
occafion
where–
by
to
~xprefs
the
Doty
and
Refp.elt
they
owe to them.
The which
con–
fideration, incited
by
Divine and Humane Laws, and even enftamped
Oil
the Hearts of Heathens, obliges me to publifh
the
Vertues of
my
Father
after
his
Death,
which I had not
opportunity to do, during the time of
his
Life.
And than
the
Praifes,
and Commendations,
which
I
attribute
to
my
Father, may not f.eem partial, and proceeding from Affection.; I
will here repeat an
Elogir1m
made
by
a Fryer, of a devout and religious
Life,
which be
delivered
after his death, for the Comfort and
Confola–
·tion
of bis Children., and . Friends, and as an Example for
other perfons
to imitate. l lhould here name the good Man, who v:.irote ·this Oration.,
but he engaged me not to do
it,
but
to conceal him when I publifhed
the
Writing:
and
I wi!h I
were not· uoder that Engagement, that
by
his
Authority? the praifes of
my
Father might appear rbe more Authentick.
I fhall omit the Exordium, and the many Oratorical
Flights,
and
Colours
he ufes. And, as becomes an Hiftorian, I lhall be
very ilior6
in this pi–
ous Digreffion.
A