163 / 1060
BooK
V.
Royal
Com1nentarie.r.
of
what we
have related, touching the Beginnings, Cufioms, Laws
and
Govern·
ment of this people.
b'
· h
h
r..
•
•
d
And becaufe he hath wrote on this
fu
Jett
wit
muc per1p1cmty, or er and
elegancy of expreffion,
I
have thpught .fit to .{\dorn this Hifl:ory,
ahd
_fupply the
defects
of
it
by
fame
of
chofe
Ex
e~nc1es
which
I
have copied
from hIS
Works.
CH AP.
Xi~
Of
the
Laws
and Statutes
which
the
Incas
niade
for
the
good and
benefit
of
their
Subjeas~
T"
Hat
which
now immediately follows concerning the Government of
the
i~
..
cas
we have for the better confirmation and authority of what we have
already
d~clared
, Tranflared
Verbatim
out of the
Elegan~
Latin of
B_la_s Valera.
6
'
The
Indians
of
Peru,
faith he, began to lay fome Foundat10ns of
fl
Polltlcal Go–
cc
1
vernment
in
the Reigns of the
Inca, Manco Capac,
and of the
Inca Roc1i,
whq
cc
was alfo one of their Kings ; for before tha'it time, in all preceding Ages, they
"
lived
like
Brutes, in all filrhinefs and befriality, without order, rule, or any go..
e:'
verriment
:
But
from that time they began to educate their Children
with
fome
" mean rudiments of learning; and to enter into
civil
and mutual communica–
cc
tion; they then alfo began
to
Cloath themfelves, not oriely with a refpett to
" modefiy, but likewife
for
ornament; . they then plowed and cultivated their
'' Fields with induO:ry and labour, and therein afforded mutual affifience each to
l'
otber ; they
ttien
confiimted Judges , and kept Courts, they built Houfes
" both for private Dwellings and publick Meetings, with many other things
'~
commendable, and worthy of
praiCe.
Thofe Laws and. Statutes which their
'' Princes from the mere light of reafon diCl:ated and prefcribed to them , they
" readily embraced, aoo thereunto diretled and conformed all cneir Aetions
in
'' that exaet manner, that
for
my part
I
cannot but prefer thefe
Inca.,
of
Peru,
not
'' onely before the Inhabitants of
China
and
(apan,
and
al~l
thofe of the
Ea.ft-Indies
7
" but even before the Natural Gentiles of
Ajia,
and the
rives of
Greece :
For
if
" it be well confidered, the labour and indufiry which
Num Pompilius
exerci[ed in
cc
framing and con.fiituting Laws agreeable to the humour
an
di[pofition of the
"
Romans
;
and that
-.$olon
was
an excellent Legifl.atour for
fhe
Ath~
and
Licur–
"
g™
for the
Laccdemonians,
is not much to be admired, becau[e t,hey were Men
'c
expert, and knowing in
~11
the points of Humane literature ; which was
a
great
~'
advantage and availed them much in compofing Laws and Cufl:oms proper and
cc
neceflary for thofe prefent days, and the happinefs and welfare of future Ages:
_,, But it is
firange
and wonderfull, that the[e poor
Indians,
who had none of thofe
" helps nor advantages, fhould be able
to
lay fuch a folid foundation of excellent
'' La\vs, which (excepting the Errour of their Idolatrous
W
otlhip)
were truly
" rational and comparable
in
every refpett to the Confiitutions
of
the
mo.frlear–
,, ned Statef
men,
and which thefe conftant
Indians
conferve with facrednefs and
::
ve~~ration
unto this day :
An<f~hich
is
rhofl: firange,
that
without letters or
cc
\~n~mg,.
and
o~ely
by knots of thread of divers colours they iliould be able
to
dilhngu1fh
their
La\.VS,
and reade them with their true fenfe and fignifica–
,, tio1r and
fo
well
by
this
invention to commit them to the knowledge of po–
:: fierity, that fince they were
e(fab~ifhed
by rbeir fufl:
King~,
fix
hundred years
are
fully
elapfed, and )
et
are as fa1thfitlly and as lively cdn[erved
in
the memo–
'' ry
of
that people,
as
if they had been Laws of later date. Such was their
:; Municipal
.~aw,
which
treate~.
of
th~ p~micular
advantage of every Nation,
,, and
t~e
Pnv1leges
~nd Immu~mes
refpeetive to every people. They had their
_
Agramm
Law
which
determmed and meafured out
the bounds and limits of
U
i
~' Provin~es