33 / 1060
Bo.oK
I.
Royal
Commentaries.
fuffident
light
to
the
nature
and knowledge
of
t~s
our Hiftory.
Marly
~th~r
hi
f
like fort
though
of
no
great
momen~,
tlus
Inca
often
recounted
m lus
ViG~ ~d
Difcou'rfes
he
made
me,
the which I,
~al~
declare
in
their
due
plac~s ,
being
nbw troubled that
I made
n~
farther
enqum~
mto
other
matters, for wluch ·
I have
room
here
to
place them with
good
auth~mty~
CH A P. X.
Wherein the Authour a/ledges
the
Authority he hath for
the
Truth of
his
Hiflory.
H
Av.ing thus laid the
firft
'Foundation
wher~on
to
build
-Our
Hi~ory,
thougl1
as to
the
Original ofour Kings of
Peru,
it
may
feem
fometbmg fabulous ;
it
now follows
that we proceed forward to relate in what manner
rue
Indians
were reduced
~d
conquered ,
enlarg~g
the particulars
w~ich
tlie
Inca
&ave. me,
with
divers other a<lditions concerrung the
Natural
Indians.?
and
their Kmgs,
which
the
firfi
/nett, Manco
C"'pae,
reduced under
his
Government, with whom
I
was educated, and converfed untill I arrived to
the
age
of twenty years;
dLJring
which
time
1
became infonned of
all
the
partkulars concerning Whkh I
write;
for in my youth they related thefe !l:ories to
me,
as
Nurfes
doe
tales,
or
fables
td
their
Children.
Afterwards,
in
my
riper years,
I cook a more
particular
notice
of
their
Laws
and
Eolicies,
comparing
this
new Government
of.
the
Spaniards='
with
that of the
JncM,
namely, what were
ell:eemed
faults and
trefpa!fes;
and
what feverities and punHhments were proportioned
td
the
fame:
they
informed
me
alfo
of the Methoos which their
Kings
ufed in War and Peac:e, how they trea-:
ted
their Vaffitls,
and
what
fervices they
r-eguired
from them. They infinitted
me
alfo
in
their Idolatries, Ceremonies and Sacrifices, teaching the
te5
diftingui!h
between
their more
folemn
feilivals, and
the
ordinary holy-days,
and
how
they
were to
be
obferved and celebrated; they told me alfo what was efteemed fuper–
ftitious,
and
ofabufe
in
their Religion,, what Omens
there
were of good and bad
luck;
in
lhort, there was nothing either relating to their Government or Man–
ners,
of which they gave me not a difiinet Account ,
fo
that fhould I defcribe
every matter received from them, the par ·culars would be too large
to
be con–
tained
within
the
volume
of
this
Hifiory.
Befides what I
have
heard) I
have
been an Eye-witnefS for the mofi part
of
their
Idolatrous
W orlhiR, Feafis, and
ether
foperftitious Cufioms;
:vvrutJn
untill the twelv:rh
ot
thirteenth
year of
my
age wei:e not wholly abollihed a.mongft them.
For
in
regard
l
wa:s born
eight
years
after the
Spaniards
became
·Mafiers
of
my
Countrey; and that, as
I faid,
I ·
was educated amongfi the
Indi11ns
till
I was twenty
years
old, I had opportunity
in
aII
~hat
time to obferve, and be well acquamted with their Cufioms; befides all
which, Jo fodn as I took a refolution to
write
this
Hifiory , I acquainted my
Schoolfellows, fuch as were taught the art ofGrammar, of this my intention de–
firing them to fearch into the Archives and
Regifters
of their Countries ,
a~d
to
fend me the various fuceeffes of them; the
wliich
ptarpofe of mine they
fo
well
ap_Proved,
that
every
one moil: readily
contribute~
to
this
work, fending me the
~ory
of the Exploits and Aetions of their refpeetive
lncM
and is the fame
i
wh1ch the
Spanifh
llifiorians
re1a~e
on this Subjeet,. th?ugh
not .fa
parti~ularly,
and
ar.gely
as we have done. And
10
regard
the
Begmrung and Foundauon of this
Hillary
confi~s
of
~he
aet:ions
.o~
this
f
irft Inca,-it
will
be very pertinent
to
this
matte~
to
partr~larife t~em
difhn&ly,
that.fowe
.may
not be obliged to repeat
them m the Lives
~f
his.
Stic~effours,
whohaving a great
v.alue
for his Perfori
and
Vertues, made
it
their chief aim and imention to iniitate the Humour, Aeti–
()fls and Cufioms
of
this
their
firft
P-riace
M anco Capac;
fo
that
we (ball endeavour
I> ~ .
to