466 / 1060
..
444
Royal
Commentaries.
BooKL
there prefent, nor whofoever he was, did
he put any to
death ; for
if
their
retire~
ment vvas
onely
to
g~ve
way
or
place
to
the Horfe
.in
his cariere, .as was probable,
it
was
fo
far from
bemg
a fault, or to
deferve
purufhmenr, that
1t
was a piece of
civility
and re(pett, which they
defire~to
iliew unto thofe whom
they
eHeemed
robe Children of the Sun;
and
to have done otherwife, or to
have
obftruCl:ed
the
way
and paffage
of thefe {!rangers,
would
have
feemed a piece of impiety
and
prophanarion towards
thofe whom
they confeifed
to
be of
Divine
Race and
defcended
from
the
Heavens. Nor was
A~ahualpa
fo fiupid
in
his underfran'ding
as
to
flay his own
Indians
in
the prefence
of
the
Ambaffadours whom
he
had
em~
ployed
to
pay
Honour
and W
oriliip
to them , and
to
affure them of all fecurity
ap.d
protecrion.
Nor
is
ic
probabl~
that
Hcrmzndo de
Soto
would
have been
fo
rude
and difcourteous as
to ride
up co the
very
Nofe
of
th. e King, with whom
he
came
to treat
in
behalf of the Ernperour and the Pope :
By
all
which,
it
is
greatly
to
be
lamented, w9-en
we
confider
with -ho~
little care
Men giv.e
Relat!on£-of
paffiges
which
occur
m
thofe
remote
parts,
wnhout reg4rd .to ilie reputauon
of
that
peo–
ple.
The
Inca At1Lh11alp1t
(as we
!hall
<lec1are more
particularly hereafter)
fhewed ,
him(elf
very
generous and
real
toward~e.J'p.aniard.r;
and
therefore
it
may be
law.
full
for us to
render
a
charatter
of bis
abilities,
difcretion
and
underfiaodiog
with
which Nature had
endued
him :
For
in
regard
we
have
made
mention at large
of
all rhe
Tyrannies
and
Cruelties
which
he committed,
the
rule
of
Hifiory
doth
oblige
us
not to
conceal
the
mixtures
ofVertuewbich appeared in
him,
unlelSwe
would
approve our
[elves falfe
by
writing
a.
Romance
in
the plac-e
of
true
Hi{l_ory.
That
wliich
I
report,
proceeds
faom
tbe
re1ation
of
many
S
p1tniud1
who
were
pre–
fent
at all the
action,
beiftg
fuch as I
received
from their
own lUOUths,
at
tliofu
times
of converfation
which
they
pa!fed
in
my
Father,s
family,
wheu a
~eat
part
of their
entertainment
was to recount
the
many
pa{fages
and
,accidents which oc..
curred
in
this
Conguefi: ;
the
fame I have heard confirmed from
{ever4J
/71~11,
who
at the vifits
which
they
made to
my
Mother,
did frequently difcourfeDf
thofe
Allions~
and
particularly
of what
l1appened
in
the Reign
of
At.ahutdpa
to
the time
of his
Death,
attributing
all the misfortunes
which
befell
him
to
t?he
Judgment
of
God, for the Tyrannies and Craelties he committed upon his
ownfatmly.
And farther I am
able
co confirrn
the· truth
.of -thefe particulars from
the
reµons
fent
me
by
my
School-fellows, who took
the trouble
to
extract
chem
-0ut
,of
th~
Hifl:orical Annals of
their
refpeetive Countries
where
.their
Mo~bers
were
born,
as 1 faid in
the
fuil:
Pare of
tnis
Hlftoiy. To
rhe~
Relations I have
the
Autho–
rity farther to
add
of
that
curious
and
accurate Father
IJ/45
Pain-a,
who was
thl
Son
of one
of thofe
who
was
a
fellow Prifooer wlth
.4tah11alpa'7
and
was
born
and
bred on the Confines
.of
Caj{aT1Mrca,
and
fo
might have advantages
to
extrad
the
Records from their 0 igina1s, as
he
him!elf doth
attell.;
~nd
indeed
he
hath
been
very large
in
defcribing the fucce!fes and paffages
which
occurred
io that
Kingdom,
and
which by
comparing them with other
Relations,
I
have
found
agreeable
t-0
the trueft
reports.
And farther
J
do avtr,
that I fhal1 trace
the
fame
way char
the
Sprmifb
Hillorians dire6t me;
making
ufe of
their
Commentaries
in
fuch
mariers
wherein
they may be
u[efull
to me
and Q1all add
and
enfarge in
what
they
come
fhort, or are deficient, as
in many
things
they
may
be, for
\vane of
r-eadiog
and
knowledge of
Hiftorians.
c
HA
f.