507 / 1060
BooK
I.
Royal
Commentaries~
~
1
•
•
. t
HAP.
XXXVIll
'
Of the
Wit
and
Suhtilty
of
Atahualpa ;
and of
the
Trea~
fure
which
Wat>
cotletied towards
hi5
Ranf
017Je.
A
T11hualpa
(a.s we
have faid)
was of a quick
and
ready Underftanding, an
In~
·
fiance whereof we have m this paffage, which indeed hafined
hiS
Death;
for he obferving the
Spaniards
to read
and
write, did believe that
it
was a Gift
natural
to
them
and
born
with them, to
try
which he
deftted
a
Spaniard,
who
came co
vilit
hlrn,
or that was one of his Guard, that he would write the
Name
ofGod on the Nail of his Thumb; the Souldier having vvrore, as he defired, he
asked
three
or four Souldiers, one after another, vvhat
that
Word meant,
they
all
told
him
that
it
vvas the name
ofGod. At length
Don
Fr1t.ncifco Piyarro
came
in,
vvith
~horn
after he
had difcourfed
a vvhile, he asked
him
the meaning of
thofe Letters vvhich vvere vvrote on
his
Nail : Novv
Pi£1trro
not ,knovving eir
ther
to
vvrite
or
read, anf
vvered that he
could not
tell,
by vvhich
he
colleeted,
that the knovvledge
of
Letters vvas acquired, and not natural; and from that
time
ever after
he
conceived
a
meaner efreem of
the
Governour than
before ;
for
that (as vve have faid)
rhe
lnca.J,
in
their Moral Philofophy, vvere taught,
that
· the Royal Family,
Nobles
and Gendemen1 ought to
exceed
their lnferiours
in
knovvledge and Vertues, as appears in the Trial of Novitiates, (as vve have
formerly related ) vvho
vvere
to
run through
all
Exercifes
and Hardihips, vvhich
-might
try
and approve them;
fo
vvhen
Atahualpa
had difcoveted the Ignorance
of
Pifarro,
vvho being
the Governour,
and
Chief~
vvas,
according to
his
Rule,
to have
excelled
all
his Inferiours
in
Learning and Vertues, he conceived a mea–
ner Opinion of him, which when the Govemour had obferved, he grew angry and
offended with
him, which
hafiened
the
Death
of
Atahualpa.
ThiS
pailiige
I have
heard
'from thofe who were then prefent, which may
be
a caution,
aad
an adver–
tifement to
Noble
Perfons in the Education
of.
the.itSons; for that for want
of
Reading, and Writing, and a little Latin,
they
mayfall into Difgraces, and
be
fubjelt
to Affronts;
though
indeed
in
thofe times ignorance
was
more excufable
than in
this
prefent age, which affords many Mafiers
in
Spain,
where all Sciences
and Learning flourilh, and where Noble-men 'Value themfelves not more on their
honourable Birth, than on their vertuous Education, which yields a Lufire like
precious
Stones
enchafed with Gold.
Another thing is reported of
Atahualpa,
for
an
Infrance of his Wit and good
Underftand, which
was this,
that
among!l: many other things, which the
Spani–
ard.r
brought
to
truck and barter with the
Indian!,
or, as fome
fay,
wherewith to
cheat them, rhere was
one
who
had
a Glafs Cup., of the fineft
fo!t
of Metal,
which was made at
Vflnice.
The Merchant of
it
hoping
f9r
a g0od Reward,
pre•
fented
it
ro
the King
Atahualpa,
who
received
it
fo kindly, that (though he was
then a Prifoner) he ordered ten of his Cups of Gold,
and
Silver,
to be
~ven
the
Spaniard
in return thereo( The
I rJca
looking and admiring much the
curiofiry
of
the yYorkmanfbip,. asked one that fi:ood by,
if
any other befides the
I~ings
of
Caflile
were ferved m fuch Veffels; to which he that made the Anfwer, fuppofmg
th~t
he meant the Glafs, and not the Workmanfhip, r€plied, that not onely ·
Kmgs
andNobles,
but
theCommonalty of
Spain,
made ufe of thofe GlafTus: whit:h
when
A tahualra
heard , he let
it
fall from his Hands,
faying,
that
things fo com–
mon, were not
w
rthy
the efieem of a King. At
which
Words of an
Indian
all
Per(ons
then pre[ent did much admire.
Thus was
Atah1talfa
put to Death
by.
formal
proceiS of Jufike, (
~
is
r'¢]ated)
and before the
quanmy
of Gold and
S1Lver
which he had promiied for his Ran–
fo~e
was
fully
completed, becaufe time ' as not given
bun
to make dee com–
~Iiance; r~ough
fome report, that
they
put him to death after he had paid the
en–
ttL·~
quantity : but
whatfoe\ er
thac
was
1
the
Sp{lwi11rds
divide-cl
to
every
Man
his
.
bar
479
I