547 / 1060
BooK
II.
Royal
Commentaries.
objett, that
Alma,gro
made
a
bl~nd
bargain, and
did
not well
confid~r
of
the value
of the Ships, or perhaps ,, as mforced
to
that Engageme
nt; yet Pifttrr?
return~d
a full anfwer thereunto, That a Gentleman ought well to
confider.ofhis
p~omife
before he gave
it,
and not to pretend afterwards that he
was furpnzed, bemg
by
the rules of a Souldier, and of a
Gen~leman,
engaged
to a perf?rmance of
hIS
words. And on the contrary
A lvarado
might have alledged,
~hat
m
caf~
they e–
{leemed rhemfelves
agriev~d,
they needed onely co reftore t!iings to their
form~r
fiare,
in
which
they
were before the agreement,.
and
1ea_ve him then to
mak~
his
beH:
advantage.
And as co
the price of the
Ships,
whic~
they fuppofed
m1gh~
be over,charged, were the advantage duly confidered, which they
b~ought
by
~he
fuccours and recruits of
Men,
Horfe, Arms and
G~ns
;
th~
re_Putatton
?f
which
brought
a
rerrour on
all
that Empire,
and reduced
1t
to fub1echon, nothmg coul?
have been
eCl:eemed
too great to have procured
t~at
aff
~ence,
much 1efS when
1t
was obtained at
fo
firtall
a
rate, as the bare
fra1ght
did amount unto.
In
fi~e,
Pifarro,
who was noble
and fincere. inhis
dealin~,
replied
to
tbofe who gave
him
contrary advice, that no
confideratJ.onof
benefit
or pr9fit
C<?uld
balance
or fiand
ih
competition with his
Faith and Honour ; and fo with
this.
~onfiancy
and refo·
lution he rejetted the low and degenerate co?nfels of mean..
f
p1nc~d
Men, and
ap–
plied himfelf
to
receive and treat
Alvarado
w1th
all the ell:eem, kindoeJS and
mag~
nificence that he was able.
CH AP.
XVI~
· ··
Of
the
unfortunate Death
of
Don Pedro de
Alvarado.
A
Dmiral
Don Pedro
de
Alv1trado
being
greatly
fatisfied with the
kind
and obJi..
ging treatment which
Don Francifco
~
Pi farro
had made him, they took their
leave and farewell each of other
with
all the kind expreffions and complements
imaginable, offering mutual fuccours and aflifiences as the affairs and emergen–
cies
in
which
they
were now engaged
7
fuould refpettively require. So
A lvarado
returned to his Government of
H11tthutimallan,
where he repofed not long, or
en–
joyed the riches
and
profperity
which he had acquired; but being
exalted
with
his
triumphs
and his
good
forcune,
which
had ever
attended
him from his Yoqth,
he
proceeded
to
higlier ACtions and Atchievements , being
reftlefs, and
defirous
of vain-glory
7
until! he perHhed therein, as we
!hall
find hereafter. And though
the fuccefs hereof doth not properly appertain to
this
Hiftory ;
yet
confidering
the unhappy and lamentable end of
thlS
famous Captain, who had performed
fo
many brave Exploits
in
divers Coontriesi which the Renowned
[ohn
de
Grijalva
had difcovered, and in the Conqnefi of tne Empire of
Mexico
in
company
with
Hern-ando
Crr,..t~.r
;
and
laftly,
in
the Province of
G11atimala,
or
IVtahutimallAn,
which
be
.conquered
by
his own Arms, and in other parts of New
Sp1tin :
.
Befides
all ·
which,.we
may
add
the Conqnefts which he made in
Peru,
for
without
his aid
and aflill:ence that Empire conld never have been fecured. Howfoever, he died,
as
Gumara
in the
:LI
otli
Chapter of his
Hillary
of the
Indies
reports,
befides
many
other particulars worthy to be mentioned,
which
I have excraeted
verbatim,
as
followech:
"
Pedro de
Alvarado
remaining
CIUiet, and peaceably fettled in
his
Government
:: of
Hu_ahutim~llan an~
C:hiapa,
the latter of which he exmanged with
Francifto
~
.Jt.!onte;o
for
his
Domm1on of .the
H~nd;n-tU,.
obtained licence of the Emperour to
dikover and plant a Colony m
~tu,
which was one ofthe Provinces of
PerH,
:; an? a Countrey
~hich
was rich, and not as
yet
poffefied
by
rhe
Spaniards.
On
" this Adventure, m the
year
1p5,
he armed and
fee
forth five Ships,
UR9n
,, wkich and
u~on
two others whkh he fraighted in
NicaragHA,
be embarked live
~
huodred
Spamards,
and
many
Horfes; the which being
landed
at
PHerto Viejo,
~'
he
I