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BooK
II.
Royal
Commentaries.
;
Pacha rurac
Mundi Faetbr
'C!tf)e
~aker
bf
tl)
e.mo~tb
.
i-'T'
h
,,.
A
Name
of
J7iracocha
-Jc
Viracocha
v
iracoc a
.
one
of their
cay·
hin(/pac
Ad
hoc
munus
1Patb
committelJ
Godi.
Churafanqui
Te
fufficit
ann
encl)argetJ
tUi~
Camefunqui.
Et przfecit.
iIOffite
unto tf)ee..
. With fuch
ttiAes
-as thefe I have
~nriched
my
poor
f:Iill:ory ; .
fo!·
.whatfoever
l
have colletted from
BIM
Valera,
are all pearls
an~
preuous cuno{me ,
a~d
fuch
ornaments as my Countrey dorh not deferve
j
~hich
now, as they
r~porr,
m
rh~fe
days improves in Poetry; for that the
Mongrils~
o_r th?fe
?~
Spttnijh
and
Indum
bloud have taken a good firain in Verfe,
~h?fe fub1~tt
is D1vme or Moral, God
give them his grace that they may ferve h1m mall tbmgs.
.
,
ln
this imperfe61: and grofs manner had the
Indians
of
Peru
the knowl
edgeof
Sciences, which is not to be att
ributed
~o
their want. of
nat~r~l
parts
aiicl
ab.il~ties
of mind ; for had they. been
in~
ru.Ct:ed
m letters, their
cap~ttt1es
are fuch as might
have improved every little
begmru~g
:
~nd
as the
fl:!l:
Ph1lo[ophers and Afirolo–
gers delivered the principles of their Sciences to their pofienty, who ereeted on
thofe foundations the more lofty buildings of reafon ;
fo
thefe people were endued
with the like capacities, fufficient to advance fuch learning as defcended from
their Parents, efpecially we_ find that they were well difpofed .to the learning of
that Morality which contained the Cull.oms a1:ild
La~s
?f
their Councrey; and
which did not onely extend to thofe rules relaung
to
JU{hce and decent comport–
ment of one
Su~ieet
to
another! hue as
~t
had reference
to.
c~at obedi~nce
which
Subjeets and VafJals owe co their Sovereign, and thofe Mm1ll:ers whJCh
aa
un–
der their command; for thefe being a people who were inclined to live according
to thofe Laws which the light of nature dietated, and rather to doe no evil, than
. know well, were more eafily made capable of that Science. which was direCl:ed by
material and exteriour obje&, than of that which was converfant about
m9re
ab.
ftrufe and immaterial notions.
Pedro de
Cieca
in the
38th
Chapter of his Book>
[peaking of the
lncM
and their Government, fays, That they aCl:ed
fo
well, and
that their Government was
fo
good and political, as might be compared to the
Wifedom of the befi frame and Model of Common-wealths in this World.
And Father
Maeftro Acofta,
in
the firfi Chapter of his
6th
Book, makes a difcourfe
in
favour of the
lnctU,
and the people of
Mexico,
in thefe words;
" Having
in
the preceding difcourfe laid down the Particulars of that Religion
" which the
Indians
profefs; I defign in the following Treatife to declare their
" Cufioms and Political Government, for two ends: Firfi, that I may undeceive
" the World of that falfe opinion which they have framed concernin
this peo–
" ple, as being
fo
brutifh, and of
fo
little underfianding, as deferve nor the name
" of rational creatures
:
From which erroneous conception, many grievous cala–
,, mities have been impofed on them without pity or compafiion; and being e-
'' fteemed no other than beafis; all that refpett which is due to humane nature.;
-
~
or
~he
perfon of
Mank~d hat~
been loft towards them. But chis falfe notion
1
which none bqt the vam·glonous and confident of themfelves ( v<iho are
the
/
'' common fools of the World ) have entertained, hath been fufficiemly confu-
'~
ted by more folid and confidering men
1
who have made it their bufinefs
to
tra-
" vel and converfe amongfi them, and to difcover the fecrets of their Cufioms
'' and Government. To remove which prejudicial cenfure from them
the
mo.fr<c
expedite meaas
will
be to declare the Jull:ice and Cufioms which
~ere
i
n ufe·
:: amongfi them, at that time? when they
liv~d
by their own Laws; with which,
"
tho~gh
there
w~s
a great mixture ofBarbanfm, and many things without foun-
''
dat1~n
:,. yet therr Government contained many excellent things, and vrorthy of
" adrmrauon., and fuch as may be c01-r:pared with the befr Model
of
our Com-
ee
mon-wealths, and may afford us
fu~c1ent
evidence of the genius ·of that people,
,, af!d of that natural readmefs_ of mmd capable r_o be improved to greater and
,, !Ugher
.matter~.
No_r ought it
to
feem firange,
1f
forne erroneous fancies have
,,
mtermix~d
with therr
Cufion~s;
for even
Plato
and
.0curgm,
and other excel..-
'' lent
Le_gifi~tours
h_ave
be~n
gmlty of fome follies, and interwoven fu2erfiitions;
,c
and vam mes, with their more fubfiantial Laws. And indeed in thofe wife
. Common-wealths of
Rome
and
Athen.r,
many riakulous Cufioms have been
iir ·
H
~
"
troducfla ;
.
.;