691 / 1060
• 1
·Boox IV.
.Royal
Commentaries.
· in the Government of che people. It
had
been
better
for us to have Qeen
Thieve~,
Adulcerers
Homicides and Robbers rather than honeft men, fince chat
the
Law
1s
in
forc-e aiainft
the
latter
a_nd not
againft
che
former.
With like
liberty and freedom
off
peech, did thofe whd were
comprehen~ed
under the fourth Law vent their anger; namely,. thofe who had taken party
wuh
the two FaCt:ions of the
Pi;arrifts
and
Almagrians;
by virtue of which (as
Diego
Fernandez:,
ob,ferves) no J)erfon
in
all
Peru
could be mafier of
Indians
or Efiates.
What
faul~
faid they, had we who obeyed the Oovernqurs and
Magijl-rat~
which
his Majefty had fent us, as both thC?fe were, and wlio
a~ed
by
Comm1f–
fion
frqrv
his
Majefiy :
.An9
if
there
arofe pnvace
q~arrels
and_
amm~fit1es
arpongll:
tbemfel~es,
by the inlhganon of.the Devil, to which me_n d1verfly
adhere~;
yet
neither
of
chefe Parties aaed
~gamft
the
Crown.
And
if one
Parry ";as m. the
wrong and was guilty ofDelmquency,
yet
the other aeleq for the Kings ferv1ce?
and
why
then iliould they be equally
punilh~d
by confifcation of their:
Good~ a~d
Efiates with t:hofe
whp
have offended ; whKh feems
to
be
fi.~ch
a
p~ece
of loJu–
ftice as
is
not co be parallel'
d
by the tyranny of
Nero,
and feems rather to
proceed
from an
arbitrary
Confiicuaion,
to
facisfie
the
lull:
and
intere~
of certain P,erfons,
iba~
ff
om
a~
defire
tending
to the welfare and good
of
the
Su~ect.
.
T
o all which
they
added a thoufand curfes upon thofe who had contnved thefe
new
La.ws,,
Ol!
c<>unfelled
his Majefiy
to
pa!S and fign them, and to
order
the exe–
~µ0
11 of~hqm
wiEh fuch
feverity,
on
pretence
that
i~ .
was for his
fervice, and
advancemenJ of bis Royal
Crown.
.
.
I(
~hey
(
faid
they) had been
at
the <:ongueft of
Peru,
and
fufiained
thoCe la–
i}Quts
~f)q
haZ3tds which we have done, they would have been
of
another mind
than
t9
m~ke
fuch Laws;
nay
rather, they would have been the
firfi
to
op,po(e
inel\l.
In
(;oofirmarion
whereof, they
quoted feveral
paffi\ges in
Hi(tory
botli
an–
cie.ntand modern,
whic;h might
be compared
co the
civil Wars
between the
A(–
magri1tns
and the
l!i111irrifh
;
and
particula.rly faid
they
in the
Wars
of
Spain,
b~tween thofe two Kings,
Don Pedro
the
Cru~l.,_ a~d
his
Brother
Don
~e>;riqaQ,
to
w
hofe
part~s
a.IIthe Noblemen and
~erfons
of Efi:aties
iQ
Spain
adhered
on
one
ijge
9r
th~
oth
er,and.
aelu,ally
{erved untUl
dpe death of
one
o(
them determined
the
qqaq-~l
;
if
a (ucceeding
King,
afEer the Wars were ended, iliould have depti–
\Ted
all
~tio~
who
were engaged
in
this quarrel both of one fide and the other,
what troubles would
it
have created, and how
would
it
have moved
the
fpirits
<?f
all
th~
powerfull
men
in
Sp/Jin?
The like
which
h~ppened
between
the Hou(e
Qf
Ct1..fti(~
and
th~t
of
Portugal
might be brought
into e'\ample; as namely
the Par–
cy
wh\c;h
held for
B~lrraneja.,
who was twice
fworn
Princefs
of
Ca/file,
and
in
fa–
VQUF
Qf
her
many of the
chief
Lords of that Countrey appeared; whom when
~e~o
Jf'flbel)a
c~lled
Rebels and Ttaitours,, the Duke
of
Alva
replied, pray God;
Madaro, that
we may overcome them, for
if
we do not, I
am
fure they
will
c~ll
us
Tra~toqrs ~nd
prove
us
fo too.
To
.~wply
thefe particulars in Hillary to the
i~efet\t
pa(e
~
whac
will
become of us,
.~id
they,
if
the Succeifour
to this
King
Uwulcl feife
ou the
Efiates
of
thofe who were
c.:oocerned
in this War. Belides all
whi,h,
they uttered many fcandalous and feditious
wo~ds,
which we
purpofely
Oplit
art:
to
offend
the ears
of
the hearers ; howfoever
the
contrary Party was
highly
\ncenfed
therea~
and both fides
put
into a
fermentation,
whence all thofe
Btlif,h~efs
were derived
w,hich
afterwards happened.
But to return to the Vice-king,who was now on his Journey to
Los Reyes;
fo
foon
as the Meifengers from
Yaca de Caftro
came to him, he received them to outward
appeara.nce kindly and with .much refpeCl:, and gave them a fpeedy difpatch that
they
m1~ht
return fr_eely agam
to
Lo! Reyes
7
where being returned, they rendred a
fad.
relauon of
the rigour and feverity wherewith the new Laws were
put
in
exe-
~
cuuon, and
of
th~.
rude and morofe humour of the Vice-king, who admitted of
no Pleas, or
Pet1uons,
or Appeals
to
the
contrary;
which ferved to add new
fuel, and blow
all
into
a Bame
both
in
Los
Reyes,
Co~co
and
in
all chat
King-
d~m.
'
...
.so t.hac
~ow
they began generally to difcourfe, that they would neither receive
thlS
V
1ce-kmg,
nor obey the new Laws which
he
was putting into
pradice; for
that
they
w~e
well
affured,
t~at
the very day that he entred Vice-king
intd
Loi
R.eyes,
and his
L~ws
were
publHhed, they !hould be no
longer
Mafiers of their
In–
d,ans
nrn: of their Eftates ; and
~hat
_befides the
point
of taking their
Indians
from
them, his Laws and
new regulauons
included
fo many fevere
tliings,
that all their
Qq q
q
Efiate