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BooK
IV.
Royal
Com'!"entaries.
birds of the air, which they fuppofed to be the highefi: indignity and difhonour
that
they could fhow co their Corps.
.
.
This was the fate and unhappy de!Hny of the poor Prmce
Marzco Inca,
to pen!h
by the hands of one
w
horn he had proteeted , and nourilhed , and
e!1tei:caine~
with all the hofpicality he could <how:
thus
w~
fee, when a mans ti_fne
IS
come
that neither his voluntary
e~dle,
nor the macceffible rocks
to
wh1cp he
was
fl~d
for refuge , were able
to
defend him from the
fir~ke
of a
r~fh
fool and
mad-man who was dell:irute ofall fenfe and reafon.
Franci.fco
Lope~,
m the
1 )
6th
Chapter
~f
his Book touches upon this
~articular
point ,
~hough
he differs fon:e...
thing in the relation of the manner and crrcumaances of his death: but
I
have m–
formed my felf very perfettly from thofe
Incas,
who were
p~efent_and
eye-wicnef–
fes of the unparalled piece of madnefs of that
rafh
an?
harr-br~ed
.fool; and
heard them tell this Story to my Mother and Parents
wHh
tears m their eyes, re–
lating in what manner they came out of thofe mountains
in
cmppahy with
lncli
Sayri
Tucac
fon of that unfortunate Prince, by order of the Vice-king
Don Andres
Hnrt1tdo
de Mendof a
Marquis of
Cannete
;
all
which we !hall ( God willing) re–
late when we arrive at the due and proper place.
The Devil, who
is
the mortal enemy of mankind, being always vigilant and in–
tent to take his advantages, did now make ufe of this opporruniry
to
give
a:
!lop
to the propagation of the Gofpel in that great and opulent
E~prre
of
Peru;
and
co
promote and further his defign herein, he difpeeded
his
Emifilries into all parts,
who infinuated jealoufies, and fears, and difcoments
into
the minds of the people ;
which
fo
prevailed, that a ftop was given to the preaching and tpreading of the
Gofpel: and all that peace, concord and good correfpondence which flourifhed du–
ring all the Government of
Vaca de
Ca/fro,
was now totally fubverced and broughr
-.:o confufion. But this Sedition, by the endeavours
of
evil fpirits, was blown in–
to a flame, and highly increafed
in
the City of
Coub,
where being above eighty
families of principal Citizens, more concerned than any ocher.s
in
the valfalage of
Indians
;
the new Ordinances became more grievous to them than to ochers ,
whof~
intereft was not
fo
great: howfoever the difcontent was general over aU
Peru,
for the Conquerours were (enfible of their lofs, feeing themfelves deprived·
in one day of all their
Indians,
fortunes and efiates.
Thefe Mutinies and Difcontents of the People ihcehfed the hot and violent
fpirit of the Vice-king to a higher degree;
fo
that he rejected all Petitions and
Addreifes
from particular Cities, Boroughs and Corporations: for which reafonsT
the four Cities, namely,
Huamanca, Arequepa, Chaquifaca
and
Co~co
refolved to join
together
in
the Addrefs, wherein they thought they might be the more plain , in
regard the Vice-king had not as yet been received in any of thbfe places : and
to
promote their deftres declared in that Addrefs, they made choice of a General So–
Jicitour, who was not onely to reprefent the Cafe of the four Cities, but alfo
thereby included the common concernment of
th~
whole Empire , inafrnuch as
Couo
was the head and capital City of
Peru.
The whole matter was negotiated
by an incercourfe of Letters, and
by
common confent
Gonf alo Pifarro
"as the per–
fon fixed upon as the moll: proper perfon to att in this affair ; both becaufe he was
brother to
Marquu Franci.fco Pifarro,
and a man of great intereft, having been a
chief Aetour
in
the Conquell:, and fuCl:ained therein all the hazards and hardfhips
we have before, though
in
brief and imperfectly, expreifed : he
~as
moreover as
to his extrattion noble , in his condition vertuous and generally beloved : be'fides·
all which, had he not been elected and appointed thereunto, yet he had a right
to this Office , in refpett to the .Title he had of being the Proteetour and Defe
der of all the
Indians
and
Spaniards
in that Kingdom. Upon thefe Confiderations
general Letcers were wrote from the Corporations of the four Cities
to
Gon;alo
p;_
farro,
who was then at his Plantation
in
the
CharcM,
defiring him to
come
up to
Couo,
to confider with them what courfe was co be taken in this Conjuntlure for
the
g~od an~
fafety of the common \\ elfare; and
to
move him hereunto, they
acquamt~d
him that he was moil: concerned of any
in
this affair·
for beftdes the
lo_fs of his
Indians,
he wasin danger of his Life; for that the VIce-ki'ng had ofren
f~1d
and
dec~red,
that.hecoul? produce a Command from his Majefiy to take off
h1S
head.
.Piyarrp
havmgreceived thefe advices, gathered what money he could
make
?f
his own Ell:ate, _and of what belonged to his Brother
H ernando Pif arro,
af!d
~uh
ten or twelve Friends.
in
company travelled to
Co~co,
where, as
C
ilrate
faith
m the fourth Chapter of
his
fifth
Book, the whole City went forth to meet
R
r r r
and