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Title page Contents Preface Note on Orthography Introduction On the Translation of Aztec Poetry Guide to the Vocabulary Guide to the Transcription Folio I Folio 2 Folio 3 Folio 4 Folio 5 Folio 6 Folio 7 Folio 8 Folio 9 Folio 10 Folio 11 Folio 12 Folio 13 Folio 14 Folio 15 Folio 16 Folio 17 Folio 18 Folio 19 Folio 20 Folio 21 Folio 22 Folio 23 Folio 24 Folio 25 Folio 26 Folio 27 Folio 28 Folio 29 Folio 30 Folio 31 Folio 32 [Folio 33] Folio 34 Folio 35 Folio 36 Folio 37 Folio 38 Folio 39 Folio 40 Folio 41 Folio 42 Commentary Concordance to Proper Nouns Verbs, Particles, and Common Nouns Appendix I Appendix II Bibliography

1.1   

A glance at the oral literature of Aztec Mexico, preserved in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century manuscripts, will show that the Romances, or "ballads," belong to one of the three abundantly attested Aztec genres that may be called ritualistic: the conjuros, the huehuetlatolli, and the netotiliztli.

1.2   

Of these three, the most rigidly technical and therefore potentially the most obscure are the conjuros, which include agricultural and hunting charms, love charms, sleep charms, spells connected with divination, and incantations calculated to cure specific infirmities. Least obscure, certainly, are the set speeches known as huehuetlatolli 'words of the elders', designed to beseech a deity, install a ruler, greet a visiting dignitary, admonish a child, or mark a rite of passage. ¹

1.3   

Between these extremes stand the netotiliztli 'dance(s)',² represented by the songs in the Romances and the closely related Cantares Mexicanos. The "dance" songs, evidently, are less technical than the conjuros and therefore presumably less obscure, though they are by no means as transparent as the huehuetlatolli.

1.4   

Unlike the conjuros and the huehuetlatolli, however, the netotiliztli have come down to posterity without a contemporary Spanish translation or commentary. Further, even when they were new, the songs began to be deritualized by native and non - native litterateurs who raided them for vocabulary to dress up their own compositions. Sahagún himself published a book of ersatz netotiliztli; and several examples, probably written by native or part - native scribes, are preserved in the opening folios of the Cantares manuscript - notably Cantares song I, which in turn played a part in inspiring the decidedly nonritualistic "legend" of Juan Diego and the Virgin of Guadalupe. ³

1.5   

Helpfully, the presence or absence of ritual technique separates the genuine netotiliztli of oral tradition from the written imitations (as does the terse, or paratactical, syntax of the former as opposed to the Europeanized Nahuatl of the latter). And comparison with the conjuros and the huehuetlatolli helps to clarify both the method and the means of expression. Accordingly, it will be seen that the Romances texts, even if they strike the modern eye as poetry, are essentially ritualistic, not literary.

1.6   

The purpose of ritual, it may be granted, is to bring about a desired result, and its language, even if it may be judged beautiful or interesting, is utilitarian - frankly coercive in its stronger forms, as with the conjuros, and at least admonitory in the milder, more decorous huehuetlatolli.

1.7   

Like both the conjuros and the huehuetlatolli, the netotiliztli use imperative verb forms. Yet the declarative mode is more frequent, and, as in the case of the conjuros especially, the statements are short and jaculatory and carry a coercive overtone (necessarily, since the action described by the ritualist is beyond the reach of natural observation). ⁴ As with the conjuros the songs make much use of the verbs 'to come', 'to arrive', 'to come forth', as though the words themselves had the power to summon. Appropriately the conjuros that are designed to bring about, or summon, a cure have been called by the native term zantlatoltica tepatiliztli 'remedies by means of words only'. ⁵ Note the insistent use of the verbs huitz 'come', huallauh 'come', aci 'arrive', eco 'arrive', ⁶ moquetza 'appear', quizaco 'come forth', quixtia 'bring forth', temohuia 'bring down', and temo 'descend', in Romances songs I, II, III, V, VI, VIII, IX, X, etc.

1.8   

Like the conjuros, the songs use rhetorical questions with implied yes or no answers, setting forth open - and - shut arguments that favor the needed result.

1.9   

Even more so than the conjuros, the songs are "dramatic," in the sense that the speaker may assume more than one voice within a single song. Though the texts are monologues, it is often as if two or more speakers are present, their roles played by the same ritualist. ⁷ (For this reason quotation marks have been added to certain passages in the Romances translation to indicate the change in voice.)

1.10   

Moreover, in true incantatory style the ritualist addresses figures of power or authority and, often, speaks for them. ⁸ In the conjuros these figures are deities; in the netotiliztli, historical kings and military leaders. Thus in the conjuros we find the ritualist saying niquetzalcoatl 'I am Quetzalcoatl' and nimictlantecutli 'I am Mictlanteuctli [lord of the underworld]'; ⁹ in the Romances (2:16 and 2v:1), nitemilotzin 'I am Temilotzin [a native general during the Conquest]' and niyoyotzin 'I [am] Yoyontzin [an alternate name for the fifteenth - century king of Texcoco, Nezahualcoyotl]'.

1.11   

In "dramatic" fashion a single song may refer to the same figure in the first person, the second person, and the third person. Thus Romances song II has niyoyotzin 'I am Yoyontzin'; titecpiltzinn i necãhualcoyotl tecuitli yoyotzin 'you, O prince, O Lord Nezahualcoyotl, O Yoyontzin'; and neçahualcoyotzin 'it's Nezahualcoyotzin'.

1.12   

If the netotiliztli is ritual, then, what is its purpose? What function does it serve? If the songs themselves can be taken at their word-

  - it may be conceded that a major preoccupation of netotiliztli, if not the purpose, is the production or acquisition of "flowers." The further question is: What are these flowers?

2.1   

Although the netotiliztli have been preserved without elucidation, various other texts, particularly the huehuetlatolli and the conjuros, help to make sense of the songs - as implied above. Among these other texts is the opening passage of the huehuetlatolli spoken by a midwife as she cuts the umbilical cord of the newborn boy:

2.2   

2.3   

It may be seen that "flowers" are persons, ¹⁰ specifically warriors destined for the other world, where they will become coatl 'companion(s)', or icniuhtli 'comrade(s)', of the Sun. The same, evidently, may be said for "birds." And it is seen that their activities give "pleasure," or "entertain," or "gladden," as the songs frequently have it.

2.4   

Moreover, a theme of elehuia 'desire', or ehelehuia 'craving', recurs in the songs. The warrior desires captives (who will be sent to the sun) and desires that he himself may become a captive (to be sent to the sun):

2.5   

As for the otherworldly location mentioned in the huehuetlatolli, this is known in the netotiliztli by a variety of names: some suggesting brilliance (xochitonalocalitec 'in the house of sun flowers', tlahuizcalli 'dawn's house'); some suggesting fruitfulness (xoxopan 'green places', or tamoanchan [see section 18, below]); some with neutral or even somber connotations (tochan 'our home [or haven]', ximohuayan 'place where all are shorn', mictlan 'dead land'); others betraying Christian influence (ilhuicatlitic 'heaven'). A few of these names may designate ixtlahuatl 'battlefield' or simply 'field', as well as the (celestial) field(s), or world beyond.¹¹

2.6   

In the blissful realm the dead warrior becomes yolqui, defined by Molina as el resucitado de muerte a vida 'one who is brought back to life from the dead'. As expressed in the Cantares (39:25), onca ye yolque in teteuctini 'there the princes are brought back from the dead'.

3.1   

In addition to resemblances of style and technique, there are procedural similarities between the conjuros and the netotiliztli. In both cases absent figures are summoned in order to enact a drama of conflict. Notice that the traveler's conjuro against bandits (the third incantation in the great collection compiled by Ruiz de Alarcón) draws upon the power of a supreme deity then summons lesser gods as warrior-agents (and also summons the imagined bandits themselves), setting up a scene of combat between the two sides:

3.2   

In the netotiliztli various names are used for the supreme power-including yaotzin 'Enemy' (Cantares 61v:11), moquequeloa 'Mocker' (Cantares 13:9), and xiuhtototl 'Turquoise Bird [i.e., the Sun]' (Cantares 17v:17-21)¹³ - terms that overlap with the names given in the conjuros and the huehuetlatolli, the most frequent of which, at least in the netotiliztli, are ipalnemohuani 'Life Giver' and dios 'God'. The supremacy of Life Giver is acknowledged repeatedly: the flowers are yxochiuh yn ipalnemoani 'Life Giver's flowers' (Cantares 18:12), and, as it is said, quȃ huel xoconchihua quen huel xoconcuili yxochiuh aya ypalnemoani 'You must produce them! You must get Life Giver's flowers!' (Cantares 21:20).

3.3   

Just as the lesser gods arrive in order to "strike" and "pound" (in the conjuro quoted above), in the netotiliztli Life Giver's agents arrive as historical kings, bringing "flowers." Thus, as the singer announces, nechhualihua dios nehua nixochhuãtzin nehua nitemilotzin 'God sends me here. I have flowers, I am Temilotzin' (Romances 2:14-16). Or, as nixochhuãtzin might be translated, "I am flower owner" or "I am flower master."

3.4   

The kings may well be compared to lesser gods. Note that the huehuetlatolli ritualist who addresses a newly installed ruler proclaims: yn axcan ca otiteut [ . . . ] ca aocmo titotlacapo 'now you are deified [ . . . ] no longer are you human, as are we' (FC 6:52:31-34), and the point is emphasized by the sixteenth - century chronicler Diego Durán: "the one who commands there [i.e., Montezuma I of Mexico] [ . . . ] is the image of the god Huitzilopochtli"; "Monarchs in this land were adored as gods"; "For the kings were held to be divine men"; "Motecuhzoma [i.e., Montezuma II of Mexico] called his palace 'the house of God.'" ¹⁴

3.5   

As with the traveler's conjuro, again, the netotiliztli texts summon both allied and enemy warriors, as may be seen in Romances songs I, X, and XXIX, and in many songs throughout the Cantares. For this purpose the singer may appeal to the ruler - "you, Nezahualcoyotzin" (song XVII)-or speak in the ruler's own voice - "I am Temilotzin" (song I) - at the same time recognizing that it is the supreme spirit who actually produces the needed warriors -"Life Giver creates them. He, Self Maker, brings them down" (song XVII).

4.1   

As he continues reciting his conjuro, the traveler who is worried about bandits summons personified weapons as his further spirit helpers:

4.2   

Likewise the netotiliztli singer imagines a delivery of personified weapons, representing warriors armed for battle, calling them mitl 'arrows' (Romances 10v:4), matlatl 'hand slings' (1v:6), tlacochtli 'spears' (9:7), chimalli 'shields' (31:10), or, more fully, tlacochtli xochitl 'spear flowers' (30:12), chimalli xochitl 'shield flowers' (18:6-7).

4.3   

Weaponlike plant materials may also designate the warrior: tzihuactli 'spines' (10v:4), mizquitl 'mesquites' (13:17), acatl 'reeds' (Cantares passim),¹⁶ or, more fully, acaxochitl 'reed flowers' (Romances 31v:10). (But mizquitl may also mean the warrior king specifically, as do pochotl 'ceiba' and ahuehuetl 'cypress'.)

4.4   

Heaping metaphor upon metaphor, the singers may call upon chimalmatlatl 'shield hand-slings' (1v:6) or tzihuacmitl 'arrow spines' (10v:4).

4.5   

Metonyms based on the warrior's weapons have their mirror image in metonyms based on the warrior's body parts: maitl 'hands', yolli 'hearts', cuaitl 'heads', and nacaztli 'ears'.¹⁷ Such figures may be combined, as in nacazmaxochi - 'ear and hand flowers' (Romances 17:16). (The terms give rise to ambiguity - especially "hands" and "hearts," also used in more conventional figures of speech, comparable to the English "all hands on deck" or "from the heart.")

4.6   

These are only a few of the literally hundreds of figurative names by which the warrior is known, including the names of specific flowers (e.g., izquixochitl 'popcorn flower', cacahuaxochitl 'cacao flower', cacaloxochitl 'raven flower', cempohualxochitl 'marigold', miyahuatl '[maize] tassel'), as well as specific birds and specific butterflies.

4.7   

As in Romances XXVII and XXX, the rising 'smoke' (poctli) and descending 'dust' (teuhtli) of the battlefield may also designate the warrior.¹⁸

5.1   

In the song texts the warriors' home in the sky is frequently mentioned, called by such names as zacuancalli 'House of Troupials' (Romances 1v:13) or chimalpapalocalli 'House of Butterfly Shields' (31v:5); and as set forth in the midwife's speech quoted above, from the Florentine Codex, the newborn male child is believed to descend directly from this celestial abode. Another passage from the Florentine Codex - the principal source for huehuetlatolli, here quoted in an explanatory passage - describes the warrior's home as:

5.2   

If the careful listener catches an undertone in "sipping flowers," passages in the Cantares may suggest the deeper meaning:

5.3   

Observe the Cantares' allusion to the repeating cycle of descent and ascent ("sets His flowers free, takes these flowers to His home"). As for the dead warriors' return to earth after "four years," the songs also use the ritual number four, but with reference to space, not time. The incoming warriors arrive not "after four years," as above, but "from the four directions":

5.4   

In the same vein the conjuros ritualist calls for his warrior spirits and spirit helpers: inic nauhcã niquintzatzilia 'from the four directions I summon them'.¹⁹Subsequently, when they have done their work, 'the earth will be drunk [with the blood of their victims]' (tlalli ihuintiz).²⁰ And by the same token, 'there's earth - drunkenness' (tlalihuintihua) in Cantares song 87 (77v:3-4).

5.5   

As the warriors arrive, they are "flower birds," according to the huehuetlatolli passage quoted above. But in the netotiliztli they may be various species, including tzinitzcan 'trogon', zacuan 'troupial', toztli 'parrot', aztatl 'egret', xiuhtototl 'cotinga', quetzaltototl 'quetzal', and especially quechol 'swan', frequently amplified as teoquechol 'spirit swan' or tlauhquechol 'roseate swan'. A roseate swan in everyday diction is indeed the roseate spoonbill (Ajaia ajaja), but the Linnean designation is unsuitable for translating the term as it appears in the netotiliztli, where we also find such forms as ayopalquechol 'auburn swan', chalchiuhquechol 'jade swan', and cuauhquechol 'eagle swan' among yet others, and even the verb quecholti 'to become a swan'. (The translational solution 'swan' is not meant to denote Cygnus but 'swan' in the sense of such English expressions as 'sweet swan of Avon' or 'swan knight', connoting musicianship or transport to the other world.)

5.6   

The return of dead souls, it should be mentioned, was not an idea peculiar to the war cult. According to the mid-sixteenth-century Codex Telleriano-Remensis, the dead in general were summoned to earth during the annual huei miccailhuitl 'great feast of the dead', when people climbed up to their roof terraces and "each one made long prayers to the dead, to those who were their ancestors, crying out, 'Come quickly, for we await you.'"²¹

6.1   

Metaphorically the warrior, especially a warrior en route to or from the dead land, is a michin 'fish':

6.2   

The usage accords with the recurring image of the other world as a watery paradise, seemingly in conflict with the idea of the sun's home. By now, however, it should be clear that there is no rule against mixed metaphors.

6.3   

In the Cantares, the resistance hero Temilotzin appears prominently in a 'fish song', where it is made clear that the metaphor is particularly apt since Temilotzin, as the records show, jumped overboard during an enforced voyage to Spain - and disappeared in the ocean.²²

7.1   

It may be asked why a captured warrior, or "fish," would be "pleasured" in the net, as put forth in the Cantares passage quoted above. Here again the conjuros are helpful.

7.2   

It will be recalled that in the traveler's incantation against bandits, the verb ahuiltia 'to give pleasure' is used sarcastically, meaning 'to engage in combat'. Similarly the ritualist in Romances song X throws out the taunt, 'So let yourselves be pleasured, you princes of Huexotzinco' (y ma yc xonahuiyãcan atepilhuãn i huexotzinco).

7.3   

Compare song I: '[ . . . ] in Huexotzinco, where the dying is, there's Dancer. It's Tlacahuepan. His eagle flower princes find their pleasure in that house of green places' (huexotzinco yn omcãn i tlamihuacã yn mȃcȃuhcãtzin yni tlacȃhuepan a nimãn ocãn on ahuiya ynxochicuapilhuã xopȃcalayntec), i.e., Tlacahuepan of Mexico is engaging the enemy Huexotzincans in combat on the battlefield in Huexotzinco, which, with its opportunity for a glorious death, is a celestial "green places" on earth.

7.4   

Another of the ubiquitous terms that may be used with a double edge is coatl 'companion', along with its approximate synonym icniuhtli 'comrade [or friend]'. The terms often express mundane solidarity. But not always. 'Companion' coatl may mean 'companion [of the sun, i.e., warrior destined for death in battle]', as in the midwife's huehuetlatolli quoted above. In any event it must be understood that icniuhtli 'friend' is not used in the Western, sentimental sense of 'soul mate' or 'second self'. It means 'ally' in the military sense, as demonstrated in the Codex Chimalpopoca; for example, yn Mexitin ca yeppa ynicnihuan catca yn chichimeca yn quauhtitlancalque 'the Mexica had long been friends [i.e., allies] of the Cuauhtitlan Chichimecs' (CC 13:32-33); ca monequi aocmo ynicnihuan yezque yn xaltocameca aoquic mocniuhtlazque yhuan ca monequi aoquic yntlan huallazque 'the Xaltocameca were no longer to be their allies; they must never again be allies with them, must never again come to their side' (CC 14:20-22). Reading hastily, jumping from "flowers" to "friends," one is led to see lyricisms on the joys of friendship - imagining Catullus' Verani ominibus e meis amicis . . . 'Is it you, my friend of friends, who come, / Dearer to me than a million others, / Veranius . . .' when it would be better to stand a few thousand miles closer to home, keeping in mind the Lakota warriors' songs Kolapila (Friends): "Friends, I have said in common life the customs are many; friends, those do not interest me," "Friends, you go on; even that younger brother is coming on the warpath."²³

8.1   

Of all the figurative locutions in the netotiliztli the one that is immediately grasped by even a casual observer is the ubiquitous xochitl/cuicatl 'flower/song', setting up an equivalency between the two terms. It is also readily apparent that song is a means of perpetuating a warrior's fame (Cantares 29:10-11: noxochiteyo nocuicatoca nictlalitehuaz 'I'll make my flower fame, my song renown before I go'). In a sense, therefore, the song, alternately designated tlatolli 'word',²⁴ is the warrior - all that is left of him here on earth. The various locutions alluding to this idea are double-edged, however, because in native lore the theory of sacrifice, or war death, closely parallels the theory of music. Both involve the transfer of persons from the sky world to the earth: songs (or celestial musicians who embody the songs), like warriors, descend from the house of the sun, and both songs and warriors exist in order to serve the gods. These essential points, in the case of sacrifice, are revealed in the passages from the sixteenth-century Florentine Codex quoted above and, in the case of songs, in the myth of the origin of music, preserved in two sixteenth-century sources.²⁵ In the netotiliztli:

8.2   

Yet in many passages that speak of songs, or songs and flowers, there is no immediate allusion to warfare or to warrior kings coming to life, and the audience may imagine, at least for a moment, that only music is the topic. It should be clear, however, that music is the subtext of war, and vice versa (see below, sections 9.1, 9.9). The constant coupling of xochitl 'flower' and cuicatl 'song' does not indicate 'song(s)' or 'music' alone, nor simply 'warrior(s)' or 'war'. The 'flower and song' of the netotiliztli, if it needs to be freely interpreted, might best be rendered 'war and music'. The fundamental notion is a dichotomy, not an amalgam.²⁶

8.3   

Another way of looking at these "flowers" that have been brought to life is to consider that they are metaphorically, not literally, reborn on earth. The ambiguous cuicatl ye tiyol 'as a song you've been born' can also be translated 'in [or by means of] a song you've been born'.²⁷ Yet in either case the meaning is that you, the soul being addressed, have returned to life through the power of music. To say whether it is the mere essence or the flesh that is making an appearance would be beyond the scope of textual analysis; and the same query might be raised in connection with the conjuros. No one who witnesses the recitation of any of these texts will see Montezuma himself, let alone the combative spirits of the conjuros, suddenly materializing. At least in the song performances, Montezuma may be impersonated by a dancer.²⁸

8.4   

The act of "descending," expressed in the verb temo 'descend', or by implication in the verb temohuia 'bring down', characterizes the diction. Often the "flowers," or "songs," are a "mist" (ayahuitl), said to rain or drizzle down (pixahui), to pour down (as rain) ([mo]teca), to be shaken down (tzetzeloa), to be set free ([mo]toma), or to be scattered as they come (moyahuatihuitz).²⁹ Occasionally it is said that they are brought down in a 'pack basket' (matlahuacalli). Observe that songs are 'lifted' or 'raised' ([m]ehua) by the earthly singer but 'brought down' by supernatural power. Arriving on earth, they are nepapan 'divers [or various, many, a multitude]'.³⁰ It may be said that they 'are (out)spread' (mani), meaning that they stand as a group over a sizable area (not that they are recumbent). They are active: they 'stir' ([hui]molihui).

8.5   

As noted above (section 2), the dead warriors are yolque 'live ones [or revived ones]', and they are fittingly said to be huetzcani 'laughing ones'. As the text has it, 'I come shaking down these laughing ones' (nictzetzelotihuitzy o huetzcani).³¹

9.1   

Even outside the netotiliztli, music and warfare are in some sense interchangeable. As set forth by the huehuetlatolli orator in his lengthy admonition to the newly installed king:

9.2   

In the words of the mysterious Conquistador Anónimo (1971:374):

9.3   

Similarly, the conquistador Bernal Díaz del Castillo (1956:58 and 1976:55) writes:

9.4   

Compare the untranslatable vocables in the netotiliztli:

9.5   

The whistling (Nahuatl mapipitzoa) mentioned by Bernal Díaz is heard on the dance floor as well as the battlefield.³² Likewise, verbs based on the cry "papa" refer to sounds heard in either locale:

9.6   

Note that the Spanish (and American English) term 'mitote', designating certain Aztec and modern Mexican dances, derives from the same Nahuatl verb, itotia:nin 'bailar o dançar [to dance]', as the noun netotiliztli (MOL).

9.7   

In the netotiliztli, accoutrements of the dance (ecacehuaztli 'fans', pantli 'banners', xochicuahuitl 'flower trees'), as well as musical instruments (huehuetl 'drums', teponaztli 'log drums', ayacachtli 'rattles', tetzilacatl 'gongs', quiquiztli 'conch horns', oyohualli '[leg] bells [worn by warriors]', coyolli '[warriors' jingle] bells'), are regularly mentioned. These items, metonymically, may signify the dancer or warrior.³⁴

9.8   

By the same token the dance floor, petlatl 'mat', or its location, tecpan 'palace', or ithualli 'court [or patio]', may be thought of as a field of combat. The characteristic yelling of the warrior, icahuaca 'to shrill [or scream]', is interchangeable with the musical shrilling icahuaca 'to shrill [or sing (of birds)]'.³⁵

9.9   

As previously suggested (section 8.2), it follows that war itself, or action on the battlefield, is in some sense the same as cuica 'to sing', tlatoa 'to speak',³⁶ or notza 'to pray', which "entertains," or "serves," the supreme spirit. For warriors the reward is a life of bliss in the celestial paradise, as shown above; and, on earth, tleyotl mahuizzotl 'fame' and glory'. As the text states, "Prayers and services to him are everywhere. His fame and glory are sought on earth" (Romances song IV).

10.1   

Although some of the many vocables in the netotiliztli may be interpreted as war cries, by far the majority are related to interjections that express anguish. Compare, for example, the ubiquitous vocables aya, hue, hui, huiya, iyo, o, ohuaya, ohuaye, ohuiya, yahue with the interjections ay, hue, hui, iyo, iyoyahue, o, oh, yahue, yoyahue, any of which may be translated 'ah!' or 'woe!' or 'alas!' Most frequent of all is the characteristic ohuaya, evidently related to the interjections.

10.2   

The expressions of lament reflect a widespread technique for coercing pity from the gods, strongly recommended in the huehuetlatolli and carried out in both the conjuros and the netotiliztli. As advised by the huehuetlatolli orator:

10.3   

As if heeding this advice, the conjuro ritualist repeatedly speaks with the voice of icnopiltzintli, centeotl 'Pitiable Little Child, Corn Spirit' (i.e., the child of the gods who was buried alive so that crops could grow from the earth). The myth of this corn spirit is recorded in a sixteenth-century Aztec version and is still current in Mesoamerica. In a modern Nahuatl variant from northern Veracruz State the child corn-god continues to be called pilsintsij, and in one version it is said that the little boy "began to weep at being so badly treated." Among Huichol and other native groups of the Western Sierra Madre, where the analogous Corn Woman myth is preserved, it is reported that the story is told with much weeping.³⁷

10.4   

Accordingly, in one of the Aztec conjuros the ritualist breaks into actual lamentation, using the vocables of netotiliztli:

10.5   

Similar strings of vocables may be seen throughout the Romances, for example:

10.6   

The expression ninotolinia 'I am poor', moreover, is one of the staples of netotiliztli phraseology. The idea, evidently, is that the pitiableness of the singer will bring forth the "remembered" warriors:

10.7   

Or, more explicitly (and note the vocables):

10.8   

As the huehuetlatolli orator recommends:

10.9   

So the singer, grieving, in obvious sadness, cries:

10.10   

And in the singers' words the incoming warriors and warrior kings themselves, ritually brought to earth, are ixayotl 'tears', ixayauhtli 'eye mist', choquiztli 'sobs', choquizxochitl 'sob flowers' - and cococ 'miseries', tlaocolli 'sorrows', ellelli 'agonies':³⁹

10.11   

Since the vocables occur not only as free - standing interjections but as prefixes, suffixes, and infixes, all translations of Aztec songs have omitted these persistent intrusions, or most of them, for the sake of clarity. This practice, for better or for worse, has helped to strengthen the impression that Aztec songs are "poetry" rather than ritual.

11.1   

As the basic elements of the netotiliztli idiom emerge, it becomes apparent that the singer is making a distinction, though not always clear - cut, between the incoming warriors and his fellow ritualists on the dance floor (who are also regarded as warriors) - that is, between the imagined and the real, the ghosts (so to speak) and the mortals.

11.2   

The concrete nouns icniuhtli 'comrade [or friend]' and icuitl 'brother' can designate a member of either group. Thus the term of address antocnihuan 'you who are our friends [concrete form]' may refer to either the singer's fellow ritualists or the imagined warriors arriving from the sky world, while the abstract icniuhyotl 'comradeship(s)' and coayotl 'companionship(s)' always mean ghost warriors.⁴⁰

11.3   

The awkward ' - ship(s)', of very limited use in English - compare the obsolescent "your lordship(s)" - is better omitted in translation.⁴¹ Hence 'comrades', 'companions', rather than 'comradeships', 'companionships', as in icniuhyotl aya tocõcenquixtia tlalticpac ye nican ohuaya ohuaya 'you assemble comrades [abstract form] here on earth' (leaving the vocables untranslated) (Cantares 69:29).

11.4   

The abstract forms cuicayotl 'songs', xochiyotl 'flowers', hueyotl 'braves [i.e., outstanding warriors]', cuauhyotl 'eagles', oceloyotl 'jaguars', and others as well, may be included in this category.⁴² Possessive forms often occur, but the standard distinction between "alien" and "organic" possession does not seem to apply. In other words, the rule that abstract xochiyotl 'flower', for example, can only be possessed by a plant, while the flower that a person holds or owns must be designated by concrete xochitl, is disregarded in the idiom here under consideration, as shown by the forms noxochio 'my flowers [abstract form]', moxochiotzin 'your precious flowers [abstract form]'.⁴³

12.1   

The ambiguous expression ninotolinia 'I am poor', alternately translated 'I am suffering', may simply be used by the singer to elicit divine pity,⁴⁴ as indicated above. But in certain contexts it means 'poor [in deeds]' (i.e., cowardly, not warlike); and in still other contexts, 'suffering [in this life]' (i.e., miserable on earth and eager for blissful reunion with the supreme power). By contrast the accomplished warrior is "rich," especially the captured warrior who wins the "riches" of "knife death," or sacrifice.

12.2   

The midwife, it is reported, advises a newborn boy 'of all the suffering and torment that will befall him on earth' (in ca muchi tetolinj, tecoco, in jpan muchioaz tlalticpac), promising him that 'he will die on the battlefield, or be sacrificed [as a captive]' (iaoc momjqujliz, anoçe teomjqujz) (CF lib. 6, cap. 31, fol. 146).

12.3   

In one of the lengthier, more elaborate huehuetlatolli texts, addressed to the god Tezcatlipoca in time of war, the orator pays tribute to:

12.4   

And offers the prediction:

12.5   

These unmistakable postulates, instilling the worthlessness of life and the value of death, find repeated echoes in the netotiliztli in Cantares:

12.6   

Evidently the Aztec theory reflects a general Native American war ethic, emphasizing the impermanence of earthly life, as revealed in warriors' songs from the North American plains and upper midwest:

12.7   

But voices like the following, which are not rare in either the Cantares or the Romances, carry an undercurrent of reluctance even if they basically accept the doctrine:

12.8   

Note the term "borrowing," indicating that the warrior's life on earth is intended to be "brief," lasting no more than a "moment," soon to "wither" (like a flower), as the texts often say. Other passages are more plainspoken:

12.9   

The weight of the netotiliztli, nevertheless, falls squarely on the side of sacrifice, with occasional reminders aimed at cowards, doubters, and dissenters, as in Romances song I: '[ . . . ] who will seek them, who will meet them here beside the drum? [ . . . ] Who among us will fail to entertain, to gladden God Self Maker?' Or, more pointedly, as in Cantares song XII:

12.10   

The "human," the "sane" attitude is to embrace the "flood and blaze" that represents war (see especially Romances song V). And if shame fails, there's praise. As stated in Romances 36v:10, "Only for fame and renown does one die in war." And the dying is squarely faced: warriors are 'forsaken' (cahua); they 'splinter' (poztequi), 'shatter' (teini), 'ruin' (po[h]polihui), 'wither' (cuetlahui), and are 'gathered up' (pe[h]pena).

12.11   

Ultimately the authority for military action comes from the supreme spirit. As the songs repeatedly ask, "What does God say?" (i.e., "What does God decree?" or "What does God want [or require]?"), demanding the answer, "War."⁵⁰ The right pursuit is cualanyotl cocollotl 'war and conflict' (Romances 5v:12); the warrior should 'foam [i.e., seethe with anger]' pozoni (Romances 7:11, Cantares passim). The warrior's mandate is clear; and yet, doubts must be resolved, calling for argument.

12.12   

The argumentative strain that runs through the repertory has an apparently pre-Cortésian component in the old native attitude toward a faithless and untrustworthy supreme spirit. As the saying went, aiac vel icnjuh, aiac nellin qujlhuja Tezcatlipuca 'no one can be Tezcatlipoca's friend, to no one does he tell the truth' (FC 4:35:23). The adage crops up in Romances song IV (as noted above): ayac huel icniuh [i]n ipalnemohuã 'no one can be Life Giver's friend'. And again in song XVIII: ?xquich i ye neli quilhuiya · / yn · amo nello 'to how many does he tell the truth, does he not tell the truth! [freely, how many does he "yes" and "no"!]'. But in Cantares song VII the querulous tone takes on an unmistakable Christian coloration, as noted in "Dating the Songs" in the Introduction. Establishing the precise boundary between an older native attitude and the newer nativistic way of thinking, which incorporates Christianity, is by no means a simple task.

12.13   

It should be remembered when confronting a song that appears to be entirely negative, such as Romances song XIX, that the text may not mean what it seems to mean. A warrior's song of the Pawnee Lance Society may be compared in this connection:

This is apparently an admonition against war, exactly the opposite of the midwife's word of encouragement quoted above in section 2.1. But the collector of the text writes that "the inner meaning of the song is the reply" - that the newborn boy, when grown, should in fact join the war party, because (according to native exegesis), "Where will the woman send her son that he will not meet death?"⁵² An essential point is that the Pawnee dances, like the earlier Aztec dances, were public performances sponsored by an established native order (warily permitted in later times, in New Spain, by a colonial authority ill equipped to analyze content). To suppose that negativity under such circumstances could be given a hearing for any purpose other than to receive scorn would be unrealistic. Similarly, to fantasize, as some have done, that Aztec songs represent private musings would be to ignore ethnography and historical evidence.

13.1   

Intoxication is mentioned or implied throughout the netotiliztli, often in connection with octli 'wine [i.e., pulque]'; the unidentified hallucinogen poyomatli, or poyon, variously given in English as 'poyon' or 'narcotic'; and the milder stimulants iyetl 'incense [refers to tobacco]' and cacahuatl 'cacao'.⁵³ The warriors are said to i 'drink', cua 'eat', or chichina 'inhale' these substances.

13.2   

With reference to ritualists playing the part of warriors in a calendrical ceremony, the Florentine Codex describes those 'who had become drunk, unruly [like] warriors, daring, foolhardy, full of spirit, lively, proud of their valor, playing the part of men' (yn aqujque, mihivintia iautlaueliloque, mixtlapaloanj, acan ixmauhque, iollotlapaltique, iollochicaoaque, quipopoanj yn jntiiacauhio moqujchnenequj).⁵⁴

13.3   

Drunkenness may also describe the joyful condition of deceased warriors in the sky world, where they 'sip the various flowers' (qujchichina in nepapan xuchitl) 'in such a way that they seem intoxicated' (injc iuhqujma ivintitinemj).⁵⁵

13.4   

Or, it may describe the hoped - for predicament of one's enemies on the battlefield, allowing them to be more easily captured - allowing them to "lie in our hands," as the songs frequently say. In time of war the huehuetlatolli orator prays to Tezcatlipoca:

13.5   

Or, finally, captives taken in battle may be given octli 'wine', or teooctli 'sacred wine', immediately before being sacrificed. The practice is repeatedly mentioned by Durán, whose modern translators Fernando Horcasitas and Doris Heyden find that the "sacred" version of the beverage "gave valor to those who were about to die" and may have contained narcotic additives.⁵⁶

14.1   

To bring forth the agents of supernatural power, the conjuros ritualist - rather than merely summoning the spirits - may claim to have "made" them, as in the medical incantation addressed to the personified powers of tobacco and water that will be needed in the cure:

14.2   

In the same vein the netotiliztli singer announces:

14.3   

The same idea, with variations, is stated and restated throughout the netotiliztli, as the incoming "princes," or warriors, are said to be made, given birth, created, or brought to life.⁵⁸ Occasionally, as in Romances song II, they are said to be the nacayotl 'flesh' of the creative power or its agent; and in general they are ilhuizolli 'marvels' (as in song XIV).

15.1   

Although the incoming warriors - as "songs" or "flowers" - may be simply "created," they are often crafted, so to speak, after the manner of the jeweler, the featherworker, the painter, or the florist.

15.2   

Just as the jeweler creates by pitza 'smelting' and mamali 'drilling', then zo or zozo 'stringing', his acatic 'tubiform beads' and ololihuic 'round beads',⁵⁹ using gold, jade, and turquoise, so the ritualist can claim:

15.3   

The featherworker, crafting a mosaic, zaloa 'mounts' the ihuitl 'feathers [or plumes]',⁶² and, thus inspired, the ritualist can say:

15.4   

The painter of pictographic screenfolds or amoxtli 'books' - freely, 'pictures' - gives his images tlilli tlapalli 'outline and color',⁶³ prompting the ritualist to say:

15.5   

The craft of the florist supplies the icpacxochitl 'crown of flowers', the xochicozcatl 'flower necklace' - and, more elaborate still, the xochimecatl 'flower rope [or garland]', requiring a close look at the various verbs that express twisting or turning. These, the verbs that activate the xochimecatl, are one of the distinguishing features of the netotiliztli.

16.1   

The Nahuatl verbs cueyahua, huicoma, ihcuiya, ilacatzoa, malacachoa, malina, and tzahua (including the reduplicatives cuecueyahua, huihuicoma, and mamalina), which as a group may be translated by the English verb 'twist', broadly defined, appear throughout the Romances and the Cantares, often in context with "flowers." Of such verbs the two most commonly found in the songs are ilacatzoa and malina. These may be either transitive or intransitive; and ilacatzoa, in addition, has the special intransitive form ilacatzihui. Used in tandem, as attested in the Florentine Codex, they describe the crafting of a decorative floral item called mecatl 'garland', or xochimecatl 'flower garland' (more precisely 'rope of flowers').⁶⁴ In the netotiliztli, as would be expected, the mecatl are warriors, especially incoming warriors and warrior kings produced by the ritualist or the ritualist's imagined agents:

16.2   

In the last example the incoming warriors are called angelotin 'angels', a usage that also has - in the Cantares at least - the synonyms centzonxiquipilli 'innumerable ones' and ilhuicac chane 'heaven dwellers'.⁶⁵ In other songs, emphasizing their status as progenitors, they may be called nonan nota 'my mother, my father', teci tecol 'grandmother, grandfather', or simply nelhuatl 'root' or nelhuayotl 'rootstock'.⁶⁶

17.1   

Since the Nahuatl verbs of rotation, or some of them, can mean 'to twist around something in a helical fashion', it is tempting to search the syntax to see if such a meaning can be accommodated in translations of the netotiliztli. The lure is especially strong in passages that have hunting or fishing imagery, as in Romances song I, where we find the hero Temilotzin using a snare (ilpia 'to tie, snare, or capture'). One asks whether the accompanying rotational verbs, icuiya and ilacatzoa, could mean 'twist up', or 'ensnare', in this case.

17.2   

The possibility is even more compelling in the various passages that mention "flowers" - or "songs" as though they were flowers. Couldn't the syntax be read in such a way that the principals are 'enlaced', 'wreathed', or 'entwined' with flowers, or the song itself is a kind of flowery wreath wrapped around one's waist or shoulders, especially in passages where the warrior is said to be "arrayed" or "adorned"?⁶⁷

17.3   

The image of untrammeled nature conjured up by "twining" or "wreathing" plant materials, with its tacit suggestion of rural innocence, is one of the staples of European pastoral tradition - by the late 1500s already absorbed, creatively, into the intellectual life of New Spain. Developed by Latin poets of the Augustan age, drawing on Greek models, pastoral diction and pastoral attitudes were revived by the Italian Renaissance and promptly disseminated in Europe - with a vigorous branch in sixteenth - and seventeenth-century Mexico, where the countryside took on a New World flavor and the innocent shepherds became Indians.

17.4   

Inasmuch as pastoral, or its special phraseology, survived in English poetry well into the nineteenth century, writers of English have ready-made "clasping ivy twined" (Alexander Pope) and "twined flowers" (John Keats) at their disposal, without harking back to the Augustan "let the garlands wave and blow" (Catullus), "vagrant stems of ivy, foxglove, and gay briar" (Virgil), or "would you with ivy wreathe your flowing hair" (Ovid).⁶⁸ It is not without interest, moreover, that the works of Virgil, Catullus, Ovid, and other Latin poets were well known in New Spain during the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries - imported in editions published in Spain, anthologized in local publications, translated into Spanish, and intensively studied in institutions of learning.⁶⁹ Turning to the homegrown product, in lyrics variously known as romances 'ballads' or italianillas 'little Italian ones',⁷⁰ we find among the - astonishingly numerous⁷¹ - poets of New Spain:

17.5   

By the time the romances 'ballads', or cantares 'songs', of the native mexicanos became a subject of study, the phraseology of pastoral, along with the attitudes that informed it, came readily to mind as a key to interpretation.⁷⁸ As an exercise, one might take the following passage:

- and ask: What precisely does this mean? It may be granted that the verbs can be read differently (or at least an alternate reading is remotely feasible even if unsupported by sixteenth-century textual attestations):

17.6   

The problem with the "entwined" or "wreathed" translation is that these verbs are being used without the near proximity of flowers or any other botanical materials to serve an adverbial function - as also in this stanza:

17.7   

Far removed from pastoral, the historical Temilotzin (tlacateccatl 'commander' of Mexican troops during the Conquest) now serves as the agent of supreme power (as in section 3), bringing forth warrior comrades, using several of the ritual techniques that have been mentioned above: summoning (section 1), recalling (sections 10 and 14), creating by twisting (section 15), and eliciting pity (section 10).

17.8   

It is true that the verbs of rotation are used in sixteenth-century Nahuatl writings on plant morphology to describe the helical form of certain roots and tendrils. But the helical or tapestry - like figures in which nature imitates art, or art imitates nature (as in the pastoral diction of European poetry), do not seem to be part of the semantic baggage of these Nahuatl verbs until the 1640s.⁷⁹

18.1   

Just as the conjuros ritualist invokes the myth of human creation in the hope of making an injured patient whole again,⁸⁰ the netotiliztli singer alludes to the same myth (the myth of human creation) as a means of bringing sky warriors to life - incorporating the term ilacatzoa, semantically the most flexible of the several verbs of rotation:

18.2   

The myth varies considerably over its range (which seems to be confined to the southwest quarter of the North American continent). But a look at some of the variants should show that the verb ilacatzoa has been plausibly translated in the passage quoted above.⁸¹ The essential idea is that a circular motion, repeated four times, duplicates the twisting of winds, thereby imparting the breath of life in a process of imitative magic. For convenience, references to the circular motion, the wind, and the number four are here italicized:

18.3   

As the site or proximate site of human creation, the otherworldly Tamoanchan lends added meaning to such passages from the netotiliztli as:

18.4   

In the second of these two passages there is no verb of rotation, but if there were it might be ilacatzoa, malina⁸⁵ - or any one of the others, since they appear to be interchangeable, at least in the netotiliztli, as indicated in the following section.

19.1   

The interchangeability of malina and ilacatzoa, and of ilacatzoa and icuiya, can be seen in passages quoted above (17.5, 17.1), where the paired verbs are treated as approximate synonyms. The first of these two pairs may even be used imperatively in a single command:

19.2   

In the indicative mode, though no less coercively, malina and huicoma are coupled:

19.3   

Malacachoa and malina, also, may replace one another, as can be seen by comparing formulaic phrases in which 'flowers' (potential captives that the warrior imagines as already lying in his hand) are produced, i.e., 'blossom' or 'come forth', as though a flower garland were being crafted, or twisted, into existence:

19.4   

And note that ilacatzoa can replace cuecueyahua:

19.5   

Any of the several verbs under consideration may be correctly given in English as 'twist' (Spanish 'torcer'), with the understanding that the meaning ranges through various kinds and degrees of torsion with or without rearrangement of the entity being revolved or rotated. Because the English 'twist' carries a heavier connotation of rearrangement, or distortion, than the corresponding Nahuatl verbs, and is therefore potentially misleading, English 'twirl', 'turn', 'spin', or 'whirl' has been given preference in these translations.

20.1   

Whether by cajoling, insisting, dancing, singing, metaphorical "twisting," or other ritualistic means, the summoning of dead warriors, or "lords," from the house of the sun does not come without cost. There must be a process of ixtlahua 'to pay' or patiuhtli 'payment'. In other words, lives must be given in exchange. Here, then, is the philosophical basis for the practice known in Nahuatl as tlacatica moxtlahua 'to make the human payment'.⁸⁶ As expressed in the Cantares (23v:16-18):

20.2   

Although the term patiuhtli appears in the Romances only in song VI, the concept is helpful to an understanding of the manuscript as a whole. In number V, for example, the resistance hero Cacamatl, murdered by Spaniards in 1520, is impersonated by the latter-day ritualist, who has him summoning deceased lords from the more distant past, at the same time asking whose deaths, perhaps including his own, will serve as payment:

20.3   

Throughout the netotiliztli the exchange, or payment, may be signaled by a perturbation of the universe:

20.4   

In a broader context the matter is discussed by the anthropologist Bruce Trigger in terms of an exchange, or flow, of energy between sky and earth:

20.5   

Those who have believed that the Cantares and the Romances contain metaphysics may turn out to be right after all.

21.1   

At various points in the repertory the ritualist finds it necessary to deal with the harsh reality that death may be permanent. If it is, this contradicts the doctrine of return and exchange. As the texts have it, "we die forever" (song XIX), or, in a phrase characteristic of the netotiliztli, "not twice does one live" (song XVI).

21.2   

The singer confronts the "not twice" objection in a variety of ways. He may simply state it, then drown it out in a virtuosic display of "crafting," "creating," or "bringing down" the required ghost warriors. The fullest example is the 55 - stanza Cantares song XVIII, which rehearses all aspects of the "die forever" argument, then swamps it in a triumphant coda ending with "everyone alive," "flower garlands coming from beyond," in a glorious "war of flowers."

21.3   

Or he may turn the objection to advantage, illogically it would seem, suggesting that permanent death is the just desert of enemy warriors or, alternately, that since the warrior does not live "twice," he may as well enjoy the "flowers" of combat while he can.

21.4   

Or the singer may wallow in the objection, becoming morose. In this way he inspires the divine pity that releases warriors from the sky world, allowing them to return to earth.

21.5   

More decisively and in true ritualistic fashion, the singer may simply decree that the objection be removed, using the phrase tlaca ayoppatihua or its variant tlaca hayop? 'Let there be no "never twice"!' (Cantares 71v:3, Romances 34:1).

22.1   

Unlike the conjuros, which are based on religion exclusively, the netotiliztli draw upon history and politics; and evidently for this reason they were called "profane" by nonnative observers, who distinguished them from another native song - genre, the macehualiztli, recognized as "sacred."⁸⁸

22.2   

While the battles waged in the conjuros are between the agents of personal harm and the spirits of succor, the warfare imagined in the netotiliztli favors Mexico against its mundane enemies. With Mexico (that is, the twin boroughs of Tenochtitlan and Tlatelolco) stand its partners in the so-called Triple Alliance: Acolhuacan (with the city of Texcoco as its seat) and Tepanecapan (seated at Azcapotzalco until the Tepanec War ca. 1430, thereafter at Tlacopan). Mexico's traditional antagonists are Chalco, a confederation to the south, and, especially, Huexotzinco and Tlaxcala, a pair of confederacies on the other side of the mountains some distance to the east. These longtime enemies of the imperial power at Tenochtitlan, not incidentally, became the allies of Cortés in the siege of Mexico, 1521.⁸⁹ In the songs, blame for the Conquest is shifted from the conquistadores to the native enemies, notably Huexotzinco - Tlaxcala, while the city of Mexico, tragically destroyed, fondly remembered, becomes an object of cult.

22.3   

The entire situation is easier to grasp in the Cantares, with its many songs commemorating actual battles,⁹⁰ than in the more generalized songs of the Romances.

22.4   

In the Cantares, Mexico is named sixty times, Tenochtitlan twenty times, Tlatelolco six (here omitting various figurative names for Mexico that would add another twenty).⁹¹ The Eagle Gate at the south side of the main square in Tenochtitlan is named three times; Coyonacazco 'coyote's nose', the neighborhood at the northern tip of Tlatelolco, where Mexicans made their last stand against Cortés, appears four times; and Chapolco (or Chapoltepec or Chapoltepetitlan), the location of Mexico's water supply, weighs in with no less than seven mentions (as it reminds the singers that Mexico, in defeat, has been elevated to the paradisal waters of the sky world). Several songs openly treat the Conquest; and Mexico itself, not merely its warriors, is portrayed in otherworldly terms, suggesting an apotheosis:

22.5   

In the Romances, Mexico or Tenochtitlan is mentioned only eight times, with the Eagle Gate appearing just once (at 10:19). But note veiled allusions to the siege of Mexico throughout the Romances (e.g., in songs I, V, VII, X, XII, XIV, XVIII; see the Commentary).

22.6   

The question arises whether any of the songs in the Romances could be non-Mexica, particularly Texcocan, since the manuscript has been preserved with a Texcocan document and the Romances glossator has an apparent interest in Texcoco. Arguably song XXXIII, which speaks of the Acolhuans (i.e., Texcocans), could be singled out. But the fact remains that the Cantares and Romances texts as a whole overwhelmingly brand the surviving netotiliztli as a Mexica phenomenon.

23.1   

For reasons that are not fully clear,⁹² Montezuma and Nezahualcoyotl receive more space in the old native and early colonial literature than any of the other Aztec kings. In his compendious Diccionario biográfico de historia antigua de Méjico, incorporating all the significant references throughout the chronicles, Rafael García Granados needed 126 pages for Montezuma (23 for Montezuma I, 103 for Montezuma II) and 34 for Nezahualcoyotl. The nearest competitors are Nezahualpilli with 13 and Axayacatl and Tezozomoc with 11 each.

23.2   

Since most of this sixteenth- and seventeenth-century literature is Mexica-oriented, why so much attention to Nezahualcoyotl, ruler of Texcoco (1431-72)?

23.3   

A partial answer is that Nezahualcoyotl, though a Texcocan, was related to the royal house of Tenochtitlan and, as troop commander and strategist, served as the architect of Mexico's victory in the Tepanec War, ca. 1430.⁹³ Without this turn of events, the great age of imperial Mexico would not have been possible. Durán embroiders on the theme:

23.4   

The netotiliztli, likewise, give more space to Montezuma and Nezahualcoyotl than to any of the other kings. In the Cantares and Romances combined, Montezuma (I and II) and Nezahualcoyotl (often called Yoyontzin) receive about 60 mentions apiece. The Romances mentions Montezuma 6 times and Nezahualcoyotl/Yoyontzin 23 times. That the Romances tilts so heavily toward Nezahualcoyotl probably indicates conscious selection on the part of the pro-Texcoco compiler - or the pro-Texcoco singer(s) who served as the source.

23.5   

The various references to Nezahualcoyotl, as suggested above, do not necessarily mean that the songs in the Romances are non-Mexica, even if the manuscript is a Texcocan compilation. Further, it should be noted that "Texcoco" never appears in any of the songs in either the Romances or the Cantares and the name "Acolhuacan" only rarely (and never in the transfiguring phraseology reserved for Mexico/Tenochtitlan).

23.6   

As a postscript it may be pointed out that Nezahualcoyotl, though beloved of modern, nonnative historians and even biographers, dropped out of oral tradition after about 1600. Montezuma, however, remained alive (or, better, returned to life), joining the ranks of perennial Indian kings and messianic figures.⁹⁵ Of these the most recent, apparently, is the Quiché Maya hero Tecun Uman, who had met the Spanish conquerors of Guatemala in 1523 - and, it was said, returned during the Guatemalan civil war of the 1980s, bringing with him an army of 2 million warriors for the Indian cause.⁹⁶ (Most recent, that is, if the return of the Tzeltalan hero Votan in the State of Chiapas in the 1990s can be discounted as a non-Indian blandishment.)⁹⁷ The most powerful, perhaps, was the Montezuma whose cult flourished in the pueblos of New Mexico from the 1600s to the early twentieth century, for whom sacred fires were kept burning against the day when he would return as the native people's deliverer from Spanish oppression.⁹⁸ Among the most poignant is the Moctezuma of the twentieth-century Popoluca of Oaxaca State, where the Aztec king who had greeted Cortés had come to be regarded as a culture hero - still being kept prisoner in Mexico City.⁹⁹ Finally, as a linguistic note, it may be added that by the twentieth century the term montezuma had become integrated into the Guaymí language of western Panama as the word for 'king' or 'tribal leader'.¹⁰⁰

24.1   

When all is said and done there will still be the reader who approaches Aztec songs as poetry, who hopes and believes that they are precolumbian, and who is willing to see them as "universal statements about an unchanging and essential human nature."¹⁰¹ Can these expectations be met?

24.2   

The answer perhaps is yes. First, because the songs in performance, with their abundant entertainment aspects, were obviously intended to refresh the spirit, as poetry must, even to the point of satirizing the underlying ritual (as several of the irreverent, even ribald, texts in the Cantares manuscript can demonstrate). Second, because there is every reason to believe that the rhetorical apparatus, even whole stanzas, and probably whole songs in some cases, was imported into the mid-sixteenth century from a pre-Cortésian past. And third, because the idiom is rich in the metaphorical content that makes universal truths - better to say realities - if not acceptable, at least easier to endure.

24.3   

Basically the netotiliztli functions as a single guiding metaphor connecting two articles of belief, each independently attested: (1) the dogma that slain warriors, residing in the sky world, are returned to earth; and (2) the idea that song, originating in the sky world, is brought to earth by the singer (see secs. 5 and 8.1, above). Playing on the similarity between the two ideas, the metaphor calls for the warrior to be regarded as a song - the warrior is the song - and it is this equation, counterintuitive for the unattuned listener, that provides the central mystery of the netotiliztli. To grasp it is to grasp the "poetry" of the entire genre.

24.4   

Yet comparisons with the poetry of far-removed traditions need not be ruled out, even if songs in the European pastoral mode (discussed above) offer only a false echo. The singer's subservience to an agent, or muse, suggests a parallel with the Homeric epics; the pro- and anti-war voices recall the dialogue between the god Krishna and the reluctant war chief Arjuna in the Vedantic poem Bhagavad Gita; and, in form, the brief stanzas bear a resemblance to the "links" of Japanese renga, or linked verse, in that the sequencing from one link to the next may thoroughly, perhaps intentionally, baffle the uninitiated. Thus the netotiliztli, however ritualistic, culture - specific, even obscurantist, can be said to operate in the company of world literature.