Royal Commentaries of the Incas and General History of Peru, Volumes 1 and 2 by Garcilaso de la Vega

Author:Garcilaso de la Vega
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: University of Texas Press
Published: 2014-03-20T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER VII

The Spaniards enter Cuzco and find great treasures.

AS SOON as Inca Titu Atauchi had sent Francisco de Chaves and his companions with these terms, he made his own half-brother Manco Inca his messenger, to convey the same conditions to the Spaniards and report to him what happened, so that he would be prepared for whatever negotiations might take place with the Spaniards. The commander Quízquiz sent to warn him not to disband his army, but rather to try to increase it until he had reached an agreement with the Spaniards as to how they were to live together; the commander also urged him to beware lest he should suffer the same fate as his brother Atahuallpa.

The Indians sent these and similar warnings to Manco Inca and with them their recognition of him as supreme lord of the whole empire, for though they had hitherto been his enemies and desired to kill him so that Atahuallpa should be unopposed, on the latter’s death and the disappearance of his hopes and ambitions, they adopted as a good military policy the course of restoring the empire to its legitimate owner, so that all the Indians should be united in their resistance and in ejecting the Spaniards from their kingdom, or else in coming to a modus vivendi with them. In this way the Indians would be more respected and feared than if they were divided into rival parties.

Prince Manco Inca received warnings of his brother and the commander Quíquiz, and was glad to have them, since they showed that these personages, who had been so much opposed to him, were now on his side and wanted to restore the empire to him. He thought the Spaniards would wish to do the same, since they declared themselves so strictly attached to justice. In this hope he made ready to visit the Spaniards in order to ask them in the name of peace, friendship, and simple justice, to give him power and command in his kingdom, according to the terms put forward by his brother Titu Atauchi. We shall now leave him with his preparations until his due time, and return to the governor, Don Francisco Pizarro.

After having suffered the havoc we have seen at the hands of Titu Atauchi and Quízquiz, Pizarro collected his men together and set off with more circumspection than hitherto. He was involved in no more encounters of any moment, but merely a few trivial alarms. When he had nearly reached Cuzco, its inhabitants came out armed to bar his way, but they made little resistance before returning to their homes, collecting their wives and children and such wealth as they could and retiring to the hills, for they had heard what had happened at Cajamarca. The city resisted because it was controlled by Atahuallpa, who had seized power when he captured Huáscar; but its inhabitants desired to avenge the latter’s death if they could. López de Gómara here writes as follows:

Next day the Spaniards entered Cuzco without any

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.