text:
Page:EB1911 - Volume 02.djvu/406

 storeys, for the topmost storey was not erected until the first part of the 3rd century, when it was completed by Severus Alexander and Gordianus. The building is elliptical in plan and measures 620 ft. for the major axis and 513 ft. for the minor axis. There were eighty entrances, two of which were reserved for the emperor and his suite. The (q.v.) was divided into four ranges of seats; the whole of the exterior and the principal corridors were built in travertine stone, and all other corridors, staircases and substructures in concrete. Externally the wall was divided into four storeys, the three lower ones with arcades divided by semi-detached columns of the Tuscan, the Ionic and the Corinthian orders respectively. The walls of the topmost storey were decorated with pilasters of the Corinthian order, the only openings there being small windows, to light the corridors and the upper range of seats. Among other amphitheatres the best preserved are those found at Capua, Verona, and Pompeii in Italy; at El Jem in North Africa; at Pola in Istria, and at Arles and Nîmes in France.

The Thermae or Imperial Baths.—The term thermae is given to the immense bathing establishments which were built by the emperors to ingratiate themselves with the people. Of the ordinary baths (Balneae) there were numerous examples not only in Rome but at Pompeii and throughout the Empire. The thermae were devoted not only to baths but to gymnastic pursuits of every kind, and being the resorts of the poets, philosophers and statesmen of the day, contained numerous halls where discussions and orations could take place. The plans of these thermae were measured by Palladio about 1560, at a time when they were in far better preservation and more extensive than they are to-day. They have, however, been measured since by some of the French Grand Prix students; and Blouet’s work on the Thermae of Caracalla(1828) and Paulin’s on the Thermae of Diocletian(1890) give accurate drawings as well as conjectural restorations which are of the greatest value. The earliest thermae were those built by Agrippa (20 ) in the Campus Martius, and of others those of Titus and Trajan are the best preserved; plans can be found in Cameron’s Baths (1775).

Entrance Gateways and Arches of Triumph.—As the entrance gateways were sometimes erected to commemorate some important event, we have grouped these together, the real difference being that the arch of triumph was an isolated feature and served no utilitarian purpose, whereas the entrance gateway constituted part of the external walls of the city and could be opened and closed at will. Of the latter those at Verona, Susa, Perugia and Aosta in Italy, Autun in France, and the Porta Nigra at Trèves (Trier) are the best known, but there are also numerous examples throughout Syria and North Africa. The arches of triumph offered a fine scope for decoration with bas-reliefs setting forth the principal events of the campaign; the representation on coins also suggests that they were looked upon as pedestals to carry large groups of sculpture. The best known examples are those of Titus, Septimius Severus and Constantine at Rome, of Trajan at Ancona, and, in France, at Orange, St Remi and Reims. There were numerous examples throughout North Africa and Syria, of which the arch of Caracalla at Tebessa in the former and the great gateway of Palmyra in Syria are the best preserved.

Memorial Buildings and Tombs.—Columns of victory constituted another type of memorial, and the shafts of the columns of Trajan and Marcus Aurelius in Rome lent themselves to a better representation of the records of victory than those which could be obtained in the panels of a triumphal arch. Other columns erected are those of Antoninus Pius in Rome, a column at Alexandria, and others in France and Italy.

If the Romans derived from the Etruscans a custom of erecting tombs in memory of the dead, they did not follow on the same lines, for whilst the Etruscans always excavated the tomb in the solid rock, constituting a more lasting memorial, the Romans regarded them as monumental features and lined the routes of the via sacra of their towns with them. The earliest example remaining is that of Caecilia Metella (58 ), of which the upper portion, consisting of a circular drum 93 ft. in diameter, remains. Of the tomb of Hadrian the core only exists in the castle of Sant’ Angelo. From the descriptions given it must have been a work of great magnificence. The tombs known as (q.v.) were always below ground, but in some cases an upper storey was built above them consisting of a small temple, and these flanked the Via Appia in large numbers. At Pompeii outside the Herculaneum Gate the Via Appia was lined on both sides with tombs of varied design, and with exedrae or circular seats in marble, provided for the use of those visiting the tombs. The tombs in Syria form a very large and important series, the earliest perhaps being those in Palmyra, where they took the form of lofty towers, from 70 to 90 ft. high, externally simple as regards their design, but in the several storeys inside profusely decorated with Corinthian pilasters and coffered ceilings in stone. The tombs in Jerusalem built in the 1st century of our era are partly excavated in the rock and partly erected. The most important were those known as the tomb of Absalom, the tomb of St James, and the tombs of the judges and the kings, all cut in the solid rock. In central Syria some of the tombs are excavated in the rock, and over them are built a group of two or more columns held together by their entablatures. The most important series are the tombs at Petra, all cut in the side of cliffs and of elaborate design. The sculptor, being free from the restriction of construction, realized his conception much in the same way as a scene-painter produces a theatrical background.

Aqueducts and Bridges.—Although at the present day aqueducts and bridges would be classed under the head of engineering works, those built by the Romans are so fine in their conception and design that they take their place as monuments. The Pont-du-Gard near Nîmes, and the aqueducts of Segovia, Tarragona and Merida in Spain, and some of those in or near Rome, are of the simplest design, depending for their effect on their magnificent construction, their dimensions both in length and height, and the scale given in the ranges of arches one above the other. Few of the Roman bridges have lasted to our day; the bridges of Augustus at Rimini and of Alcantara in Spain may be taken as types of the design, in which we note that there are no architectural superfluities; the quality of the design depends on the graceful proportion of the arches and the fine masonry in which they are built.

Palatial Architecture.—By far the most magnificent group of palaces are those which were erected by the Caesars on the Palatine hill at Rome. Commenced by Augustus and added to by his successors down to the reign of Severus, they cover an area considerably over 1,000,000 sq. ft., and comprise an immense series of great halls, throne room, banqueting hall, basilicas, peristylar courts, temple, libraries, schools, barracks, a stadium and separate suites for princes and courtiers. The service of the palace would seem to have been carried on in vaulted corridors in several storeys, some of which on the north side, overlooking the Circus Maximus, must have been over 100 ft. in height. Except under the Villa Mills, the greater part of the plan has been traced; and large remains of mosaic pavements have been found in situ, and in the approaches, vaulted halls, some still retaining their stucco decoration.

A similar variety of groups of every description of structure is found at Tivoli, but spread over a very much larger area. The villa of Hadrian extended over 7 m.; the works there were probably begun about 123, the first portion being his own residential palace. In addition to the numerous halls, courts, libraries, &c., Hadrian attempted to reproduce some of the most remarkable monuments which he had seen during his long travels; the Stadium, Palaestra, Odeum, the two theatres, the artificial lake, Canopus and other features were, however, constructed in the Roman style. Built on a ridge between two valleys, the several buildings occupied various levels, so that immense terraces and flights of stairs existed throughout the site and, combined with the natural scenery, must have been of extraordinary beauty.

The palace of Diocletian at Spalato, to which he retired after his abdication, constituted a fortress, three of its walls being protected by towers, the fourth on the south by the sea. For an account of its well-preserved remains see. The emperor’s own residence was on the south side, and had a gallery 520 ft. long overlooking the sea. The two main streets, with arcades on each side and crossing one another, divided the whole palace into four sections. One of these streets crossed from gate to gate, the other from the north gate led to the entrance into the palace of the emperor.

Private Houses.—The entire absence of the remains of the private houses of Rome, with the single exception of the house of Livia on the Palatine, would have left us with a very poor insight into their design were it not for the discovery of (q.v.) and  (q.v.). The descriptions given by Pliny of the lavish extravagance in the Roman houses, and the employment of various Greek marbles in the shape of monolith columns and panelling of walls, are substantiated by those which are found in the Pantheon, in the palaces on the Palatine, and in Hadrian’s villa at Tivoli; and these compared with what is found at Pompeii show that the latter was only a provincial town of second or third-rate importance, where painted imitations took the place of real marbles, and where the wall paintings were very inferior to those which have been discovered in Rome.

The term “Byzantine” is applied to the style of architecture which was developed in Byzantium after Constantine had transferred the capital of the Roman empire to that city in 324.

It is not possible, in the early ages of any style which is based on preceding or contemporaneous styles, to draw any hard and fast line of demarcation; and already before the Peace of the Church, a gradual transformation in the Roman style had been taking place, even in Rome itself. Thus the arch had gradually been taking the place of the lintel, either frankly as a relieving arch above it (portico of Pantheon), or introduced in the frieze just above the architrave (San Lorenzo), or by the conversion of the architrave into a flat arch by dividing it into voussoirs, as in the Forum Julium at Rome or in the temple of Jupiter at Baalbek. In the palace built by Diocletian at Spalato, the architrave or lintel of the Golden Gate is built with several voussoirs, and the pressure is further relieved by an arch thrown across above it. Long before this, however, and already in the 2nd century in Syria, this relieving arch had been moulded and decorated, with the result of emphasizing it as a new architectural feature. In this same palace at Spalato, in order to obtain a wider opening in the centre of the portico, leading to the throne room, it was spanned by an arch, round which were carried the

title: Page:EB1911 - Volume 02.djvu/406


text:
Page:Public General Statutes 1896.djvu/65

1896.
 * 39 & 40 Geo. 3. c. 79.
 * An Act for establishing further Regulations for the Government of the British Territories in India, and the better Administration of Justice within the same.
 * 39 & 40 Geo. 3. c. 81.
 * An Act to prevent Frauds and Abuses in the Trade of Hops.
 * 39 & 40 Geo. 3. c. 88.
 * An Act concerning the Disposition of certain Real and Personal Property of His Majesty, His Heirs and Successors; and also of the Real and Personal Property of Her Majesty, and of the Queen Consort for the time being.
 * 39 & 40 Geo. 3. c. 93.
 * An Act for regulating Trials for High Treason and Misprision of High Treason in certain Cases.
 * 39 & 40 Geo. 3. c. 94.
 * An Act for the safe Custody of Insane Persons charged with Offences.
 * 39 & 40 Geo. 3. c. 98.
 * An Act to restrain all Trusts and Directions in Deeds or Wills whereby the Profits or Produce of Real or Personal Estate shall be accumulated, and the beneficial enjoyment thereof postponed, beyond the time therein limited.
 * 39 & 40 Geo. 3. c. 109.
 * An Act for making forth Duplicates of Exchequer Bills, Lottery Tickets, Certificates, Receipts, Annuity Orders or other Orders, lost, burnt, or otherwise destroyed.
 * An Act for regulating Trials for High Treason and Misprision of High Treason in certain Cases.
 * 39 & 40 Geo. 3. c. 94.
 * An Act for the safe Custody of Insane Persons charged with Offences.
 * 39 & 40 Geo. 3. c. 98.
 * An Act to restrain all Trusts and Directions in Deeds or Wills whereby the Profits or Produce of Real or Personal Estate shall be accumulated, and the beneficial enjoyment thereof postponed, beyond the time therein limited.
 * 39 & 40 Geo. 3. c. 109.
 * An Act for making forth Duplicates of Exchequer Bills, Lottery Tickets, Certificates, Receipts, Annuity Orders or other Orders, lost, burnt, or otherwise destroyed.
 * 39 & 40 Geo. 3. c. 98.
 * An Act to restrain all Trusts and Directions in Deeds or Wills whereby the Profits or Produce of Real or Personal Estate shall be accumulated, and the beneficial enjoyment thereof postponed, beyond the time therein limited.
 * 39 & 40 Geo. 3. c. 109.
 * An Act for making forth Duplicates of Exchequer Bills, Lottery Tickets, Certificates, Receipts, Annuity Orders or other Orders, lost, burnt, or otherwise destroyed.
 * 39 & 40 Geo. 3. c. 109.
 * An Act for making forth Duplicates of Exchequer Bills, Lottery Tickets, Certificates, Receipts, Annuity Orders or other Orders, lost, burnt, or otherwise destroyed.
 * 41 Geo. 3. U.K. c. 23.
 * An Act for the better Collection of Rates made for the Relief of the Poor.
 * 41 Geo. 3. U.K. c. 25.
 * An Act for the better Regulation of the Office of Master of the Rolls in that Part of the United Kingdom called Ireland ; and for augmenting the Salary annexed to the said Office
 * 41 Geo. 3. U.K. c. 32.
 * An Act for granting to his Majesty several Sums of Money for defraying the Charge of certain permanent Services in that Part of the United Kingdom called Ireland.
 * An Act for the better Regulation of the Office of Master of the Rolls in that Part of the United Kingdom called Ireland ; and for augmenting the Salary annexed to the said Office
 * 41 Geo. 3. U.K. c. 32.
 * An Act for granting to his Majesty several Sums of Money for defraying the Charge of certain permanent Services in that Part of the United Kingdom called Ireland.
 * 41 Geo. 3. U.K. c. 32.
 * An Act for granting to his Majesty several Sums of Money for defraying the Charge of certain permanent Services in that Part of the United Kingdom called Ireland.
 * }

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/


text:
Page:History of the Spanish Conquest of Yucatan and of the Itzas.pdf/22

 {|align=center
 * colspan=2|
 * Ia
 * Avendaño's Map of Lake Peten, circa 1697.
 * Ib
 * Avendaño's Map with English translation.
 * II
 * Peten Itza in the Middle of the Eighteenth Century.
 * III
 * Lake Peten and Flores.
 * IV
 * Sketch (with English translation) of a Map of Yucatan, circa 1566, found with the Landa MS.
 * V
 * Sketch (with English translation) of another Map of Yucatan, circa 1566, found with the Landa MS.
 * VI
 * Map showing Entradas to Lake Peten.
 * }
 * IV
 * Sketch (with English translation) of a Map of Yucatan, circa 1566, found with the Landa MS.
 * V
 * Sketch (with English translation) of another Map of Yucatan, circa 1566, found with the Landa MS.
 * VI
 * Map showing Entradas to Lake Peten.
 * }
 * Map showing Entradas to Lake Peten.
 * }


text: Page:History of the Spanish Conquest of Yucatan and of the Itzas.pdf/23


text:
Page:History of the Spanish Conquest of Yucatan and of the Itzas.pdf/24

N general it may be said that the Maya culture occupied the peninsula of Yucatan, portions of the states of Tabasco and Chiapas in Mexico, Guatemala, and the northern part of Honduras. That branch of the Mayas who called themselves the Itzas and who form the chief subject of this work occupied the southern portion of Yucatan and the greater part, of what is now the Department of Peten in Guatemala.

A few decades ago it was the fashion to credit the aboriginal peoples of America with a civilization of enormous antiquity. But the whole trend of modern scientific investigation tends to prove that the American continent was one of the last parts of the world to be settled and that, at the time of the Spanish conquest, the aboriginal cultures were certainly not more than three thousand or so years old. Even this estimate should be understood to include centuries of migratory shifting; and centuries of development along lines which eventually led to the erection of the earlier types of high culture in Middle and South America. Roughly speaking, the time of Christ coincides with the period at which the earliest high cultures in this hemisphere began to flourish.

For the sake of convenience we shall follow the chronology suggested by Mr. Morley (1915) and divide the pre-Columbian history of the Maya race into eight periods. The first seven of these periods we shall discuss briefly in this opening


text:
Page:History of the Spanish Conquest of Yucatan and of the Itzas.pdf/25

2 chapter; the eighth will furnish the subject matter for the remainder of the book. The dates given should be regarded as merely approximate.

Before taking up our review of the first seven periods we must remind ourselves that the prehistoric cultures of Middle America have a certain unity, showing beyond doubt that they were all of a common origin. It is impossible to tell at what epoch the Maya became separate and distinct from the other highly cultured peoples scattered over Mexico and Central America. Fortunately, however, owing to the investigations in the Valley of Mexico, we have abundant material for the reconstruction of the sequence of cultures. Three successive strata of occupation have been found in the Valley of Mexico. The earliest of these, the Archaic, is also found in many other places throughout Mexico and Central America. There is some reason to suppose that this culture was at one time fairly uniform throughout the greater part of Middle America. The local developments seen in the Maya, the Zapotec, and the early Mexican cultures may have been the result of modifications of the Archaic culture. Above this Archaic stratum in the Valley of Mexico is found the Toltec or Teotihuacan culture. This is synchronous with late Maya of the sixth period on our table. Manifestations of its art are found in the latest buildings at Chichen Itza.

I. Migratory Period (?-200 A.D.). The two earliest dated Maya inscriptions that we have are those on the Tuxtla statuette and on the Leyden plate. (Morley, 1915, p. 194 ff.; Holmes, 1916.) The former is dated, in the Maya system of chronology, 8.6.2.4.17. (about 100 B.C.); the date on the latter


text:
Page:History of the Spanish Conquest of Yucatan and of the Itzas.pdf/26

Rh is 8.14.3.1.12. (about 50 A.D.). Although, as Mr. Morley points out, these are the earliest dates we know of from the Maya area, it is to be noted that they do not differ essentially from the more recent inscriptions. They ought, therefore, to be regarded as introductory to the historic period, and it may be assumed that they were themselves preceded by many decades of development during which the first attempts at writing were gradually elaborated until the extremely complex Maya hieroglyphics were evolved in the form in which we know them.

'''II. The Golden Age or Old Empire of the Maya''' (200-600 A.D.). This period extended, roughly, from 9.2.10.0.0. (210) to 10.2.0.0.0. In this time many cities rose, flourished, and fell. Of these Palenque, Yaxchilan, Piedras Negras, Tikal, Seibal, Quirigua, Copan, and Nakum are some of the more important. Like Seibal on the east and Piedras Negras and Yaxchilan on the west, Tikal and Nakum were not far from the Peten region to which our attention will be chiefly directed. Indeed, Lake Peten lies in what is almost the geographical center of the area formerly occupied by the


text:
Page:History of the Spanish Conquest of Yucatan and of the Itzas.pdf/27

4 Old Empire. It is significant, therefore, that Mr. Morley has found at the modern town of Flores (in Lake Peten) two stelae dated approximately 10.l.0.0.0. and 10.2.0.0.0. (580 and 600).

The various elaborate architectural features of the Old Empire cities have been fully examined by many writers, and it is, therefore, needless for us to speak of them except in the most general terms. One predominating feature of all the ruins is the excessive use of ornamentation. Because the country was devoid of any great natural elevations which would give an effective setting for their buildings, the people often used substructures of varying heights and superstructures of several sorts. If one may judge from the sculptures left by the inhabitants of the early cities, their life was mainly taken up with an extremely involved ritualistic religion which, in the hands of a priestly body, was at once the means by which they were ruled and the outlet for the artistic gifts which they undeniably had. Very probably the over-elaborate religion was responsible for the tremendous mass of detail to be seen in so many of the ruined cities. So great was the eagerness for space upon which to crowd ornamentation that an architectural feature which served no purpose other than that of affording more ample space for decoration was evolved. The roof-comb is found in a high degree of development at Yaxchilan and elsewhere. (Spinden, 1913, p. 112, fig. l48.) Sometimes, as at Tikal, this cumbersome construction was carried to such lengths that the area covered by walls was out of all natural proportion to that covered by rooms.

One can only conjecture what brought about the downfall of these ancient cities in which a very advanced culture once flourished. It is not impossible that the priesthood became so oppressive that an emigration took place; or, owing to a lack of proper agricultural knowledge, the fields probably became spent so that the people were forced to seek new homes; possibly also there was some sort of an invasion from the west or east. Any one or all of these causes may have brought about the succeeding period, one which lies within and at the end of the Golden Age.


text:
Page:History of the Spanish Conquest of Yucatan and of the Itzas.pdf/28

Rh '''III. The Colonization Period''' (450-700 A.D.). This period is chiefly notable for us because it marks the beginning of documentary history and because the Itzas are first specifically mentioned in connection with it.

About 450 Ziyan Caan or Bakhalal was built, to be occupied only some sixty years. (Spinden, 1913, Table 2; Brinton, 1882, Chr. I.) According to Chronicle V the use of the name Itza dates from the founding of Chichen Itza, an event which took place about 510. At this time there also occurred important changes in the calendar system, an event symbolized in the Chronicles by the phrase “Pop was set in order.”

There is, then, in this period of colonization, a well-defined migration northward. The ancient cities in the south did not die out at once, and we may suppose that the sixth century of our era was a time of great cultural activity. It is interesting to know that the old Maya culture and the Tiahuanaco culture (the two greatest American civilizations) were probably in part at least contemporaries. (Cf. Means, 1917.)

The Chronicles are vague and divergent on the question of how long the first occupation of Chichen ltza lasted. Chronicle I says 120 years; Chronicle II says 200; Chronicle III says 240. As two of the three important Chronicles place the length of occupation at 200 years or more, we may assume that it lasted from about 500 to 700 of our era.

To this period we may confidently attribute some of the structures at Chichen. It has been shown that the Casa de Monjas at Chichen underwent several periods of construction. It is what Mr. Thompson has called “Old Chichen,” however, that is most surely associated with the period we are now


text:
Page:History of the Spanish Conquest of Yucatan and of the Itzas.pdf/29

6. In that portion of the ruins Mr. Thompson found a lintel dated 10.2.9.1.9. (about 610). As the building in which the lintel was found is one of a group that is quite distinct from the rest of the ruins, it may be believed that they all date from the first occupation.

We have, of course, no satisfactory data from which to derive an opinion as to the territorial expansion of the kingdom ruled from Old Chichen (if, indeed, it was ruled from there). Spinden (1913, p. 201), however, has found ample reason for believing that Xcalumkin, Xlabpak, Sayil, Kabah, and Tabi were flourishing at this period. Briefly, the presence of a modified form of the “manikin scepter” and of the stela (both characteristic of the ancient cities) convinces him that all these places were erected before the influence of the Old Empire cities had died out.

'''IV. Transitional Period''' (700-1000 A.D.). The Maya-Itza stock now reëntered upon their migrations. They moved, about 700, to Chakanputum, where they stayed until about 950. The Chronicles all agree as to the length of time the Itzas were at Chakanputum. Of this site we know little beyond the fact that Cortes, when he visited it in 1519, found a large village there.

Just before the Itzas left Champoton, or perhaps just after, Uxmal was founded by Ahcuitok Tutul Xiu, who, according to the tradition, probably came from the west. The lords of this city were destined to have an important part to play in the history of the Itzas. About the year 1000 the cities of Uxmal, Chichen, and Mayapan formed a confederation which has been called the League of Mayapan. After three or four hundred years of unrest after the disintegration of the Old Empire a New Empire was about to begin its career.

V. Renaissance or League Period (1000-1200 A.D.). In the Golden Age or Old Empire the civilization of the Maya race had centered about Lake Peten, in the extreme south of the peninsula of Yucatan. In the time of the New Empire the old cities in the south were gradually forgotten and new ones, quite as remarkable, sprang up in the northern portion of the peninsula. Three cities probably shared the sovereign power,


text:
Page:History of the Spanish Conquest of Yucatan and of the Itzas.pdf/30

7 forming, by their alliance, the celebrated League of Mayapan. These cities were Uxmal, ruled by the Xiu family, Mayapan, possibly ruled by the Cocom This name, Cocom, will be brought to our attention later on, and it will be advisable for us to compare now the exceedingly confusing accounts of what the Cocom family was.

Brinton (1882, p. 165), in his introduction to the Book of Chilan Balam of Chumayel, says: “We have no longer to do with the reckoning of the subjects of the Xiu family who ruled at Mani, but with one which emanates from the priests of the Cocomes, who were hereditary masters of Chichen Itza.”

According to the Chronicle of Chac Xulub Chac, by Nahau Pech, there was a king named Ixcuat Cocom of Aké, who led the people of Chichen Itza from that place very late in their history, about eight years before the Spaniards touched at Campeche in 1516. (Brinton, 1882, p. 218.)

The Katunes of Maya History (Valentini, 1880, pp. 54, 86) say that “In the 8th Ahau the Governor of Chichen Itza was deposed because he murmured disrespectfully of Hunac-eel.” The 8th Ahau would be about 1422-1444.

Brasseur de Bourbourg (1858, vol. ii, p. 35) says that the Cocomes were the kings of Mayapan and that as they became more and more tyrannical so did the Tutul Xiu of Uxmal become more and more the champions of the people. He suggests that Hunac-eel was a Cocom, and he also speaks of the Lord of Chichen as being quite distinct from the Cocomes. Brasseur (cf. Lizana, 1893, p. 3) continues his account by saying that Chac Xib Chac, who was then reigning in Chichen, likewise became indignant at the cruelty of Hunac-eel (or Cocom). As a result of this seven Nahua chiefs were sent by Hunac-eel against Chac Xib Chac, whom they vanquished. With his power thus seemingly assured, Hunac-eel set about oppressing his Mexican allies, who appealed for help to the Tutul Xiu of Uxmal, with the result that the dynasty of Cocom was ruined (about 1440). One child of the last King of Mayapan, however, was absent at Xicalanco, and he lived to set up a new Cocom kingdom at Tibulon or Sotuta.

Molina Solis says (1896, p. li): “After the time of Hunac-eel, the Cocomes, descendants of an ancient and rich house of the Itzaes, one of whose members had made himself known as a man of valor in the last war, began to rule as lords of Mayapan. The Cocomes continued the policy of their predecessor....” According to this writer it was the Cocomes who called in the people from Mexico, in spite of whom they were overthrown. The only survivors of the massacre of the family were a young son of the last king (as has been said) and a distant relative named Cocom Cat, who escaped to the town of Tiab. Molina's authority for this statement is the Relación of Juan Bote, which he quotes (p. liii). After these events the Mexican mercenaries seized the province of Canul or Ahcanul. (Landa. 1864, p. 55.) The Cheles founded a religious state at Izamal; the Cocomes withdrew to Sotuta and the Xius to Mani. All family, and Chichen Itza. The latter is, of course, our chief concern; but as it has been often described we will only say that it may have had, at one time, as many as one hundred thousand inhabitants and that the culture that throve there was of a high order.


text:
Page:History of the Spanish Conquest of Yucatan and of the Itzas.pdf/31

8 The political features of the League of Mayapan are difficult to describe with accuracy. Each of the three great cities had its ruling family. Below these was an order of personages called batab, each of whom held and ruled a portion of the country. The batab stood in much the same relation to the ruler of the large city as a medieval baron to the king. Doubtless each batab, ruling from his own city, had a hierarchy of officers under him. Probably Labna, Kabah, Chacmultun, Sayil, Hochob, Aké, Tihoo, Acanceh, Tinum, Kewick, and all the other cities in northern Yucatan were once seats of batabs who were more or less intimately connected with the ruler of one of the three great cities. There was ample machinery for the administration of justice, and crimes were fittingly punished. Such positions as the Halach Uinic (Real Man, i.e., king) of Mayapan and the office of batab of some lesser city usually were inherited according to the rules of primogeniture, but this custom could, for sufficient cause, be set aside.

'''VI. The Period of the Toltec Mercenaries (1200-1450 A.D.).''' However much in the dark we may be as to the details of the


text:
Page:History of the Spanish Conquest of Yucatan and of the Itzas.pdf/32

Rh events which brought about the downfall of the League of Mayapan, we are in no doubt as to the main causes of its disruption. Speaking in very general terms, the situation was as follows. The ruler of Mayapan seems to have been the trouble maker. Becoming ambitious to extend his power over the other Halach Uinicil, he called in a number of mercenaries from Mexico. With the aid of these allies the Halach Uinic of Mayapan made himself master of the whole northern part of Yucatan, but he had to pay a heavy price in the shape of giving Chichen Itza to his allies.

During all these troubles the Xius at Uxmal seem to have preserved a certain amount of independence; certainly as time went on and as the power of Mayapan became more and more tyrannically oppressive, the Xius gradually became the champions of the oppressed. It was but natural that those of the Itza batabs who still remained at Chichen should resent the alien dominion placed over them. If we may believe Chronicle I, they made at least one attempt to get back their old power. The discontent of the Itza element of the population, a discontent always shared in by the Xius at Uxmal, continued to increase during two hundred and fifty years. In that period Chichen Itza, under the influence of its Toltec rulers, witnessed its final period of architectural development. The Ball Court, the Castillo, the Group of the Columns, and other buildings were erected under Toltec influence. It is easy to recognize and identify the structures of this period because they are usually distinguished by such features as serpent columns, tlaxtli or ball courts, Atlantean supports, feathered monsters, and speech scrolls.

About 1450 the inevitable revolution against the tyranny of the Toltecs took place, and with it civilization of the highest type came to an end.

'''VII. Disintegration''' (1450-1541 A.D.). Centralized feudalistic government destroyed, Yucatan fell into a sad plight. Where one or two strong states had been before there were now a score of weak ones. In the wars of this period the once great cities of the League were destroyed and abandoned; new and far less advanced cities were founded to take their place. The


text:
Page:History of the Spanish Conquest of Yucatan and of the Itzas.pdf/33

10 remnant of the Xiu family retired to Mani; the Comom became lords of Zotuta. Itzamal seems to have become a sacerdotal state under the dominion of the Chel family. The Itzas, in whom our chief interest lies, probably withdrew far to the south and founded their power in the region about Lake Peten. Brinton (1882, p. 25) gives this list of the small independent states found by the Spaniards:

In number 14 we recognize the Itzas of Peten. The close of this period of Disintegration (period VII) ushers in the eighth period, which will take up the remainder of our attention.

NOTE

COGOLLUDO'S ACCOUNT OF THE EARLY HISTORY OF THE MAYAS AND OF SOME OF THEIR CUSTOMS

It is well to present the account of the pre-Columbian history of the Mayas as given by Cogolludo. It will be seen to differ greatly from the more scientific view just given, but it presents points of interest. It will be found in lib. iv, cap. 3. “Neither from the peoples who populated this Kingdom of Yucatan nor from their ancient Histories have I been able to find more than I shall say here. In some writings which those who first learned how to write left behind them, and which are in the native idiom (which is still used among the Indians), it says that some of the people came from the East and some from the West. With those who were from the Occident was one who, as it were, was a Priest of theirs, called Zamna; and they say that he it was who gave the names by


text:
Page:History of the Spanish Conquest of Yucatan and of the Itzas.pdf/34

Rh which they are called in that tongue to all the Ports of the Sea, points of land, estuaries, coasts, and all the regions, sites, mountains (forests), and all the places of this entire land; and certain it is that it is a thing worthy of admiration if it was so, for such a division did he make of everything in order that each spot might be known by its own name that there is scarcely a palm of land which has not a name in their tongue. The opinion that the settlers came to this land from the Occident (although they do not know who they were nor how they came) is in accord with what Padre Torquemada says in his Monarquia Indiana. (Lib. iii, cap. 13.) This is, That the Teochichimecas, after that terrible battle with the Huexotzincas, remained lords of the territory of Tlaxcalan, and made peace with the other nations on account of the fame of that victory of theirs. These Teochichimecas must needs found their towns and distribute their lands in such a manner that they were constantly increasing their power and gradually occupying the country in such a way that in a little more than 300 years they had spread through the greater part of New Spain from one coast on the North to the other on the South, a territory which includes all the inland regions which are to the East, and especially those of this province of Yucathan as far as the province of Hibueras or Honduras. From this it seems that the Yucatecs are descended from Chichimec and Aculhua families which, coming from the West by way of the stopping-places told of by Father Torquemada in his first books, settled New Spain.

“If from the Orient came other peoples who settled in this land, there is among the people now there neither tradition nor writing, telling with certainty from whence they came nor what people they were, although, however, it is said (by some) that they came from the Island of Cuba. Difficulty arises now, for some came from some regions and others from very different ones, yet all speak a very ancient tongue, nor has there been any information saying that any other has existed in the land. But this might have been occasioned by some tribes being more numerous than others, or by reason of war, or by trade and communication which, by strengthening the relations of the one race with the other, may have caused the idiom, usages, and customs of those who were of the greatest number to prevail over and obliterate those of the less numerous people. From the very differences which exist between the Yucatec tongue and the Mexican, it seems that the Settlers of this land must have been they who came from the East; and they may even have been the most ancient people since the Indian Zamna who came with them was he who first gave names to the places and lands, as has been told already, for if the others had been the first, they would have done so. Padre Lizana says the opposite because, first calling attention to the fact that these Indians call the East Cenial, and the West, Nohnial, the first of which signifies Small Descent and the second Large Descent, he says: 'And it is a fact that they relate that from the East descended upon this land a small race and from the West a large one; and by that phrase do they understand little and much. East and West, few from the one, many from the other.' The Reader will judge which seems to him the better.

“This land of Yucathan, which the natives of it call Maya, was governed for a long time by a Supreme Lord, and the last descendant of these Lords was Tutul Xiu, he who was Lord of Mani and its neighborhood when, voluntarily, he came to do homage, making himself a friend of the Spaniards on the day of San Ildefonso, 1541, as has been told. Thus it appears that there has ever


text:
Page:History of the Spanish Conquest of Yucatan and of the Itzas.pdf/35

12 been in the land a Monarchical government which, according to the most weighty opinion among Writers, is the best for the conservation of Realms. This King had for the capital of his Monarchy a very populous City called Mayapan (from which must have been derived the name of this land, Maya); this capital, through wars and discords between the King and his vassals, and because justice lay only in the greatest power among them (unhappy the times in which the Supreme Lord has not a power equal to his justice), this government came to an end; many of the Lords and Caciques rebelled, each dominating the greatest amount of land he could, and being always engaged in continuous wars; thus the Spaniards found them (divided into estates, like Dukes and Counts, albeit without recognizing any Superior). When Yucathan was left entirely without a Supreme Lord, then the ambition of private persons who united their forces and banded together to effect their will, resulted in their ordering the destruction of the City of Mayapan, Capital of the Kingdom; they demolished it about the year of Our Lord fourteen hundred and twenty (according to the computation of the ages [Ahaus?] of the Indians) and about the 260th year of their establishment. By this rebellion he who was King and Supreme Lord of all Yucathan was left only with the Lordship of Mani whither he retired upon the destruction of the City of Mayapan which was where now are to be seen the ruins of buildings, near the Village of Telchaquillo. They left him with this small power partly because of the fidelity of those vassals who did not deny him obedience due, and partly because of the permission given by the rebels who knew that he had not now more strength than any of themselves....

“When the Lords of the City of Mayapan were ruling all the land was tributary to them. The tribute was in small cotton mantles, native fowl, some cacao in those places where it was got, and a resin which served as incense in the Temples, and all told it was very small in quantity. All the citizens and dwellers who lived within the City of Mayapan were free from tribute; and in the city all the nobles of the land had houses; and by the year 1582 (in which was written the relation from which all this is drawn) it is said that all those who were held to be Lords and nobles of Yucathan still remembered, in that place, their old lots. Now with the change of government and because of the slight estimation in which they are held... the descendants of Tutul Xiu, who was King and by right natural Lord, if they do not work with their hands at labor, have nothing to eat, and toil does not now seem to them unworthy of consideration. In ancient times, the nobles of Mayapan were wont to serve in the Temples of the Idols in the ceremonies and feasts which were by right assigned to them, assisting by day and by night; and though many themselves had vassals they recognized the Supreme Lord, and served him in his wars.

“They who dwelt without the City and in the rest of the Province were vassals and tributaries, not being of those who had houses there in the capacity of land-holders; but they were greatly favored by their Lords because they themselves served them as Advocates looking out for their welfare with great solicitude whenever anyone asked that it be so. They (the vassals and tributaries) were not obliged to live in assigned Villages since they had license to live and to marry with whomsoever they wished; the object of this was to ensure multiplication, for they said that if the people were hampered, there could not fail to result a diminution. Lands were held in common, and so between the Villages there were no boundaries or landmarks to divide them;


text:
Page:History of the Spanish Conquest of Yucatan and of the Itzas.pdf/36

Rh although it is true that between one Province and another because of wars, save some fields for sowing fruit-bearing trees and land which had been bought for some purpose of improvement [incomplete sentence in the Spanish]. Also the salt-works which are on the Shores of the Sea were held in common, and those who dwelt nearest to them were wont to pay tribute to the Lords of Mayapan with salt which they had got....

“The Lords were absolute in power and caused their orders to be executed with severity. There were Caciques placed in the Villages, or some other leading person to hear suits and public demands. This officer received the litigants or disputants, heard the cause of their coming, and, if the matter were a grave one, talked it over with the Lord. In order to try the case, other Ministers were appointed who were like Advocates and Constables and who always attended in the presence of the judges.... They were not in the habit of writing down the lawsuits, although they had characters (of which many are to be seen in ruins of their buildings). All was set forth in words by means of the Ministers before referred to, and what was then and there determined remained valid and permanent without either of the parties venturing to work against it. But if the affair which was to be tried concerned many, they had a great meeting of all the interested together; then the gist was communicated, upon which followed the decision of the matter.

“In sales and contracts they had neither writings to oblige them to keep their word nor promissory notes with which to give satisfaction, but still the contract remained valid provided only that the parties drank together publicly before witnesses. This was particularly the usage in sales of slaves or of cacao-lands, and even today (it is said) they use it still among themselves in the sale of horses and cattle. The debtor never denied the debt even though he could not pay at once; but all was made certain by the debtor's confessing his debt, for the wife, children and relatives of the debtor would pay the debt after his death....

“in the wars which because of their ambition they made upon one another, some were taken prisoners, those of the conquered who were taken remaining slaves. In this situation they were very rigorous, treating the enslaved with asperity, and making use of them in all sorts of bodily labor.

“In food-supplies there were no bargains, because they were always fixed at one price, save Maize, which was wont to go up when crops were poor, but it never passed what it is now worth, a real or so, the load (which is half a Castillian fanega).

“The money that they used was little bells and jingles of copper, which had value according to their size, and some red shells, which were brought from far away from this land, which they strung, after the manner of rosaries. Also they used as money grains of cacao, and of those they made the most use in commerce, and certain precious stones and discs of copper brought from New Spain which they exchanged for other things, as happens elsewhere....”

Cogolludo (lib. iv, cap. 5) continues with the following account of the customs:

“For display and on gala occasions, they used to scarify themselves with certain small points of stone on the breasts, arms and thighs; they even went so far as to draw blood, and in the wounds they rubbed a black earth or powdered carbon. When they scarified with these knives the scars remained, shaped like Eagles, serpents, birds and animals, and they perforated the nose


text:
Letters of Julian/Letter 51

51. To the community of the Jews
[Late 362 or early 363, Antioch] In times past, by far the most burdensome thing in the yoke of your slavery has been the fact that you were subjected to unauthorised ordinances and had to contribute an untold amount of money to the accounts of the treasury. Of this I used to see many instances with my own eyes, and I have learned of more, by finding the records which are preserved against you. Moreover, when a tax was about to be levied on you again I prevented it, and compelled the impiety of such obloquy to cease here; and I threw into the fire the records against you that were stored in my desks; so that it is no longer possible for anyone to aim at you such a reproach of impiety. My brother Constantius of honoured memory was not so much responsible for these wrongs of yours as were the men who used to frequent his table, barbarians in mind, godless in soul. These I seized with my own hands and put them to death by thrusting them into the pit, that not even any memory of their destruction might still linger amongst us. And since I wish that you should prosper yet more, I have admonished my brother Iulus, your most venerable patriarch, that the levy which is said to exist among you should be prohibited, and that no one is any longer to have the power to oppress the masses of your people by such exactions; so that everywhere, during my reign, you may have security of mind, and in the enjoyment of peace may offer more fervid prayers for my reign to the Most High God, the Creator, who has deigned to crown me with his own immaculate right hand. For it is natural that men who are distracted by any anxiety should be hampered in spirit, and should not have so much confidence in raising their hands to pray; but that those who are in all respects free from care should rejoice with their whole hearts and offer their suppliant prayers on behalf of my imperial office to Mighty God, even to him who is able to direct my reign to the noblest ends, according to my purpose. This you ought to do, in order that, when I have successfully concluded the war with Persia, I may rebuild by my own efforts the sacred city of Jerusalem, which for so many years you have longed to see inhabited, and may bring settlers there, and, together with you, may glorify the Most High God therein.

title: Letters of Julian/Letter 51


text:
Page:O. F. Owen's Organon of Aristotle Vol. 1 (1853).djvu/365

 genus, which have differences from belonging to other things, or from subsisting differently, e. g. why is there an echo, or why is there a reflection, and why a rainbow? for all these are the same problem in genus, (for all are reflection,) but they differ in species. Other problems differ from the medium being contained under another medium, as why does the Nile have a greater flow during the fall of the month? because the fall of the month is more winterly: but why is the fall more winterly? because the moon fails, for thus do these subsist towards each other.

Chapter 16
one may perhaps doubt concerning cause and that of which it is the cause, whether when the effect is inherent, the cause also is inherent, as if the leaves fall from a tree, or there is an eclipse, will there also be the cause of the eclipse, or of the fall of the leaves? As if the cause of this, is the having broad leaves, but of an eclipse the interposition of the earth, for if this be not so, something else will be the cause of these, and if the cause is present, at the same time the effect will be, thus if the earth be interposed, there is an eclipse, or if a tree have broad leaves, it sheds them. But if this be so, they would be simultaneous, and demonstrated through each other, for let the leaves to fall be A, the having broad leaves B, and a vine C, if then A is present with B, (for whatever has broad leaves sheds them,) but B is present with C, for every vine has broad leaves, A is present with C, and every vine sheds its leaves, but the cause is B,


text:
Page:O. F. Owen's Organon of Aristotle Vol. 1 (1853).djvu/366

 the middle. We may also show that the vine has broad leaves, from its shedding them, for if D be what has broad leaves, E to shed the leaf, F a vine, E then is present with F, (for every vine sheds its leaf,) but D with E, (for every thing which sheds its leaf, has broad leaves,) every vine then has broad leaves, the cause is, its shedding them. Nevertheless if they cannot be the cause of each other, (since cause is prior to that of which it is the cause,) the cause of an eclipse indeed is the interposition of the earth, but an eclipse is not the cause of the earth interposing. If then the demonstration by cause (shows) why a thing is, but that which is not through cause, that it is, one knows indeed that the earth is interposed, but why it is, he does not know. Yet that an eclipse is not the cause of the interposition, but this of an eclipse, is plain, since in the definition of an eclipse, the interposition of the earth is inherent, so that evidently that is known through this, but not this through that.

Or may there be many causes of one thing? for if the same thing may be predicated of many primary, let A be present with B a first, and with C another first, and these with D E, A then will be present with D E, but the cause why it is with D will be B, and C the cause why it is with E, hence from the existence of the cause there is necessarily the


text:
Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition/Prussia, Rhenish

PRUSSIA, (German, Rheinpreussen, Rheinprovinz, Rheinland), the most westerly province of the kingdom of Prussia, is bounded on the N. by Holland, on the E. by Westphalia, Hesse-Nassau, and Hesse-Darmstadt, on the S.E. by the Rhenish Palatinate, on the S. and S.W. by Lorraine, and on the W. by Luxemburg, Belgium, and Holland. The small district of Wetzlar in the midst of the province of Hesse also belongs to Rhenish Prussia, which, on the other hand, surrounds the Oldenburg principality of Birkenfeld. The extent of the province is 10,420 square miles, or nearly twice that of the kingdom of Saxony; its extreme length, from north to south, is nearly 200 miles and its greatest breadth is just under 90. It includes about 200 miles of the course of the Rhine, which forms the eastern frontier of the province from Bingen to Coblentz and then flows through it in a north-westerly direction.

The southern and larger half of Rhenish Prussia, belonging geologically to the Devonian formations of the lower Rhine, is hilly. On the left bank are the elevated plateaus of the Hundsrück and the Eifel, separated from each other by the deep valley of the Moselle, while on the right bank are the spurs of the Westerwald and the Sauerland, the former reaching the river in the picturesque group known as the Seven Mountains. The highest hill in the province is the Walderbeskopf (2670 feet) in the Hochwald, and there are several other summits above 2000 feet on the left bank, while on the right there are few which attain a height of 1600 feet. Most of the hills are covered with trees, but the Eifel is a barren and bleak plateau, with numerous traces of volcanic agency, and is continued towards the north-west by the moorlands of the Hohe Venn. To the north of a line drawn from Aix-la-Chapelle to Bonn the province is flat, and marshy districts occur near the Dutch frontier. The climate varies considerably with the configuration of the surface. That of the northern lowlands and of the sheltered valleys is the mildest and most equable in Prussia, with a mean annual temperature of 50° Fahr., while on the hills of the Eifel the mean does not exceed 44°. The annual rainfall varies in the different districts from 18 to 32 inches. Almost the whole province belongs to the basin of the Rhine, but a small district in the north-west is drained by affluents of the Meuse. Of the numerous tributaries which join the Rhine within the province, the most important are the Nahe, the Moselle, and the Ahr on the left bank, and the Sieg, the Wupper, the Ruhr, and the Lippe on the right. The only lake of any size is the Laacher See, the largest of the “maare” or extinct crater lakes of the Eifel.

Of the total area of the Rhenish province about 46.5 per cent. is occupied by arable land, 17 per cent. by meadows and pastures, and 31 per cent. by forests. Little except oats and potatoes can be raised on the high-lying plateaus in the south of the province, but the river-valleys and the northern lowlands are extremely fertile. The great bulk of the soil is in the hands of small proprietors, and this is alleged to have had the effect of somewhat retarding the progress of scientific agriculture. The usual cereal crops are, however, all grown with success, and tobacco, hops, flax, rape, hemp, and beetroot (for sugar) are cultivated for commercial purposes. Large quantities of fruit are also produced. The vine-culture occupies a space of 30,000 acres, about half of which are in the valley of the Moselle, a third in that of the Rhine itself, and the rest mainly on the Nahe and the Ahr. The choicest varieties of Rhine wine, however, such as Johannisberger and Steinberger, are produced higher up the river, beyond the limits of the Rhenish province. In the hilly districts more than half the surface is sometimes occupied by forests, and large plantations of oak are formed for the use of the bark in tanning. Considerable herds of cattle are reared on the rich pastures of the lower Rhine, but the number of sheep in the province is comparatively small, and is, indeed, not greatly in excess of that of the goats. The wooded hills are well stocked with deer, and a stray wolf occasionally finds its way from the forests of the Ardennes into those of the Hundsrück. The salmon fishery of the Rhine is very productive and trout abound in the mountain streams. (Compare the agricultural tables under, p. 14 supra.)

The great mineral wealth of the Rhenish province probably furnishes its most substantial claim to the title of the “richest jewel in the crown of Prussia.” Besides parts of the Carboniferous measures of the Saar and the Ruhr, it also contains important deposits of coal near Aix-la-Chapelle. Iron occurs abundantly near Coblentz, the Bleiberg in the Eifel possesses an apparently

supply of lead, and zinc is found near Cologne and Aix-la-Chapelle. The mineral products of the district also include lignite, copper, manganese, vitriol, lime, gypsum, volcanic stones (used for mill-stones), and slates. In 1882 the total value of the minerals raised in the province was £5,460,000, or nearly one-third of the produce of Prussia; by far the most important item is coal, the output of which was upwards of 15,000,000 tons, valued at £4,400,000. Of the numerous mineral springs the best known are those of Aix-la-Chapelle and Kreuznach.

The mineral resources of Rhenish Prussia, coupled with its favourable situation and the facilities of transit afforded by its great waterway, have made it the most important manufacturing district in Germany. The industry is mainly concentrated round two chief centres, Aix-la-Chapelle and Düsseldorf (with the valley of the Wupper), while there are naturally few manufactures in the hilly districts of the south or the marshy flats of the north. In the forefront stand the metallic industries, the total produce of which was valued in 1882 at £5,200,000. The foundries produced upwards of a million tons of iron, besides zinc, lead, copper, and other metals. The largest iron and steel works are at Essen (including Krupp's cannon-foundry), Oberhausen, Duisburg, Düsseldorf, and Cologne, while cutlery and other small metallic wares are extensively made at Solingen, Remscheid, and Aix-la-Chapelle. The cloth of Aix-la-Chapelle and the silk of Crefeld form important articles of export. The chief industries of Elberfeld-Barmen and the valley of the Wupper are cotton-weaving, calico-printing, and the manufacture of turkey red and other dyes. Linen is largely made at Gladbach, leather at Malmedy, glass in the Saar district, and beetroot sugar near Cologne. Though the Rhineland is par excellence the country of the vine, no less than 52,000,000 gallons of beer were brewed in the province in 1882-83, equivalent to an annual consumption of fifty-one quarts per head of population; distilleries are also numerous, and large quantities of sparkling Moselle are made at Coblentz, chiefly for exportation to England. Commerce is greatly aided by the navigable rivers, a very extensive network of railways, and the excellent roads constructed during the French régime. The imports consist mainly of raw material for working up in the factories of the district, while the principal exports are coal, fruit, wine, dyes, cloth, silk, and other manufactured articles of various descriptions.

The population of Rhenish Prussia in 1880 was 4,074,000, including 2,944,186 Roman Catholics, 1,077,173 Protestants, and 43,694 Jews. The Roman Catholics muster strongest on the left bank, while on the right bank about half the population is Protestant. The distribution of the confessions is, however, somewhat sporadic, owing to the varied histories of the constituent parts of the province. The great bulk of the population is of Teutonic stock, and about a quarter of a million are of Flemish blood. On the north-west frontier reside about 12,000 Walloons, who speak French or Walloon as their native tongue. The Rhine province is the most thickly populated part of Prussia, the general average being 390 persons per square mile, while in the government district of Düsseldorf the proportion rises to 754. The province contains a greater number of large towns than any other province in Prussia, and 62.5 of the population is returned as urban. Upwards of half the population are supported by industrial and commercial pursuits, and barely a quarter by agriculture. There is a university of good standing at Bonn, and the success of the elementary education is borne witness to by the fact that in 1883 only 0.19 per cent, of the Rhenish recruits were unable to read and write. For purposes of administration the province is divided into the five districts

of Coblentz, Düsseldorf, Cologne, Aix-la-Chapelle, and Treves; Coblentz is the official capital, though Cologne is the largest and most important town. In the greater part of the province the Code Napoléon, introduced under the French régime, is still in force. Being a frontier province the Rhineland is strongly garrisoned, and the Rhine is guarded by the four strong fortresses of Cologne with Deutz, Coblentz with Ehrenbreitstein, Wesel, and Saar-louis. In the Prussian parliament the province of the Rhine is represented by twenty-seven members in the upper house and eighty-two in the lower.


text:
Letters of Julian/Letter 52

==52. To Libanius == [Winter 362, Antioch] Since you have forgotten your promise — at any rate three days have gone by and the philosopher Priscus has not come himself but has sent a letter to say that he still delays — I remind you of your debt by demanding payment. The thing you owe is, as you know, easy for you to pay and very pleasant for me to receive. So send your discourse and your "divine counsel," and do it promptly, in the name of Hermes and the Muses, for I assure you, in these three days you have worn me out, if indeed the Sicilian poet speaks the truth when he says, "Those who long grow old in a day." And if this be true, as in fact it is, you have trebled my age, my good friend. I have dictated this to you in the midst of public business. For I was not able to write myself because my hand is lazier than my tongue. Though indeed my tongue also has come to be somewhat lazy and inarticulate from lack of exercise. Farewell, brother, most dear and most beloved!

title: Letters of Julian/Letter 52


text:
Letters of Julian/Letter 53

53. To Libanius
[362, Winter at Antioch] You have requited Aristophanes for his piety towards the gods and his devotion to yourself by changing and transforming what was formerly a reproach against him so that it redounds to his honour, and not for to-day only but for the future also, since the malicious charges of Paul and the verdict of So-and-so have no force compared with words written by you. For their calumnies were detested even while they flourished, and perished along with their perpetrators, whereas your speeches are not only prized by genuine Hellenes to-day but will still be prized in future times, unless I am mistaken in my verdict. For the rest, you shall judge whether you have convinced, or rather converted, me on behalf of Aristophanes. I now agree not to believe that he is too weak to resist pleasure and money. What point would I not yield to the most philosophic and truth-loving of orators? Naturally you will proceed to ask me why, in that case, I do not alter his unhappy lot for the better and blot out the disgrace that attaches to him on account of his ill fortune. "Two walking together," as the proverb says, namely, you and I, must take counsel. And you have the right, not only to advise that we ought to assist a man who has honoured the gods so straightforwardly, but also as to how it ought to be done. Indeed, you did hint at this in an obscure way. But it is perhaps better not to write about such matters, but to talk it over together. Farewell, brother, most dear and most beloved!

I read yesterday almost all your speech before breakfast, and after breakfast, before resting, I gave myself up to reading the remainder. Happy man to be able to speak so well, or rather to have such ideas! O what a discourse! what wit! what wisdom! what analysis! what logic! what method! what openings! what diction! what symmetry! what structure!

title: Letters of Julian/Letter 53


text:
Page:Public General Statutes 1896.djvu/521

A.D. 1896.] See (c. 30); (c 44).

See (c. 28, Part IV.); (c. 41).

See (c. 28, Part. II.); (c. 36, s. 8).

To continue Various Expiring Laws. 39. U.K.

See—

To grant certain Duties of Customs and Inland Revenue, to alter other Duties, to amend the Law relating to Customs and Inland Revenue, and to make provision for the financial arrangements of the year. Ch. 28. U.K.

§1. Tea. 2,3. Beer. 4. Spirits. 5,6 Tabacco. 7. Cocoa.

8,9. Addition to excise duty and drawback on beer. 10. Provision as to rice and prepared maize or corn used in brewing. 11. Prohibition against possession of sugar and other substances by dealers in and retailers of beer.

12. Extension of 54 & 55 Vict. c. 89. s. 113 to certain other corporations and companies. 13. Extension of 54 & 55 Vict c. 39. s. 116 as to composition on policies.

14. Exception to passing of property on enlargement of interest of settlor. 15. Reverter of property to disposer. 16,17. Estate duty on annuities and on fractions of one hundred pounds. 18. Interest upon estate duty and other death duties. 19. Incidence of settlement estate duty. 20. Objects of national, scientific, or historic interest.


text:
Page:History of the Spanish Conquest of Yucatan and of the Itzas.pdf/37

14 as well.... The Cupules, who are the people of the territory of the Town of Valladolid, used this practice a great deal.

“In the times of their heathenry, as now, they danced and sang after the manner of the Mexicans, and they used to have, as indeed they still do have, a chief Singer (or Chanter) who intones, and who appoints what they shall sing; and him they venerate and reverence, giving him an honorable seat in Church, and at their assemblies and weddings. They call him Holpop, and in his charge are the kettle-drums or Tuncules and other musical instruments, such as the flutes, little trumpets, tortoise-shells, and others that they used. The Tuncul is of thick wood, and there are some so large that they can be heard at a distance of two leagues to leeward. To the accompaniment of these instruments they sing their fables and old legends; all this will be reformed, or rather, the Religious have already done so in many places, giving the Indians Histories of Saints and some of the Mysteries of the Faith to sing, at least at public dances, Easter celebrations, and festivities, so that the ancient times will be forgotten.

“They have Babblers [Farfante-babbler, boaster; may mean jester, buffoon] who repeat fables and ancient Histories, which I am certain would be well done away with, or at least the costumes in which they are represented, because it appears that they are like those of their Heathen Priests; and when there is no worse harm than the preservation among them of that memory, it appears a very pernicious thing, for it inclines them all the more to the idolatrous practices which they indulge in when wearing the costume; but every one will have his own opinion in this matter, conformable, more or less, to what his observation has taught him. The babblers are apt to be graceful at mottoes and in the witty sayings which they tell to their elders and Judges if they are over-rigourous, ambitious, avaricious, laying before them the events that have taken place and even that which concerns the officer's own duties. They thus speak to the officers' very faces, and sometimes they rebuke them with a single word. But he who would understand them must be a great linguist and must listen well. They are very dangerous, these representations, when they are held at night and in the Indians' own houses. For God knows what goes on there, and at the very least many of them end up in drunkenness. They call these Farfantes Balzam, and they apply the word metaphorically to him who is talkative and scurrilous; and in their representations they mimic birds.

“They held, and still do hold, banquets on the occasion of weddings and betrothals, using up in one day many turkeys that they have been breeding for a whole year. Those who are leaving the office of Alcalde entertain those who are entering it, on the pain of disgrace, and on election nights there is much drunkenness.

“The Indians of this land were and are very dextrous with the bow and arrows, and so they are mighty huntsmen, and they grow dogs so that they may fetch deer, wild boar, badgers, Tigers, some little Lions, rabbits, armadillos, iguanas, and other animals. They shoot with their arrows peacocks [sic], some birds they call faysanes [pheasants], and many others.

“At present they are great imitators of all the different sorts of handiwork that are made, and so they learn all the trades with ease. There are many Indians in their villages, beside those who live in the City and in the Towns, who are great workers as smiths, locksmiths, bridlemakers, shoemakers,


text:
Page:History of the Spanish Conquest of Yucatan and of the Itzas.pdf/38

Rh, wood-carvers, sculptors, saddlers, tradesmen who make many curious things out of shell, bricklayers, stonecutters, tailors, painters, and so on. What causes wonder is that there are many Indians who work at four or six trades where a Spaniard would have but one... but with that almost innate coolness for work they supply their wants and turn out good work, which they sell more cheaply than the Spaniards do, so that those tradesmen who go to Yucathan fare badly at their trades; so there are but few of them, and they seek other means of earning a livelihood.

“They wear clothes of very white cotton, of which they make shirts, breeches, and certain mantles a vara and a half square which they call tilmas or hayantes. These can be made to serve as capes by drawing the two corners up on the shoulder and making a knot; indeed, very many people use ones made out of somewhat coarse woven wool, and even many of stuffs brought from Spain, such as damasks and other silks. Some use jackets, and many wear shoes and hempe sandals. The usual custom, however, is to go barefoot, especially in their own houses and fields, but the opposite is true of some Caciques and leading men, and of women. Most of the men wear hats of straw or palm-leaves, and nowadays many buy felt hats. The women use Uaipiles, which is a garment that falls from the throat to the middle of the leg, with an opening at the top, where the head goes, and two others at the top of the sides for the arms, which are covered halfway down. Because this garment is not tied in at the waist, it also serves as a shirt. From the waist to the feet is another garment called Pic, and it is like petticoats and goes under the outer garment. Most of these are worked with blue and red thread, which makes them sightly. If a Spanish woman is seen in this dress it looks, on her, most improper. Little Indian girls who are growing up with Spanish women become great embroiderers, seamstresses, and patchers, and they make things that are sold at large prices and much esteemed.

“For Sundays and Feast-days when they go to Mass, and when they are to be confessed, both men and women have cleaner and neater clothes, which they keep for this. Other customs and things of theirs will be learned through the laws that have been given to remedy them, which will be related in the Fifth Book.

“There were Indians in the past days of their ancestors who had larger bodies than those now common, bodies which were found in the sepulchres of this land and which had gigantic stature. In 1647 in the village of Vecal, on the royal road of Campeche, Padre Fray Juan de Carrión (now Provincial Commissioner for the next General Chapter) ordered his Indians to make an arbor for a reception he was to hold. They had just set up the sticks with which it was to be made when the tools hit upon a very large sepulchre made of flag-stones placed one over another without any peculiarities of carving whatever. The Indians ran away from it and went to call the Padre, who, on arriving, ordered them to take out whatever was in the sepulchre. The Indians did not want to do this, saying that it was prohibited for them to touch anything of that sort. So the Padre, with the aid of a small boy, got out the bones of a man of formidable size. There were in the sepulchre three bowls of very fine pottery having three hollow balls in place of feet, and there was a small black box of what appeared to be jasper. The Padre burned the bones, threw them away, and filled up the hole, rebuking the Indians for not wishing to touch it, on the plea that it was forbidden to them to do so....”


text:
Page:History of the Spanish Conquest of Yucatan and of the Itzas.pdf/39

HE Significance of the Itzas. The dates of the Itza dominance over the region around Tayasal are roughly those given above. Although the Spaniards became a factor in the lives of the Itzas about 1525, their presence does not alter the fact that this tribe was so powerful as to be able to preserve its independence for a long time. The Itzas may be considered as presenting, in diminished form, all the more important political and social conditions that had formerly characterized the great Maya states in the northern part of the peninsula. We will now study these conditions so as to understand better the problems the Spanish conquerors were called upon to meet and to solve later on. In spite of the proximity of the Spaniards, it is doubtful whether the Itza changed much during the two hundred and fifty years they occupied the Peten or Tayasal region.

The Location of Peten or Tayasal. The Itza stronghold was located at Peten or Tayasal. The present city of Flores, located on a small island in the Lake of Peten, is sometimes thought to be the site of ancient Tayasal. Others think that Tayasal was really on the peninsula north of Flores. This latter opinion is held by Mr. Morley and Dr. Tozzer, who have been on the spot. The former believes that the lake was formerly higher than now, which would explain how the present peninsula, formerly an island, attained its present condition. The island of Flores is scarcely more than half a mile in diameter; Avendaño says that Tayasal was half a league long. The


text:
Page:History of the Spanish Conquest of Yucatan and of the Itzas.pdf/40

Rh reader is urged to compare Plates II and III for the purpose of seeing how the modern appearance of Tayasal or Peten is different from its appearance a few centuries ago. As visitors to Tayasal usually either came or left by way of Tipu, the distance from Tayasal to the shore which they generally traveled was that from the village to the eastern end of the lake, a journey often said to be six leagues in length, which is approximately correct. Perhaps the most important piece of evidence is that given by Avendaño's sketch map (Pls. Ia, Ib). He gives three cayos or islands in the lake. They are arranged in such a way that the Cayo Grande (Tayasal) is to the east; just northwest of it is Otro Cayo (Another Cayo). I believe that after the general level of the lake fell these two cayos were united and formed the present peninsula. Flores is on the cayo shown by Avendaño as just south and east of these two. Maler, who is among those who have used the name Tayasal, says that the name means "in the midst of green waters."

Description of Peten and its Surroundings. We will now give Padre Avendaño's account of the region occupied by the Itzas and ruled by their king, Canek: "Before we leave the said Peten Ytza, it is well to give the clearest information about it, its territories and its people, so that, in the future, historians may have clear light about it and may give in full the necessary information. Peten Ytza is situated in the middle of a great lake and there are not only this one on which the King lives, but also four other Petens, or islands which also lie in the said lake. Others say that these Petens are seven in number, and still others that there are thirty, and that this lake also surrounds the seven, as some say, as well as the thirty which the others speak of. What is certain is that I stopped there and asked purposely what number of people and Petens the Ytzalana nation contained, and they told me that there were only five Petens. The lake which surrounds them is large, its length I have not measured, nor have I gone over more than the part of it by which I came, which was three leagues across, more or less (entering it at the West and going eastward), till one reaches the Peten on which the King lives. But the length of the said lake which runs from North to South (as far as we


text:
Page:History of the Spanish Conquest of Yucatan and of the Itzas.pdf/41

18 could see it), although we did not succeed in seeing to its end, was probably from eight to ten leagues. There are some who say that the said lake is sixty leagues long. If it is true that it surrounds the above thirty Petens, it is not improbable that it is of that length. The principal Peten or island (the court where the King lives) must be more than half a league long and is a high island from which many hills are seen all around. The situation is very pleasant on account of these hills being in sight, as well as the five Petens which the lake encloses, so that from the said Peten any one is seen who comes across the lake from a distance from any one of the four directions, as well as those who go fishing on the lake....

The Lake neither Rises nor Falls. " I asked them why they had their houses so close to the shore of the lake, and if they had any trouble with its risings and fallings. They told me that they had no trouble, since the lake never rose or fell. From this it is inferred that it is also true that no river enters it or flows out of it on the surface, -either of rapid or gentle current, as many who speak of this lake try to show; since, if such a stream entered it, or left it, it could not fail to increase with the freshets, as in dry times ro grow smaller; although we should not be able to deny the hidden and subterranean connection of this lake with other neighboring lakes, because of its permanent preservation of level....

The Temples of Tayasal Described by Avendaño. "In order to worship the...idols there are nine very large buildings, made in the form of the churches of this Province, -all new, with traces of others which had been burned, although they built them again, as I saw in the case of two which had been rebuilt. All such buildings have a wall about a yard and a half high and of the thickness of six quarters; the bench or seat all around, which stands out from the middle inwards, is three quarters thick and the rest, which stands out above, is three quarters thick; so that both together form two rows of seats around the said churches, and all repainted and polished.


text:
Page:History of the Spanish Conquest of Yucatan and of the Itzas.pdf/42

Rh The Palace of Canek, Chief of the Itzas. “Of this same workmanship is the hall which the King or Ah Canek has as a vestibule to his house, in which he receives his guests as he did us, although in addition it has the floor covered with bitumen and polished, which the said temples do not have. At the entrance of the said hall stands a large stone table more than two yards long and proportionally broad, placed on stone columns, with twelve seats of the same around it for the priests. This is the table of sacrifice, which they call in their language Mayactun, -the first object which our eyes perceived in that first reception, from which, with the preceding attempts on the lake, we were able to conjecture that they would put us to death; and the more so when we saw that the number of people who ran together at the novelty of seeing us was so great, that besides filling all the hall inside, those who could not find a place there, obstructed on the outside all the light which the hall had, and which came in all around it, so that they left us in such gloomy darkness, that, being seated, as I was, in the midst of my companion Padres, we could only perceive one another by the touch; but such a thing did not come into our minds, but rather we understood that here was the room of welcome for all....

The Districts of Peten Itza. “I asked them how many districts that Peten had on which we were, and counting by the fingers on their hands and the toes on their feet, they told me there were twenty-two, which they went on to describe by their names, and they are as follows:


text:
Letters of Julian/Letter 54

==54. To Eustochius == [Late in 362, from Antioch] The wise Hesiod thinks that we ought to invite our neighbours to our feasts that they may rejoice with us, since they sorrow and mourn with us when any unexpected misfortune befalls us. But I say that it is our friends that we ought to invite, rather than our neighbours; and for this reason, that it is possible to have a neighbour who is one's enemy, but that a friend should be an enemy is no more possible than for white to be black, or hot cold. And if there were no other proof that you are my friend not now only, but for a long time past, and that you have steadily maintained your regard for me, nevertheless the fact that my feeling for you has been and is what it is, would be strong evidence of that friendship. Come, therefore, that you may in person share my consulship. The state post will bring you, and you may use one carriage and an extra horse. And in case we ought to pray for further aid, I have invoked for you the blessing of the goddess of the Crossroads and the god of the Ways.

title: Letters of Julian/Letter 54


text:
Page:History of the Spanish Conquest of Yucatan and of the Itzas.pdf/43

20

“These towns or districts bear the names of the cacique or head who rules them, as seen by the table above, although all have separate names of their own, and all are subject, as are also the other Petens, to the King Ahcanek, and also all the communities which are found in Cha Kan Ytza, besides those who are found on the main land towards the East situated around the said Petens. This kingdom came to him by inheritance, and so their Kings are always Ah Can Eks. But not because of this are all the Caneks of royal blood or relations of one another; since also all those of his own town or district are called Caneks, and not on this account are they his relations, since they also bear their lawful names and only have this one because of the chief who rules them. It is well lmown to the King that he holds this place through blood, since it is certain that he and his family have a rare character and goodness, since he is so very good that all treat him with some boldness, so that he is not able to govern what he possesses....”

Extent of the Itza Dominion under the Chief Canek. It is from the Franciscan Fray Alonso Cano, who wrote about 1696, that we derive the clearest information as to the extent of the Itza dominions. He says: “...The other forty-five leagues from Mopan to the Lake one travels (though with various windings) from South to North, with some little tendency to the North-west. This land belongs to the Mopanes and Ahizaes, and it stretches to the East as far as the sea-coast... Of the boundaries of the Ahiza nation on the North the men of Yucatan will give trustworthy information.”

All the foregoing leads one to believe that the influence of Canek, petty chief of the Itzas, and of his immediate subjects was felt throughout the region east of Lake Peten, the region in which are located Alain (or Yalain), San Clemente, Yaxha, and Tipu. Indeed Villagutierre (p. 460) leaves us in no doubt as to the fact that Chamaxculu, the aged chief of Alain, was the direct vassal of Canek.


text:
Page:History of the Spanish Conquest of Yucatan and of the Itzas.pdf/44

Rh Quincanek. So far we have been considering only the political aspect of the Itza state. There was an important sacerdotal organization as well. As to its exact nature there is, unfortunately, confusion. Villagutierre says that the head of the priesthood was the oldest brother of Canek and that he bore the title of Quincanek. Cano says that Cuin Kenek was the chief of Peten. Pedro Sanches de Leon, writing in the eighteenth century, says (p. 146 ff.): “In that time (1700-1703), or a little before, the conquest of the Lake of the Ahitzaes took place, and the Indian kings were seen to enter Guatemala as prisoners; they were called after baptism Don José and Don Francisco Canek, and with them also was the high-priest of this nation, who was also called Canek....” Maler uses the terms Canek and Kincanek interchangeably. The question is not an important one, and I shall make no attempt to solve it.

Further Information about the Region. “...In the northerly direction lies the Kingdom of Yucathan; towards the South, the road which the men of Gautemala have opened, starting from Vera Paz; on the West, Cha Kan Ytza and the Cehaches; on the East, slightly North, the nation of the men of Tipu; in the direction of the South, running from East to West, are very high ridges, which are really the Sierra Madre, from which (in New Spain) they exploit mines, and at there are mines there, there is no doubt that there are some here, since it is one and the same ridge. There must be mines in the environs of this nation of the Ytzaes, because the most of the Indians (in some large ear drops which they wear) have roses of silver hanging down, and others of silver and gold, and as the Spaniards do not come to this nation, nor the Indians of this Province of Yucathan, nor of the other provinces, because they are afraid of them, I do not know where they could get this gold and silver unless they took it from some mine. In the said southerly direction running towards the East, the said Peten Ytzaes have their farms and tilled fields on the main land; and in said fields they have their houses as in Peten, so as to live there all the time that the cultivation lasts, so that the houses are doubled in number as well as the families.


text:
Page:History of the Spanish Conquest of Yucatan and of the Itzas.pdf/45

22 From this, people imagine that this nation is more numerous than it really is.

“The largest and best calculation which I can make of this nation was from the account which the King and his chiefs gave me, and this was that the Peten in which we stopped consisted of twenty-two districts and towns, and they did not know how to give me the count of each town, since they know how to count only up to twenty, and in going beyond many twenties, they do not know how to explain it, for it appears to them an infinite number I did not have much time to verify this, for I preferred to employ the little time I had in baptizing; but nevertheless from what I saw and understood of the number of the people of all ages, I say that Peten Ytza, with the other Petenes, Cha Kan Ytzaes and Tuluncies (?), with the communities, which are found on the main land, will all come up to twenty-four or twenty-five thousand souls,- a thousand more or less. This computation I make from the Peten on which the King lives, for he told me that all the Petens were equal in the number of people, with but little diference.

The Itzas Described. “These Ytzaes are well-featured and, like mestizos, nearly all of a light complexion and of very perfect stature and of natural gifts. But the Devil has compelled them, in their weakness, to make themselves hideous and witches, because it appears to them a greater feat to frighten by their appearance than to conquer by their strength. And so most of them have their faces cut and rubbed in with black, and some streaked like black negroes. And this hideousness many women also show in their ear lobes, so that it is not possible for them to wear ear drops or pendants. Painting themselves or cutting on their faces the form of the animal which they have as a charm, the men consider themselves as more genteel than the women; and as they are of this opinion, they dress themselves in this way, tying up their hair with bands of cotton which are made by them, woven with many curious designs of various colors, with cords and tassels at the ends, made very beautifully. They clothe themselves with


text:
Letters of Julian/Letter 55

==55. To Photinus == Moreover the Emperor Julian, faithless to Christ, in his attack on Diodorus writes as follows to Photinus the heresiarch: O Photinus, you at any rate seem to maintain what is probably true, and come nearest to being saved, and do well to believe that he whom one holds to be a god can by no means be brought into the womb. But Diodorus, a charlatan priest of the Nazarene, when he tries to give point to that nonsensical theory about the womb by artifices and juggler's tricks, is clearly a sharp-witted sophist of that creed of the country-folk. A little further on he says: But if only the gods and goddesses and all the Muses and Fortune will lend me their aid, I hope to show that he is feeble and a corrupter of laws and customs, of pagan Mysteries and Mysteries of the gods of the underworld, and that that new-fangled Galilaean god of his, whom he by a false myth styles eternal, has been stripped by his humiliating death and burial of the divinity falsely ascribed to him by Diodorus. Then, just as people who are convicted of error always begin to invent, being the slaves of artifice rather than of truth, he goes on to say: For the fellow sailed to Athens to the injury of the general welfare, then rashly took to philosophy and engaged in the study of literature, and by the devices of rhetoric armed his hateful tongue against the heavenly gods, and being utterly ignorant of the Mysteries of the pagans he so to speak imbibed most deplorably the whole mistaken folly of the base and ignorant creed-making fishermen. For this conduct he has long ago been punished by the gods themselves. For, for many years past, he has been in danger, having contracted a wasting disease of the chest, and he now suffers extreme torture. His whole body has wasted away. For his cheeks have fallen in and his body is deeply lined with wrinkles. But this is no sign of philosophic habits, as he wishes it to seem to those who are deceived by him, but most certainly a sign of justice done and of punishment from the gods which has stricken him down in suitable proportion to his crime, since he must live out to the very end his painful and bitter life, his appearance that of a man pale and wasted.

title: Letters of Julian/Letter 55


text:
Letters of Julian/Letter 56

==56. Edict on Funerals == [363, about February 12, Antioch] It was my duty, after considering with myself, to restore the ancient custom which I have now decided to confirm by a law. For when they considered the matter, the men of old, who made wise laws, believed that there is the greatest possible difference between life and death and thought that each of these two states has customs and practices peculiarly appropriate to it. For they thought that death is an unbroken rest, —and this is surely that "brazen sleep" of which the poets sing, — but that life, on the contrary, brings many pains and many pleasures, and now adversity, now greater prosperity. Considering thus, they enjoined that expiations connected with the departed should be conducted apart, and that apart from them the daily business of life should be carried on. Moreover, they held that the gods are the beginning and end of all things, and believed that while we live we are subject to the gods, and when we depart from this life we travel back to the gods. But perhaps it is not right to speak openly about these matters or to divulge whether both are in the hands of the same gods or one set of gods has charge of the living and another set the dead. However, if, as the Sun is the cause of day and night and winter and summer by his departure and arrival, so also the most venerable one of the gods themselves, unto whom are all things and from whom all things proceed, has appointed rulers over the living and allotted lords over the dead, then we ought to assign to both of these classes in turn what is fitting for them, and to imitate in our daily life the orderly arrangement of the gods in things which exist.

As I have said, death is rest; and night harmonises with rest. Therefore I think it is fitting that business connected with the burials of the dead should be performed at night, since for many reasons we ought to forbid anything of the sort to go on by day. Throughout the city men are going to and fro each on his own business, and all the streets are full of men going to the law-courts, or to or from the market, or sitting at work at their crafts, or visiting the temples to confirm the good hopes that the gods have vouchsafed. And then some persons or other, having laid a corpse on the bier, push their way into the midst of those who are busy about such matters. The thing is in every way intolerable. For those who meet the funeral are often filled with disgust, some because they regard it as an evil omen, while for others who are on the way to the temples it is not permitted to approach for worship till they have cleansed themselves from the pollution. For after such a sight it is not permitted to approach the gods who are the cause of life and of all things least akin to decay. And I have still to mention what is worse than this. And what is that? The sacred precincts and temples of the gods lie open; and it often happens that in one of them someone is sacrificing or pouring libations or praying, at the moment when men carrying a corpse are passing close by the temple itself, and the voice of lamentations and speech of ill omen is carried even to the altars.

Do you not understand that the functions belonging to the day and the night have been separated more than all other things? With good reason, therefore, has burial been taken out of the day and would be reserved for the night. For it is not right to deprecate the wearing of white for mourning and yet to bury the dead in the daytime and sunlight. The former was better, at least if it was not offensive to any of the gods, but the latter cannot escape being an act of impiety towards all the gods. For thereby men wrongly assign burial to the Olympian gods and wrongly alienate it from the gods of the underworld, or whatever else the guardians and lords of souls prefer to be called. And I know that those who are thoroughly versed and punctilious in sacred rites think it right to perform at night the ritual to the gods below or in any case not till after the tenth hour of the day. But if this is the better time for the worship of these gods, we will certainly not assign another time for the service of the dead.

What I have said suffices for those who are willing to obey. For now that they have learned what errors they used to commit, let them change to the better way. But if there be any man of such a character that he needs threat and penalty, let him know that he will incur the severest punishment if, before the tenth hour of the day, he shall venture to perform the offices for the corpse of any dead person and to carry it through the city. But let these things be done at sunset and before sunrise, and let the pure day be consecrated for pure deeds and the pure gods of Olympus.

title: Letters of Julian/Letter 56


text:
Letters of Julian/Letter 57

57. To Arsaces, Satrap of Armenia
[363, Antioch, just before Julian's Persian campaign] Make haste, Arsacius, to meet the enemy's battle line and quicker than I tell you arm your right hand against the madness of the Persians. For my military preparations and my set purpose are for one of two things; either to pay the debt of nature within the Parthian frontier, after I have won the most glorious victories and inflicted on my foes the most terrible reverses, or to defeat them under the leadership of the gods and return to my native land as a conquering hero, after I have set up trophies of the enemy's defeat. Accordingly you must discard all sloth and cheating, and the Emperor Constantine of blessed memory, and the wealth of the nobles which was lavished in vain on you and on barbarians of your character by the most luxurious and extravagant Constantius, and now I warn you, take heed of me, Julian, supreme pontiff, Caesar, Augustus, the servant of the gods and of Ares, the destroyer of the Franks and barbarians, the liberator of the Gauls and of Italy. But if you form some other design, — for I learn that you are a rascal and a coward in war and a boaster, as the present condition of affairs proves; indeed I have heard that you are secretly trying to conceal at your court a certain enemy of the public welfare, — for the present I postpone this matter because of the fortune of war; for my alliance with the gods is enough to secure the destruction of the enemy. But if Destiny should also play some part in the decision, — for the purpose of the gods is her opportunity, — I will endure it fearlessly and like a brave man. Be assured that you will be an easy victim of the power of Persia when your hearth and home, your whole race and the kingdom of Armenia all blaze together. And the city of Nisibis also will share in your misfortune, for this the heavenly gods long since foretold to me.

title: Letters of Julian/Letter 57