In his train
came skilled artificers and men of learning. He was chaste and temperate
in life, wise in council, generous of gifts, conquering rather by arts
of peace than of war; delighting in music, flowers, and brilliant
colors, and so averse to human sacrifices that he shut his ears with
both hands when they were even mentioned.[295-1] Such was the ideal man
and supreme god of a people who even a Spanish monk of the sixteenth
century felt constrained to confess were "a good people, attached to
virtue, urbane and simple in social intercourse, shunning lies, skilful
in arts, pious toward their gods."[295-2] Is it likely, is it possible,
that with such a model as this before their minds, they received no
benefit from it? Was not this a lever, and a mighty one, lifting the
race toward civilization and a purer faith?
Transfer the field of observation to Yucatan, and we find in Zamna, to
New Granada and in Nemqueteba, to Peru and in Viracocha, or his reflex
Manco Capac, the lineaments of Quetzalcoatl--modified, indeed, by
difference of blood and temperament, but each combining in himself all
the qualities most esteemed by their several nations.
Pages:
451
452
453
454
455
456
457
458
459
460
461
462
463
464
465
466
467
468
469
470
471
472
473
474
475