Rutland herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1823-1847, 1844-01-18
VOL. 5O.-..NO. ,.

was called the "sou ofthe world and supposed
TO have been its creator He wns depicted as n
handsome man, endowed with perpetual youth.
year before the intended sacrifice a captive,
distinguished for his personal beauty and wilhou,a
bemish on his body, was selected TO roprescnithis
deity, Certain Tutors took charge OF him, and
instructed him how to perform his new part with
becoming grace and dignity. He was arraycd III
a splendid Dress regal with incense and with
profusion of sweet SCI Jed flowers, of which tho
ancient Mexcans were as fond as their dcccnd
ants at the present day When he went abroad
he was attended by train Of royal pages and, MS
he halted in the street TO play some avofite mclo
dy the crowd Frustrated themselves before hlm,
and did him homagcas the representative of their
good deity. In this way he lead an easy, luxu-
rious life, ill within month Of his sacrifice
-Four beautiful girls, bearing the names of the
principal goddesses, were then selected TO share
the honors Of his bed and with them he continu-
ed to live in idle daance Toasted at the ban luets
of the principal mobiles who paid him all the hon
ors of divinity
At enght the fatal day Of sacrifice arrived -
The term of his short.lived glores was at an end
He was stripped ofhis gaudy apparel, ami bado
udieu TO the fair partners Of his revelries One of
the Royal barges transported him across the lake
TO temple which rose on its margin, about
league from the city. Hither the inhabitants of the
ceremony. AS the sad procession wound up the
sides ofthc pyramid, the unhappy victim threw
away his gay chaplcts Of flowers and broke in
pieces the musical instruments with which he had
soaced the hours of captivity. On the summit
he was received by six persons, whose long and
matted locks flowed disorderly over their sa.
Bile robes, covered with hyrogyphic scrolls Of
mystic import They led him to the sacri6cia
stone, huge block of jasper, with its upper sur
face somewhat convex On this the prisoner was
stretched. Five priests secured his head and his
limbs while the sixth, clad in a scarlet mantle,
emblematic of his bloody Office, dexterously open
cd the breast ofthe wre,ched victim with sharp
razor of iztli "a volcanic substance, hard as flint
inserting his hand in the wound, tore out the
palpating heart. The minister Of death, first
holding this up towards the sun. object Of wor-
ship throu ghout Anahuac, cast it at the feet of the
deity to whom the temple was devoted while the
mullitudes below Frustrated themselvesin hum
, BILE alteration. The tragic story of this prisoner
was'expounded by the priests as thetype of human
destiny, which, brilliant in its commencement, too
= often closes in sorrow and disaster. iH
q Such was the form of human sacrifice usually
practised by the Aztecs 1t was the same that of.
ten met the indignant eyes of the Europeans, in
o their progress through the country and from the
fEdreadfnl doom ofwhich they themselves were not
exempted There were indeed, some occasions
r when preliminary torLures Of The most exquisite
y kind. with which it is unnecessary to shock the
= reader.-were indicted, but they always terminal
: ed with the bloody ceremony above described. 1t
! should be remarked, however that such tortures
i were not the spontaneous suggestions OF cruelty
a as with the North American Indians; but were
! all ligously prescribed in the Aztec ritual, and
!. doubtless we're often inflicted with the same
!, computations vsitings which devout familiar OF
the Holy Office might at times experience in exc
. cutting its stern DEGREES Women, ms well as the
= other sex, were sometimes reserved for sacrifice.
On some occasions particular in seasons OF draught
at the festival of the unsuitable Tlaloc, the god OF
rain, children forthe most part infants, were offer
. cred up AS they were borno along in open lit
ters dressed in their festival robes, and decked il
i fresh blossoms of spring. they moved the hardest
= heart TO pity, though their cries were drowned
in the wild chant ofthe priests who read in their
. tears favorable ausury for their petition These
innocent victims were generally bought by the
e priests of parents who were poor, but who stiaed
: the voice of nature, probably lessat the sngges
tions OF poverty, than that Of wretched supefs,i-
ton. ..
). The most loathsome part ofthe story--thc mnn.
: liner in which the body Of the sacrificed captive
was disposed of--remains yet to be told. 1t was
): delivered TO the warrior who had taken him in
d battle, and by him after being dressed was served
% up in an entertainment 10 his friends. This was
4 not the coarse repas Of famished cannbals but a
i banquet lceming with delicious beverages and
n delicate vanls, prepared with art, attended by
both sexes who, as we shall see hereafter conduc
If ted thems' Ives with decortrn of civilized life
;. Surely never were refinement AID tho extreme
v of barbarsm brought SO closely in contact will
y each other
f. Human sacrifccs have been practised by mnny
Of nations, not excepting the most polished nations
IS antiquity; but never by any on scale to be com
a pared with those of Anahuac. The anount @
,e victims inundated on its accursed altlrs would
rs stagger the faith ofthe least scrupulous believer
d Scarcely any author preends to estimate the year
r. ly sacrifices throughout the empire at less thar
n. twenty thousand, and some carry the number al
le high as fifty.
ID On grea, occasions. as tho coronation Of a king
81 or the conservation Of temple, the number be
m comes still more appalling. At the dedication 0
N the great temple Of Hurzllopochli, in l4eG thu
s. prisoners, who for some years had been reserved
il for the purpose were drawn from all quarters tc
in the capital They were ranged in files, forming
d procession nearly two miles long. The cere
e mony consumed several days, and seventy thou
sand capiyes are said 10 have persisted at the