They lived, most of them, at court, near the person of
the prince, sharing in his counsels, dining at his board, or
supplied from his table. They alone were admissible to the great
offices in the priesthood. They were invested with the command
of armies, and of distant garrisons, were placed over the
provinces, and, in short, filled every station of high trust and
emolument. *55 Even the laws, severe in their general tenor, seem
not to have been framed with reference to them; and the people,
investing the whole order with a portion of the sacred character
which belonged to the sovereign, held that an Inca noble was
incapable of crime. *56
[Footnote 54: "Los Incas tuvieron otra Lengua particular, que
hablavan entre ellos, que no la entendian los demas Indios, ni
les era licito aprenderla, como Lenguage Divino. Esta me
escriven del Peru, que se ha perdido totalmente; porque como
perecio la Republica particular de los Incas, perecio tambien el
Lenguage dellos." Garcilasso, Com. Real., Parte 1, lib. 7, cap.
1]
[Footnote 55: "Una sola gente hallo yo que era exenta, que eran
los Ingas del Cuzco y por alli al rededor de ambas parcialidades,
porque estos no solo no pagavan tributo, pero aun comian de lo
que traian al Inga de todo el reino, y estos eran por la mayor
parte los Governadores en todo el reino, y por donde quiera que
iban se les hacia mucha honrra." Ondegardo, Rel. Prim., Ms.]
[Footnote 56: Garcilasso, Com. Real., Parte I, lib.
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