" Garcilasso, Com. Real., Parte 1,
lib. 8, cap. 8.]
Such was the humiliating condition of the people under the Incas,
while the numerous families of the blood royal enjoyed the
benefit of all the light of education, which the civilization of
the country could afford; and, long after the Conquest, the spots
continued to be pointed out where the seminaries had existed for
their instruction. These were placed under the care of the
amautas, or "wise men," who engrossed the scanty stock of science
- if science it could be called - possessed by the Peruvians, and
who were the sole teachers of youth. It was natural that the
monarch should take a lively interest in the instruction of the
young nobility, his own kindred. Several of the Peruvian princes
are said to have built their palaces in the neighbourhood of the
schools, in order that they might the more easily visit them and
listen to the lectures of the amautas, which they occasionally
reinforced by a homily of their own. *2 In these schools, the
royal pupils were instructed in all the different kinds of
knowledge in which their teachers were versed, with especial
reference to the stations they were to occupy in after-life.
They studied the laws, and the principles of administering the
government, in which many of them were to take part. They were
initiated in the peculiar rites of their religion, most necessary
to those who were to assume the sacerdotal functions. They
learned also to emulate the achievements of their royal ancestors
by listening to the chronicles compiled by the amautas.
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