]
The latter years of Huayna Capac were passed in his new kingdom
of Quito. Atahuallpa was accordingly brought up under his own
eye, accompanied him, while in his tender years, in his
campaigns, slept in the same tent with his royal father, and ate
from the same plate. *4 The vivacity of the boy, his courage and
generous nature, won the affections of the old monarch to such a
degree, that he resolved to depart from the established usages of
the realm, and divide his empire between him and his elder
brother Huascar. On his death-bed, he called the great officers
of the crown around him, and declared it to be his will that the
ancient kingdom of Quito should pass to Atahuallpa, who might be
considered as having a natural claim on it, as the dominion of
his ancestors. The rest of the empire he settled on Huascar; and
he enjoined it on the two brothers to acquiesce in this
arrangement, and to live in amity with each other. This was the
last act of the heroic monarch; doubtless, the most impolitic of
his whole life. With his dying breath he subverted the
fundamental laws of the empire; and, while he recommended harmony
between the successors to his authority, he left in this very
division of it the seeds of inevitable discord. *5
[Footnote 4: "Atabalipa era bien quisto de los Capitanes viejos
de su Padre y de los Soldados, porque andubo en la guerra en su
ninez y porque andubo en la guerra en su niez porque el en vida
le mostro tanto amor que no le dejaba comer otra cosa que lo que
el le daba de su plato.
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