1533-1534.
The Inca of Peru was its sovereign in a peculiar sense. He
received an obedience from his vassals more implicit than that of
any despot; for his authority reached to the most secret conduct,
- to the thoughts of the individual. He was reverenced as more
than human. *1 He was not merely the head of the state, but the
point to which all its institutions converged, as to a common
centre, - the keystone of the political fabric, which must fall
to pieces by its own weight when that was withdrawn. So it fared
on the death of Atahuallpa. *2 His death not only left the throne
vacant, without any certain successor, but the manner of it
announced to the Peruvian people that a hand stronger than that
of their Incas had now seized the sceptre, and that the dynasty
of the Children of the Sun had passed away for ever.
[Footnote 1: "Such was the awe in which the Inca was held," says
Pizarro, "that it was only necessary for him to intimate his
commands to that effect, and a Peruvian would at once jump down a
precipice, hang himself, or put an end to his life in any way
that was prescribed." Descub. y Conq., Ms.]
[Footnote 2: Oviedo tells us, that the Inca's right name was
Atabaliva, and that the Spaniards usually misspelt it, because
they thought much more of getting treasure for themselves, than
they did of the name of the person who owned it. (Hist. de las
Indias, Ms., Parte 3, lib. 8, cap. 16.) Nevertheless, I have
preferred the authority of Garcilasso, who, a Peruvian himself,
and a near kinsman of the Inca, must be supposed to have been
well informed.
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