Benalcazar, who saw the temerity of giving battle, in their
present condition, recommended the viceroy to try the effect of
negotiation, and offered himself to go to the enemy's camp, and
arrange, if possible, terms of accommodation with Pizarro. But
Blasco Nunez, if he had desponded for a moment, had now recovered
his wonted constancy, and he proudly replied, - "There is no
faith to be kept with traitors. We have come to fight, not to
parley; and we must do our duty like good and loyal cavaliers. I
will do mine," he continued, "and be assured I will be the first
man to break a lance with the enemy." *20
[Footnote 20: "Yo os prometo, que la primera laca que se rompa en
los enemigos, sea la mia (y assi lo cumplio). Fernandez, Hist.
del Peru, Parte 1, lib. 1, cap. 53.]
He then called his troops together, and addressed to them a few
words preparatory to marching "You are all brave men," he said,
"and loyal to your sovereign. For my own part, I hold life as
little in comparison with my duty to my prince. Yet let us not
distrust our success; the Spaniard, in a good cause, has often
overcome greater odds than these. And we are fighting for the
right; it is the cause of God, - the cause of God," *21 he
concluded, and the soldiers, kindled by his generous ardor,
answered him with huzzas that went to the heart of the
unfortunate commander, little accustomed of late to this display
of enthusiasm.
[Footnote 21: "Que de Dios es la causa, de Dios es la causa, de
Dios es la causa.
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