with a handful of men opposing powerful armies, quelling insurrections, capturing his captors, turning enemies into allies, balancing upon his finger contending powers, and after the grand cataclysm opened by him on the central plateau has spent itself, he quietly pockets the prize. No Alexander, or Scipio, or Cæsar, or Napoleon ever achieved results so vast with means so insignificant. It was indeed a rare piracy!
Taken as a whole, the testimony of eye-witnesses and the early chroniclers on the conquest may be considered as fully up to the average of historical evidence. While there was no little exaggeration, and some downright mendacity, such were the number of the witnesses, the time, place, and circumstances of their several relations, and the clearness of their testimony, that we find no difficulty with regard to any important matters in determining
truth and falsehood. When in addition to the writings of the Spaniards we have native records and architectural remains as collateral evidence, every honest searcher after truth may be satisfied.