CHAPTER XIII. ENTRY INTO TLASCALA. September , 1519.

honor of the army. With pride subdued he had sought pardon of the lords for disobeying their orders,¹⁹ and offered the best amends in his power by personally humbling himself before the chief who had torn the wreath from his brow. He approached Cortés with the customary profound salute, while his attendants swung the copal censer, and announced that he had come in the name of his father and the other lords to ask his friendship, and to offer their submission to the mightiest of men, so gentle yet so valiant. Accepting a seat by Cortés’ side, he entered into explanations, and frankly took upon himself the blame for the resistance offered, but pleaded the Tlascalan love for liberty, threatened, as they imagined, by an ally of Montezuma, for were not Mexican allies in the Spanish train? and had not the Aztec monarch exchanged friendly intercourse with them? While delighted with the manner of the chief, and particularly with the object of his visit, Cortés thought it necessary to administer a slight rebuke for the obstinate refusal of his friendly offers; yet since his people had already suffered enough for this, he freely pardoned them in the name of his king, and received them