Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
- EXTRACTS FROM INTRODUCTION BY SEÑOR DON GENARO GARCÍA
- BERNAL DÍAZ DEL CASTILLO: HIS LIFE
- INTRODUCTION BY THE TRANSLATOR
- NOTE ON SPELLING, ETC.
- ITINERARY—FEBRUARY 8, 1517, TO APRIL 21, 1519
- The True History of the Conquest of New Spain
- PREFACE BY THE AUTHOR
- BOOK I THE DISCOVERY: THE EXPEDITION UNDER FRANCISCO HERNÁNDEZ DE CÓRDOVA
- THE EXPEDITION UNDER JUAN DE GRIJALVA
- BOOK II THE EXPEDITION UNDER HERNANDO CORTÉS. THE VOYAGE
- BOOK III THE MARCH INLAND
- BOOK IV THE WAR IN TLAXCALA
- CHAPTER LXII
- CHAPTER LXIII
- CHAPTER LXIV
- CHAPTER LXV
- CHAPTER LXVI
- CHAPTER LXVII
- CHAPTER LXVIII
- CHAPTER LXIX
- CHAPTER LXX
- CHAPTER LXXI
- CHAPTER LXXII
- CHAPTER LXXIII
- CHAPTER LXXIV
- CHAPTER LXXV
- CHAPTER LXXVI
- CHAPTER LXXVII
- CHAPTER LXXVIII
- CHAPTER LXXIX
- CHAPTER LXXX
- CHAPTER LXXXI
- APPENDIX
- GLOSSARY OF MEXICAN, SPANISH, AND OTHER FOREIGN WORDS
- PLACE-NAMES
- BIBLIOGRAPHY OF MEXICO
- INDEX
- Plate section
CHAPTER LXXIX
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 February 2013
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
- EXTRACTS FROM INTRODUCTION BY SEÑOR DON GENARO GARCÍA
- BERNAL DÍAZ DEL CASTILLO: HIS LIFE
- INTRODUCTION BY THE TRANSLATOR
- NOTE ON SPELLING, ETC.
- ITINERARY—FEBRUARY 8, 1517, TO APRIL 21, 1519
- The True History of the Conquest of New Spain
- PREFACE BY THE AUTHOR
- BOOK I THE DISCOVERY: THE EXPEDITION UNDER FRANCISCO HERNÁNDEZ DE CÓRDOVA
- THE EXPEDITION UNDER JUAN DE GRIJALVA
- BOOK II THE EXPEDITION UNDER HERNANDO CORTÉS. THE VOYAGE
- BOOK III THE MARCH INLAND
- BOOK IV THE WAR IN TLAXCALA
- CHAPTER LXII
- CHAPTER LXIII
- CHAPTER LXIV
- CHAPTER LXV
- CHAPTER LXVI
- CHAPTER LXVII
- CHAPTER LXVIII
- CHAPTER LXIX
- CHAPTER LXX
- CHAPTER LXXI
- CHAPTER LXXII
- CHAPTER LXXIII
- CHAPTER LXXIV
- CHAPTER LXXV
- CHAPTER LXXVI
- CHAPTER LXXVII
- CHAPTER LXXVIII
- CHAPTER LXXIX
- CHAPTER LXXX
- CHAPTER LXXXI
- APPENDIX
- GLOSSARY OF MEXICAN, SPANISH, AND OTHER FOREIGN WORDS
- PLACE-NAMES
- BIBLIOGRAPHY OF MEXICO
- INDEX
- Plate section
Summary
How our Captain Hernando Cortés decided that all of us Captains and soldiers should go to Mexico, and what happened about it.
When our Captain remembered that we had already been resting in Tlaxcala for seventeen days, and that we had heard so much said about the great wealth of Montezuma and his flourishing city, he arranged to take counsel with all those among our captains and soldiers whom he could depend on as wishing to advance, and it was decided that our departure should take place without delay, but there was a good deal of dissent expressed in camp about this decision, for some soldiers said that it was a very rash thing to go and enter into such a strong city, as we were so few in number, and they spoke of the very great strength of Montezuma. Our Captain Cortés replied that there was now no other course open to us, for we had constantly asserted and proclaimed that we were going to see Montezuma, so that other counsels were useless.
His opponents seeing with what determination Cortés expressed himself, and knowing that many of us soldiers were ready to help him by crying: “Forward and good luck to us,” dropped all further opposition. The men opposed [to Cortés] in this discussion were those who owned property in Cuba. I and other poor soldiers had always dedicated our souls to God who created them, and our bodies to wounds and hardships, and even to death in the service of Our Lord God and of His Majesty.
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- The True History of the Conquest of New Spain , pp. 289 - 292Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2010First published in: 1908