§ 10 The History of the Present Collection
The most recent Mexican writers formally deny that any ancient Mexican poetry is now extant. Thus the eminent antiquary, Don Alfredo Chavero, in his elaborate work, México á través de los Siglos, says, “the truth is, we know no specimens of the ancient poetry, and those, whether manuscript or printed, which claim to be such, date from after the Conquest.”55 In a similar strain the grammarian Diario Julio Caballero, writes: “There has never come into our hands a single poetic composition in this language. It is said that the great King Nezahualcoyotl was a poet and composed various songs; however that may be, the fact is that we have never seen any such compositions, nor met any person who has seen them.”56
It is important, therefore, to state the exact provenance of the specimens printed in this volume, many of which I consider to have been composed previous to the Conquest, and written down shortly after the Nahuatl language had been reduced to the Spanish alphabet.
All of them are from a MS. volume in the library of the University of Mexico, entitled Cantares de los Mexicanos y otros opusculos, composed of various pieces in different handwritings, which, from their appearance and the character of the letter, were attributed by the eminent antiquary Don José F. Ramirez, to the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
The copy I have used is that made by the late Abbé Brasseur (de Bourbourg). It does not appear to be complete, but my efforts to have it collated with the original have not been successful. Another copy was taken by the late well-known Mexican scholar Faustino Chimalpopoca, which was in the possession of Señor Ramirez and sold at the vendue of his books in 1880. It is No. 511 of the catalogue.
The final decision of the age of the poems must come from a careful scrutiny of the internal evidence, especially the thoughts they contain and the language in which they are expressed. In applying these tests, it should be remembered that a song may be almost wholly ancient, that is, composed anterior to the Conquest, and yet display a few later allusions introduced by the person who preserved it in writing, so as to remove from it the flavor of heathenism. Some probable instances of this kind will be pointed out in the Notes.
The songs are evidently from different sources and of different epochs. There are two notes inserted in the MS. which throw some light on the origin of a few of the poems. The first is in connection with No. XII. In my copy of the MS, the title of this song is written twice, and between the two the following memorandum appears in Spanish:
“Ancient songs of the native Otomis, which they were accustomed to sing at their festivals and marriages, translated into the Mexican language, the play and the spirit of the song and its figures of speech being always retained; as Your Reverence will understand, they displayed considerable style and beauty, better than I can express with my slight talent; and may Your Reverence at your convenience approve and be entertained by them, as a skilled master of the tongue, as Your Reverence is.”
From its position and from the titles following, this note appears to apply only to No. XII.
The second note is prefixed to No. XIV, which has no title. It is in Nahuatl, and reads as follows:—
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I H S
Nican ompehua in cuicatl motenehua melahuac Huexotzincayotl ic moquichitoya in tlatoque Huexotzinca mani mecatca; yexcan inic tlatlamantitica, teuccuicatl ahnoço quauhcuicatl, xochicuicatl, icnocuicatl. Auh inic motzotzona huehuetl cencamatl mocauhtiuh, auh in occencamatl ipan huetzi yetetl ti; auh in huel ic ompehua centetl ti; auh inic mocuepa quiniquac iticpa huehuetzi y huehuetl, zan mocemana in maitl; auh quiniquac iyeinepantla occeppa itenco hualcholoa in huehuetl; tel yehuatl itech mottaz, ynima ynaquin cuicani quimati iniuh motzotzona; auh yancuican yenoceppa inin cuicatl ychan D. Diego de Leon, Governador Azcapotzalco; yehuatl oquitzotzon in D. Frco Placido ypan xihuitl 1551, ypan in ezcalilitzin tl Jesu Christo.
This may be freely translated as follows:—
“Here begins a song called a plain song of Huexotzinco as it was recited by the lords of Huexotzinco. These songs are divided into three classes, the songs of the nobles or of the eagles, the flower songs, and the songs of destitution. (Directions follow for beating the drum in unison with the voices.) This song was sung at the house of Don Diego de Leon, Governor of Azcapotzalco; he who beat the drum was Don Francisco Placido; in the year of the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ 1551.”
This assigns beyond doubt the song in question to the first half of the sixteenth century, and we may therefore take its phraseology as a type of the Nahuatl poetry shortly after the Conquest. It is also stated to be a native composition, and from its contents, it was clearly composed by one of the converts to the Christian faith.