Notes for Song XVII
In this long fragment—the closing strophes are missing in my MS.—the bard represents himself as a stranger appearing before the nobles of Huexotzinco at some festival. The first two verses appear to be addressed to him by the nobles. They ask him to bring forth his drum and sing. He begins with a laudation of the power of music, proceeds to praise the noble company present, and touches those regretful chords, so common in the Nahuatl poetry, which hint at the ephemeral nature of all joy and the certainty of death and oblivion. An appeal is made to the Master of Life who inspires the soul of the poet, and whose praises should be ever in mind.
The words Dios and angelotin, in verse 26th, indicate that the poem has received some “recension” by the Spanish copyist; but the general tone impresses me as quite aboriginal in character.
2. quauhtlocelotl, see note to I, 5.
3. In this verse, as frequently elsewhere, the syllable ya is introduced merely to complete the metre. Ordinarily it is the sign of the imperfect tense, and has other meanings (see the Vocabulary), but in many instances does not admit of translation.
8. noncoati, for ni-on-coatl, I am a guest.
18. The references in this verse are obscure, and I doubt if I have solved them.
20. “The house of spring;” compare the expression in v. 1, of Nezahualcoyotl’s song, p. 42.
21. A long oration of Xicontecatl, lord of Tizatlan, may be found in Clavigero, Hist. Antica di Messico, Tom. III, p. 40. The expression in camaxochitzin, from camatl, mouth, xochitl, rose, flower, and the reverential tzin, is noteworthy.
24. petlacoatl, the centipede or scolopender; from petlatl, mat, and coatl, serpent, as they are said to intertwine with each other, like the threads of a mat (Sahagun, Lib. XII, cap. 4).