“If we cannot find a ruler like him, then at least we can name one who possesses similar qualities, one who has acquired the skills that age and experience provide and who has matured to the fullest. I am weary of being led by mere youths who make repeated mistakes and command no respect.”
Chimalpopoca’s supporters appreciated his comment and gave him a resounding approval, surprising Cihuacoatl by their numbers. He had no idea that so many backed the Tepanecan and feared he faced an uphill struggle to get Ahuitzotl selected.
“You look for an older man,” Nezahualpilli joined in, “yet one who will lead us to victories in numerous battles.”
“That can be delegated.” countered Chimalpopoca. “It is his will to wage them that counts. But if he is respected, there will be no need for frequent battles—only enough to meet our sacrificial requirements.”
Again there were voices of approval.
“You are wrong,” Nezahualpilli silenced the hall. “Quite the contrary, that will be the major task facing our Revered Speaker. With our affairs as muddled as they are—cities in rebellion, tributes denied to us, our merchants threatened—I say to you it will take more than mere respect to set things in order. It will require action! We need a dynamic ruler who has the ability and the energy to lead us on many campaigns so that the prestige of the domain established by the great Motecuhzoma is restored to us. Can an older man do these things?”
“Motecuhzoma did these things,” Chimalpopoca pointed out.
“But we have no Motecuhzoma to guide us now. It is useless to bring up the dead past in face of our present situation. Do you know of anyone who is able to do what will be required? An older man? If so, name him for us.”
Chimalpopoca hesitated. While no shortage of distinguished individuals existed to fill the post, there were no unique personalities with demonstrated drive which clearly set them apart from their contemporaries—none except Ahuitzotl. He sensed his position weakening.
“Why do we deceive ourselves?” continued Nezahualpilli. “Why must I inform you of what you all know? There is only one possible candidate. Our needs increasingly direct themselves to Lord Ahuitzotl as the proper choice.”
“It is said he is impetuous and hot-headed,” Chimalpopoca replied, resisting the suggestion. “Also fond of carousing and entertaining the women. Should this be the man to rule us?”
“True, he is all these things, but also a brilliant leader of men, an outstanding commander, and possessed of a natural talent for decisive action. While we may have regressed under Tizoc, can anyone here declare that Ahuitzotl has not effectively led our armies? Indeed, whatever modicum of prestige remains for our realm, we owe to him.”
There was no disputing this; everyone knew Ahuitzotl was the ablest of commanders, and to many the very embodiment of the warrior ideal—courageous, resolute, competent, and energetic, devoted to the mission of Huitzilopochtli. Chimalpopoca realized his cause was no longer tenable under this kind of barrage from his formidable Texcocan adversary.
“Who among us would fear going into battle with Ahuitzotl leading him?” Nezahualpilli added. “Why, then, should we fear to have him lead us as ruler? Why this ingratitude to him when his efforts kept us intact through our recent dark times?”
Once again it appeared that Nezahualpilli had carried the day as the speakers deliberated over his words and indicated a general concurrence.
“The council also believed this of Tizoc,” Chimalpopoca said. “A lesson should have been learned from this. We have no assurances of not undergoing a similar ordeal with Lord Ahuitzotl.”
“Nor do have you such assurances with anyone else we appoint.”
“There’s no basis for this unwarranted fear about the age of our ruler,” Cihuacoatl injected. “Axayacatl was but a boy of nineteen when we made him Revered Speaker. Was not his reign glorious? Not as great as Motecuhzoma’s to be sure, but most certainly there was cause to rejoice in it. We were in grief over his untimely death. If you will attribute Tizoc’s dismal rule to his youth, how do you explain Axayacatl’s? It’s not youth, but the man himself, wherein lies the fault.”
That determined the issue, and Chimalpopoca, already at a disadvantage, was not about to desecrate Axayacatl’s memory over an argument that was lost. “I concede the point,” he declared, “I was wrong to make an issue of age.”
“It is best that the ruler be retained in the royal lineage,” Cihuacoatl informed him. “They, by training and ability, are best fit to rule.”
With the debate concluded, Cihuacoatl and the four primary Tlatoani retired into a smaller adjacent chamber to discuss the matter further in private. Few doubts remained as to who they would select, but the occasion afforded deeper review of the arguments presented and lent an appropriate aura of mystery and sanctity to the proceedings, and there have actually been times when a consensus among the assembly was overturned. In this case, his pursuasive powers were not required: the decision was uncontested. Cihuacoatl issued the official proclamation.
“Let word be sent to the far reaches of our realm, to our allies, and our enemies as well, so all may know that the sun has risen anew. Lord Ahuitzotl is our Revered Speaker.”
A runner was hastily dispatched to the headquarters building where Ahuitzotl was pacing the floor in the presence of Tlohtzin and Motecuhzoma eagerly anticipating the council’s results when he entered. He sank to his knees before Ahuitzotl.
“Great Lord, chosen as Revered Speaker!” he began, “Cihuacoatl, Chief of Ministers, requests that you appear at the palace among the gathered lords for the initiation. I am honored to be the first to tell you this.”
Ahuitzotl, strained and relieved in spite of having expected such a message, felt ecstatic on hearing it and a broad grin lit up his face. “I’ll not detain them,” he beamed. “Inform the Lord Minister I am coming.”
Taking time only to receive congratulations from his subordinates and fasten his tilmantli over his shoulder, Ahuitzotl then headed to his place of destiny. All eyes were fixed on him when he entered the hall and confidently approached the raised platform at its far end where the throne was situated with Cihuacoatl and the kings of the alliance standing around it. On reaching it, Cihuacoatl quieted the assembly with his staff and everyone’s attention focused on them. Nezahualpilli opened the ceremony by addressing the new monarch in his characteristic style.
“Oh Mighty Lord! Inheritor of the royal throne. To you we offer this seat, left to our care by the gods, most especially high and glorious Huitzilopochtli, so that you might carry on his divine charge, the mandate he imparted upon us. You must faithfully and courageously fulfill this duty, for now is the time in which the foundation is embedded for our realm to flourish. We are living under a darkened sky, a time of peril, and we look for a new ascendancy, a fresh rising, out of the troubled depths into which we have sunk. We seek the glory that marked the passage of our honored forebearers, an eminence that has been lost. Our eagles must soar! Never before have our jaguars been so in want and warriors, born to battle, must have their day. We look to you, Great Lord, to provide for us and to achieve for us that which we have forsaken, that which we have lost, and that which we have been denied.”
Following Nezahualpilli’s stirring oration, Cihuacoatl stepped towards Ahuitzotl and placed his left hand under the monarch’s chin to bend his head back. With his right hand he pierced Ahuitzotl’s nostrils with a sharp thorn, carving out a hole large enough to allow for the emplacement of the emerald plug which denoted
