He
Had Frequently Heard From The Christians, That One Of Their Principal Laws,
Which Was Most Religiously Observed, Was, That All Who Were Guilty Of
Murder Were Punished With Death, Whether The Murder Were Committed By
Themselves Personally, Or By Others At Their Instigation.
He resolved,
therefore, to sound Pizarro, and to discover his sentiments on this
subject, which he did with wonderful artifice and dissimulation.
One day
he pretended to be overcome with extreme grief, weeping and sobbing, and
refusing to eat or drink, or to speak with any one. When Pizarro inquired
the cause of this distress, he allowed himself to be long intreated before
he would give any reason of his sorrow. At length, as if overcome by
solicitation, he said, "That he had just received intelligence that one of
his officers had put his brother Huascar to death, by which news he was
entirely overcome with grief, as he had always entertained the warmest and
most respectful affection for him, not only as his eldest brother, but in
a great measure as his father and sovereign. That although he had taken
Huascar prisoner, he not only had no intention of using him ill in his
person, but did not even mean to deprive him of the kingdom: his sole
object being to oblige him to give up the possession of the kingdom of
Quito, according to the last will of their father, Huana Capac; who had
made a conquest of that country, which was beyond the boundary of the
hereditary empire of the incas, and which consequently their father had an
undoubted right to dispose of in his favour." Pizarro endeavoured to
console the pretended affliction of Atahualpa, by assuring him, when peace
and good order re-established in the empire, that he would make a strict
inquiry into the circumstances of the death of Huascar, and would severely
punish all who had participated in the crime.
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