During His
Confinement He Had Attached Himself With Peculiar Affection To Ferdinand
Pizarro And Hernando Soto; Who, As They Were Persons Of Birth And
Education Superior To The Rough Adventurers With Whom They Served, Were
Accustomed To Behave With More Decency And Attention To The Captive
Monarch.
Soothed with this respect from persons of such high rank, he
delighted in their society.
But in the presence of the governor he was
always uneasy and overawed. This dread soon came to be mingled with
contempt. Among all the European arts, that which he most admired, was
reading and writing; and he long deliberated with himself, whether he
should regard it as a natural or acquired talent. In order to determine
this, he desired one of the soldiers who guarded him, to write the name of
God on the nail of his thumb. This he shewed successively to several
Spaniards, asking its meaning; and, to his amazement, they all, without
hesitation, gave the same answer. At length Pizarro entered; and on
presenting it to him, he blushed, and with some confusion was obliged to
acknowledge his ignorance. From that moment, Atahualpa considered him as a
mean person, less instructed than his own soldiers; and he had not address
enough to conceal the sentiments with which this discovery inspired him.
To be the object of scorn to a barbarian, not only mortified the pride of
Pizarro; but excited such resentment in his breast, as added force to all
the other considerations which prompted him to put the Inca to death."
"But in order to give some colour of justice to this violent action, and
that he himself might be exempted from standing singly responsible for the
commission of it, Pizarro resolved to try the Inca with all the
formalities observed in the criminal courts of Spain.
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