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GERÓNIMO DE AGUILAR, INTERPRETER
FOR CORTÉS
Wm. H. Prescott
“ Soon after landing, a canoe
with several Indians was seen
making its way from the
neighbouring shores of Yucatan.
On reaching the island, one of
the men inquired, in broken
Castilian, "if he were among
Christians"; and being answered
in the affirmative, threw
himself on his knees and
returned thanks to Heaven for
his delivery. He was one of the
unfortunate captives for whose
fate so much interest had been
felt. His name was Jeronimo de
Aguilar, a native of Ecija, in
Old Spain, where he had been
regularly educated for the
church. He had been established
with the colony at Darien, and
on a voyage from that place to
Hispaniola, eight years previous,
was wrecked near the coast of
Yucatan. He escaped with several
of his companions in the ship's
boat, where some perished from
hunger and exposure, while
others were sacrificed, on their
reaching land, by the cannibal
natives of the peninsula.
Aguilar was preserved from the
same dismal fate by escaping
into the interior, where he fell
into the hands of a powerful
cacique, who, though he spared
his life, treated him at first
with great rigour. The patience
of the captive, however, and his
singular humility, touched the
better feelings of the chieftain,
who would have persuaded Aguilar
to take a wife among his people,
but the ecclesiastic steadily
refused, in obedience to his
vows. This admirable constancy
excited the distrust of the
cacique, who put his virtue to a
severe test by various
temptations, and much of the
same sort as those with which
the devil is said to have
assailed St. Anthony. From all
these fiery trials, however,
like his ghostly predecessor, he
came out unscorched. Continence
is too rare and difficult a
virtue with barbarians not to
challenge their veneration, and
the practice of it has made the
reputation of more than one
saint in the Old as well as the
New World. Aguilar was now
intrusted with the care of his
master's household and his
numerous wives. He was a man of
discretion, as well as virtue;
and his counsels were found so
salutary that he was consulted
on all important matters. In
short, Aguilar became a great
man among the Indians.
It was with much regret,
therefore, that his master
received the proposals for his
return to his countrymen, to
which nothing but the rich
treasure of glass beads, hawk
bells, and other jewels of like
value, sent for his ransom,
would have induced him to
consent. When Aguilar reached
the coast, there had been so
much delay that the brigantines
had sailed, and it was owing to
the fortunate return of the
fleet to Cozumel that he was
enabled to join it.
On appearing before Cortes,
the poor man saluted him in the
Indian style, by touching the
earth with his hand, and
carrying it to his head. The
commander, raising him up,
affectionately embraced him,
covering him at the same time
with his own cloak, as Aguilar
was simply clad in the
habiliments of the country,
somewhat too scanty for a
European eye. It was long,
indeed, before the tastes which
he had acquired in the freedom
of the forest could be
reconciled to the constraints
either of dress or manners
imposed by the artificial forms
of civilisation. Aguilar's long
residence in the country had
familiarised him with the Mayan
dialects of Yucatan, and, as he
gradually revived his Castilian,
he became of essential
importance as an interpreter.
Cortes saw the advantage of this
from the first, but he could not
fully estimate all the
consequences that were to flow
from it.”
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