you, _axque_, 2d pl. pret. from _ay_,
to do.

_octicatl_, apparently an old form from _octli_, the intoxicating
beverage prepared from the maguey.

_oanquique_, 2d pl. pret. from _cui_, to take.

_ohuican_, a place of difficulty and danger. The frequent addition of
the terminal _o_ in this and the succeeding verses is merely
euphonic.

2. _teoatl tlachinolli_; see note VI, 4.

_in maquiztli tlazotetl_, the beloved jewels, a phrase which
indicates that the broken stones and splintered emeralds referred to
are the young warriors who fall in battle, the pride of their
parents' hearts, who are destroyed in the fight.

The _tizaoctli_, white wine (_tizatl_, chalk, hence white, and
_octli_, wine), referred to in this passage, is said by Sahagun to
have been drunk especially at the feast of the god Papaztac, one of
the many gods of the wine cup. _Hist. de Nueva Espana_. Lib. II, App.
Tezozomoc mentions it as handed to the mourners at funeral
ceremonies. _Cronica Mexicana_, cap. 55.

3. _xochitlalticpacilhtuicacpao_; in this long compound of _xochitl_,
flower, _tlalti_, earth, and _ilhuicatl_, sky, with various
postpositions and the euphonic terminal _o_, the final _pa_ gives the
sense of location, towards, in the direction of.

_chimalxochiti_; "the shield flower," the shield or buckler of the
ancient warriors, ornamented with tassels and feathers, is not
unaptly called the flower of war.

NOTES FOR SONG VIII.

The entire absence in this lament for the dead of any consolation
drawn from Christian doctrines, points clearly to a date for its
composition earlier than the teachings of the missionaries. Its cry
of woe is hopeless, and the title attributes its authorship to one of
the old chieftains, _tlatoani_, who held the power before the
Spaniard arrived.

1. _quetzalhuahuaciuhtoque_, from _quetzalli, huaqui_; _in
teintoque_, the splinters; the same simile is employed in VII, 2.

2. _ximoayan_, see note to I, 8. The occurrence of this term here and
in verse 3 testifies to the fact of a composition outside of
Christian influences.

NOTES FOR SONG IX.

The title does not necessarily mean that this song is a translation
from the Otomi language, but merely that the time to which it was
chanted was in the Otomi style; or, the term _Otomi_ may have
reference to the military officer so called. The word is perhaps a
compound of _otli_, path, and _mitl_, arrow.

The bard sings the vanity of earthly pleasures, a