(1464-1515) poet, king
Nezahualpilli, or “fasting son,” succeeded his father nezahualcoyotl in 1473 as king of Texcoco, one of the kingdoms of the triple alliance of the Mexica (Aztec) Empire.
Throughout his life, Nezahualpilli exhibited a strong sense of filial piety so that he consciously modeled his life on the example of his illustrious father. Nezahualpilli thus continued the legacy of promoting learning. The chronicler Juan Torque-mada writes that Nezahualpilli’s enthusiasm for science led him to erect an observatory in his palace. Above all, Nezahualpilli inherited his father’s humane spirit and fair-mindedness. He is thus credited with abolishing capital punishment for lesser crimes and displaying leniency toward the lower classes of society.
Nezahualpilli also emulated his father as a composer of “flower songs,” the pictographic lyrics of the Nahuatl language. Unfortunately, of his work only a long fragment survives. Called Icuic Nezahualpilli yc Tlamato Huexotzinco, or Song of Nezahualpilli during the War with Huexotzinco, this poem celebrates victory in battle while lamenting the loss of life:
My heart is sad, I am young Nezahualpilli. I look for my captains, the lord has gone, the flowering quetzal, the young and strong warrior has gone, the blue of the sky is his house. Perhaps Tlatohuetzin and Acapipiyol will come to drink the flowery liquor, here where I weep?
Characteristic of flower songs, Nezahualpilli refers to death as intoxicating and expresses the theme of life’s impermanence in relation to its eternal nature.
As the poem also reveals, Nezahualpilli’s reign was a constant struggle to maintain the independence of Texcoco at a time of increasing centralization of power in Tenochtitlan. He was thus obliged against his own judgment to take part in such wars to maintain strategic alliance with Tenochtitlan.
Eventually, his relations with Montezuma, the ruler of Tenochtitlan, became strained, and toward the end of his life he undermined Montezuma’s political ambitions with a startling prediction. He foretold the coming of a new people who would become masters of the land. Soon after Nezahualpilli’s death, Hernan coRTfis arrived with his army, and Montezuma was stoned to death by his own people. See also nahuatl poetry; moquihuitzJn.
English Versions of Works by Nezahualpilli
Cantares Mexicanos: Songs of the Aztecs. Translated by John Bierhorst. Palo Alto, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 1985. Leon-Portilla, Miguel, ed. Fifteen Poets of the Aztec World. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1992.
