They will return, yet of themselves they can do nothing against the glory of Tenoctitlan.

But how shall it go if with them come thousands and tens of thousands of the Indian peoples?
I know well that now in this time of trouble, when kingdoms crumble, when the air is full of portents, and the very gods seem impotent, there are many who would seize the moment and turn it to their profit.

There are many men and tribes who remember ancient wars and wrongs, and who cry, "Now is the hour of vengeance, now we will think on the widows that the Aztec spears have made, on the tribute which they have wrung from our poverty to swell their wealth, and on the captives who have decked the altars of their sacrifice!" 'Is it not so?
Ay, it is so, and I cannot wonder at it.

Yet I ask you to remember this, that the yoke you would help to set upon the neck of the queen of cities will fit your neck also.

O foolish men, do you think that you shall be spared when by your aid Tenoctitlan is a ruin and the Aztecs are no more a people?
I say to you never.