The news that came, from day to day, of the progress of the whites filled everyone with surprise, and consternation.
"We of the council met daily, but Montezuma passed his time at the shrines and among the priests.

He was a brave warrior and a great general, once, but he is no longer himself.

My father's prophecy seems to have unmanned him, and he has given himself up wholly to superstition.

I believe in our gods, and pay them due honor; but I do not hold that a man should not think for himself, or that he should trust wholly in the priests, who are but men like ourselves; and who are, methinks, but poor judges of worldly affairs, though wise and learned in matters concerning religion.

Montezuma thinks otherwise, and the result is that no orders have been issued, no determination arrived at, and we have the disgrace of seeing a handful of strangers installed in the capital.
"Mind, my counsels have always been that they should be conducted honorably from the coast, and treated as ambassadors; but we have done neither one thing nor the other.