rents hoped, by the same means, to open a way for himself
to the possession of power and wealth."

"But though the troops in Peru served without, any regular pay, they
were raised at an immense expence. Among men accustomed to divide the
spoil of an opulent country, the desire of obtaining wealth acquired
incredible force. The ardour of pursuit augmented in proportion to the
hope of success. Where all were intent on the same object, and under the
dominion of the same passion, there was but one mode of gaining men, or
of securing their attachment. Officers of name and influence, besides
the promise of future establishments, received large gratuities in hand
from the chief with whom they engaged. Gonzalo Pizarro, in order to
raise a thousand men, advanced five hundred thousand pesos. Gasca
expended in levying the troops which he led against Pizarro nine hundred
thousand pesos. The distributions of property, bestowed as the reward of
services, were still more exorbitant. Cepeda as the reward of his
perfidy, in persuading the court of royal audience to give the sanction
of its authority to the usurped jurisdiction of Pizarro, received a
grant of lands which yielded an annual income of an hundred and fifty
thousand pesos. Hinojosa, who, by his early defection from Pizarro, and
surrender of the feet to Gasca, decided the fate of Peru, obtained a
district of country affording two hundred thousand pesos of yearly
value. While such rewards were dealt out to the principal officers, with
more than royal munificence, proportional shares were conferred on
those of inferior rank."

"Such a rapid change of fortune produced its natural effects. It gave
birth to new wants, and new desires. Veterans, long accustomed to
hardship and toil, acquired of a sudden a taste for profuse and
inconsiderate dissipation and indulged in all the excesses of military
licentiousness. The riot of low debauchery occupied some; a relish for
expensive luxuries spread among others. The meanest soldier in Peru
would have thought himself degraded by marching on foot; and, at a time
when the price of horses in that country was exorbitant, each individual
insisted on being furnished with one before he would take the field.
But, though less patient under the fatigues and hardships of service,
they were ready to face danger and death with as much intrepidity as
ever; and, animated by the hope of new rewards, they never failed, on
the day of battle, to display all