c_ to the clan. He
executed the decrees of the tribal council, of which he was _ex officio_
a member, and was responsible for the housing of tribute and its proper
distribution among the clans. He was also chief judge, and he was
lieutenant to the head war-chief in command of the tribal host.[117]
He was elected for life by the tribal council, which could depose him
for misconduct.

[Footnote 116: In Aztec mythology Cihuacoatl was wife of the
supreme night deity, Tezcatlipoca. Squier, _Serpent Symbol in
America_, pp. 159-166, 174-183. On the connection between
serpent worship and human sacrifices, see Fergusson's _Tree and
Serpent Worship_, pp. 3-5, 38-41. Much evidence as to American
serpent worship is collected in J. G. Mueller's _Geschichte der
amerikanischen Urreligionen_, Basel, 1855. The hieroglyphic
emblem of the Aztec tribal sachem was a female head surmounted
by a snake.]

[Footnote 117: Other tribes besides the Aztec had the
"snake-woman." In the city of Mexico the Spaniards mistook him
for a "second-king," or "royal lieutenant." In other towns they
regarded him, somewhat more correctly, as "governor," and
called him _gobernador_,--a title still applied to the tribal
sachem of the pueblo Indians, as e. g. in Zuni heretofore
mentioned; see above p. 89.]

[Sidenote: The "chief-of men."]

[Sidenote: Evolution of kingship in Greece and Rome.]

The office of head war-chief was an instance of primitive royalty in a
very interesting stage of development. The title of this officer was
_tlacatecuhtli_, or "chief-of-men."[118] He was primarily head war-chief
of the Aztec tribe, but about 1430 became supreme military commander of
the three confederate tribes, so that his office was one of peculiar
dignity and importance. When the Spaniards arrived upon the scene
Montezuma was _tlacatecuhtli_, and they naturally called him "king." To
understand precisely how far such an epithet could correctly be applied
to him, and how far it was misleading, we must recall the manner in
which early kingship arose in Europe. The Roman _rex_ was an officer
elected for life; the typical Greek _basileus_ was a somewhat more fully
developed king, inasmuch as his office was becoming practically
hereditary; otherwise _rex_ was about equivalent to _basileus_. Alike in
Rome and in Greece the king ha