Outsiders and Outcasts in the Mexica World - Numilog

A ruler exhorts his people. Florentine Codex.
class enforced the most stringent limits on
behavior in order to justify their superior
status before the macehual masses. In
this way the noble distinguished himself
from the peasant, while, on another level,
this behavioral code distinguished the
Mexica ethnic group from all others and
positioned the foreigner at the opposite
extreme in terms of correct behavior.
A father exhorts his son to good
behavior. Florentine Codex.
The Proper Way to Walk
A father instructs his son:
You must be prudent in your travels;
peacefully, calmly, tranquilly […] are you
to go, to take to the road, to travel. Do not
throw your feet much, nor raise them
high, nor go jumping, lest you be called
foolish, shameless. Nor are you to go very
slowly, or drag your feet. 7 […] neither too
hurriedly nor too leisurely, but with honesty
and maturity [are you to go]. 8
Otherwise, as Sahagún indicates, one
would be called ixtotomac cuecuetz.
The young noblewoman was told to walk
without haste, that is, without restlessness
(cuecuetzyotl), 9 and without wandering,
so as not to seem ostentatious;
she was to keep her head lowered as
she walked, showing no pride; and she
was not supposed to look up or from
side to side, since that would indicate
Mexica Moral and Behavioral Systems
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