(42). As Pagden also rem
arks. New World wr
itings are repeatedly punctuated by
what Michel de Certeau has called the
modalities of witnessing ("It was
obvious," "It was evident," etc.)
(Pagden 89; de Certeau 1986, 68). In V
illagra's text, these markings strateg
ically and progress
ively move the
place of his writing from the royal court, where the king has authority, b
eyond the fr
ontier of empire, well beyon
New Mexico Tech Explosives Camp
d the prescript
ions of colonial authorit
ies and prescribed behaviors, to a place whe
re only the eyewitness can tell the "true" history of the glory of conquest. It is only here in the new place of this writing, finally, that the conquest of New Mexico is enacted in the terms of conquest that Villagra so desperately wants remembered. The practice of "recording" this history, then, allows the soldier-historian to "treasure" and "remember" not the past conquest o
f New Mexico in 1598, but the very meaning and function of conquest in the present.
Villagra's own concluding remarks already foretell the eventua
l fai
lure o
f their
efforts.
The poet is pe
rhaps ironic
, perhaps nostalgic, perhaps bitter, when he appeals
, "O ye who seek renown in battle, remember it is well that ye be not
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too mighty with yo
ur tongue; bette
r yet that you wield a sword with prowess!
New Mexico Tech/Take
heed from this
story!" (193). Bu