the very origin of Aztec

greatness. In a ca
lculat ed reversal, Villagra im
plies that it was

Cortes, rather than Onate, who found the "new" and "copied" Mexico. Here Onate becomes the "Christian Achilles," for whom alone was reserved the privilege of discovering the Seven Cities of their forefathers, and of conquering the "original" Mexican lands, in this "the most hidden portion of the earth" (Villagra 41, 72). The conquest of New Mexico, like those before and after,