Speech to his soldiers shortly before the expedition to Mexico (1519), quoted in Francisco López de Gómara, The pleasant historie of the conquest of the VVeast India, now called new Spayne atchieued by the vvorthy prince Hernando Cortes Marques of the valley of Huaxacac, most delectable to reade: translated out of the Spanishe tongue, by T.N. Anno. 1578., p. 25
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Héere déere friends do I lay before you great gaynes, but wrapped in greate trauell, yet Vertue is an enimie to idlenesse .&c. Therefore if you will accept hope for Vertue, or Vertue for hope, and also if ye forsake me not, as I will not forsake you, I will with Gods help make you in shorte time the richest men that euer passed this way. I doe sée you are but fewe in number, but yet such men of haughtie courage, that no force or strength of Indians can offende. Likewise wée haue experience, that Christ our sauiour hathe alwayes fauoured our nation in these parties. Therfore my déere friendes, let vs now in Gods name depart ioyfull, exspecting good successe, according to our beginning .&c.

— Hernán Cortés

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "Héere déere friends do I lay before you great gaynes, but wrapped in greate trauell, yet Vertue is an enimie to idlenesse .&c. Therefore if you will accept hope for Vertue, or Vertue for hope, and also if ye forsake me not, as I will not forsake you, I will with Gods help make you in shorte time the richest men that euer passed this way. I doe sée you are but fewe in number, but yet such men of haughtie courage, that no force or strength of Indians can offende. Likewise wée haue experience, that Christ our sauiour hathe alwayes fauoured our nation in these parties. Therfore my déere friendes, let vs now in Gods name depart ioyfull, exspecting good successe, according to our beginning .&c." in the context of "Speech to his soldiers shortly before the expedition to Mexico (1519), quoted in Francisco López de Gómara, The pleasant historie of the conquest of the VVeast India, now called new Spayne atchieued by the vvorthy prince Hernando Cortes Marques of the valley of Huaxacac, most delectable to reade: translated out of the Spanishe tongue, by T.N. Anno. 1578., p. 25" to mean that wisdom is timeless.

Source: Wikiquote: "Hernán Cortés" (Quotes) The 'What it means' explanation text was generated by Google Gemini Flash (accessed January 19, 2026). https://gemini.google.com/app
Hernán Cortés

About Hernán Cortés

Hernán Cortés de Monroy y Pizarro Altamirano, 1st Marquess of the Valley of Oaxaca (December 1485 – 2 December 1547) was a Spanish conquistador who led an expedition that caused the fall of the Aztec Empire and brought large portions of what is now mainland Mexico under the rule of the king of Castile in the early 16th century. Cortés was part of the generation of Spanish explorers and conquistadors who began the first phase of the Spanish colonization of the Americas.