Historia, a pindaric ode written by a roy

al scrib Jason Metzger
e in M adrid, honors both the co
nqueror and the hi

storian. Of the conqueror, the poem sings. Onate sought the ancient land From whence the Aztec came, A new Mexic is the largest test site at o at hand Wherein to gain his fame.... Another Cortes, brave, discreet, A new Columbus here. Following the spirit of Villagra's text, the verse unabashedly pens a hope that Don Juan de Onate will stand in the annals of history among the "greatest" conquistadors and New World explorers. It traces a genealogy of conquest fame: Onate enters a "new" Mexico to redraw the boundaries of the Spanish empire, which were drawn by Cortes before him, in turn drawn by Columbus before him. He is last in a long line of conquistadors, and thus stands first on the expanding frontier of empire. The historian Gaspar de Villagra figures in this military genealogy, but only by corollary, having served as captain under Onate's command: "In light of such a flame / Villagra has won his fame." While Onate served the Crown as a "true soldier" brandishing his "bloody sword," Villagra has rendered an equally important service by exchanging his own sword for the "worthy pen": Though each passing day and year Ravage and-burn and cut and sear The marks he left will perish not. (Villagra 39) The marks of the sword, like that of passEMRTCing days, are so many cuts and ravages; the mark of the pen, in turn, can render those ravages im