Jamail Center for Legal Research

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            Drunkenness

  The Aztecs believed that drunkenness was a leading cause of crime and other social evils. First offenses were usually punished by public disgrace (such as shaving the head), and subsequent offenses by death, although priests and nobles were often executed for the first offense. However, the elderly were exempt from these rules.

A young couple getting drunk on pulque (right) (Codex Mendoza). The opened basket symbolizes theft. The Spanish caption says, "The vice of drunkenness sometimes leads people to become thieves."

An elderly couple drinking pulque (below) (Codex Mendoza). The Spanish captions explain that the couple is allowed to get drunk because they are old and have children and grandchildren.

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"They also say that to no purpose is the drunkard; no longer doth he know what he sayeth, what he divulgeth. Nothing tranquil, nothing peaceful cometh from his mouth. The pulque completely harmeth, completely ruineth humanity, the character of things; [so] the old men went saying...

"For this reason the lords, the rulers who acted for the realm, who gave forth the word of our lord, go stoning people on account of pulque; they go hanging people because of it."

—Florentine Codex, Book VI, Chapter 14.