Document 2 Moctezuma Awaits Word from the Messengers, an excerpt from The Broken Spears, The Aztec Account of the Conquest of Mexico. While the messengers were away, Moctezuma could neither sleep nor eat, and no one could speak with him. He thought that everything he did was in vain, and he sighed almost every moment. He was lost in despair, in the deepest gloom and sorrow. Nothing could comfort him, nothing could calm him, nothing could give him any pleasure. He said, "What will happen to us? Who will outlive it? Ah, in other times I was contented, but now I have death in my hart! My heart burns and suffers, as if it were drowned in spices...! But will our lord come here?" Then he gave orders to the watchmen, to the men who guarded the palace, "Tell me, even if I am sleeping, 'the messengers have come back from the see'." And he gave this order, "Two captives are to be painted with chalk." The messengers went to the house of the Serpent, and Moctezuma arrived. The two captives were sacrificed before his eyes, their breasts were torn open, and the messengers were sprinkled with their blood. This was done because the messengers had completed a difficult mission. They had seen the gods, their eyes had looked upon their faces. They had even conversed with the gods! When the sacrifice was finished, the messengers reported to the king. They told him how they had made the journey, and what they had seen, and what food the strangers ate. Moctezuma was astonished and terrified by their report, and the description of the strangers' food astonished him above all else. He was also terrified to learn how the cannon roared, how its noise resounded, how it caused one to faint and grow deaf. The messengers told him, "A thing like a ball of stone comes out of its entrails, it comes out shooting sparks and raining fire. The smoke that comes out with it has a pestilent odor, like that of rotten mud. This odor penetrates even to the brain and the causes the greatest discomfort. If the cannon is aimed against a tree, it shatters the tree into splinters. This is a most unnatural sight, as if the tree had exploded from within." "The strangers' bodies are completely covered so that only their faces can be seen. Their skin is white, as if it were made of lime. They have yellow hair, though some of them have black. Their beards are long and yellow, and their mustaches are also yellow. Their hair is curly, with very fine strands. "As for food, it is like human food. It is large and white, and not heavy. It is something like straw, but with the taste of a cornstalk, of the pith of a cornstalk. It is a little sweet, as if it were flavored with honey; it tastes of honey, it is sweet-tasting food. "Their dogs are enormous, with flat ears and long, dangling tongues. The color of their eyes in is a burning yellow; their eyes flash fire and shoot off sparks. Their bellies are hollow, their flanks long and narrow. They are tireless and very powerful. They bound here and there, panting, with their tongues hanging out. And they are spotted like an ocelot." When Moctezuma heard this report, he was filled with terror. It was as if he were conquered by despair.

Source: Leon-Portilla, Miguel. The Broken Spears: The Aztec Account of the Conquest of Mexico. Beacon Press (Boston) 1992. pp. 29-31.

Which statement best describes the purpose of Document 2? Document 2 describes what native people experienced as Spanish conquistadores entered their homeland. This document is a religious text that praises the Aztec gods. Document 2 explains the legal and moral justification of the Spanish conquest of the Americas