the summonses, directives, decrees, and verdicts as far as what is today Argentina, to the south, and Quito, to the north. The principle of the I nca system made it possible to subject heteroclite tribes to the central power. Across the one-time empire, urbanism still testifies to this autocracy. Throughout the conquered provinces , plazas similar to that at Cuzco were used for celebrations, the administration of justice, the call to arms, and payments of tribute. Towns seem to have been conceived less as conglomerations of dwellings than as relays of power for the central authority, and the people were considered above all as manual labor, detachable according to the requirements of the rational organization of the economy.
But what is the principle of intelligibility, the principium, of this, the most centralized empire ever? The population, the animals , the labor, the soil itself, were parcelled into decimal units. The cacique of ten heads of families oversaw the agricultural work and distributed the provisions. Other duties were incumbent upon the leaders of fifty, one hundred, five hundred, one thousand, and ten thousand families. The ages were grouped into units of ten. The public officials, recognizable by ear perforations that varied according to their rank, constituted cells of ten. The corps of craftsmen, the plots of land, even the sexes were organized in the same way. According to the chronicle of Huaman Poma, who claimed to have been the grandson of the Inca Tupac Yupanqui, there were ten groups of men and ten groups of women. For the pleasure of it I quote in extenso:
1. Auca camayoc. The warriors, or more precisely, those who could be mobilized. The whole male population from twenty-five to fifty.
2. Puric macho. From fifty to eighty years. Servants of the noblemen, carrying out light duties.
3. Rocto macho. From eighty to one hundred years and over. "Old men hard of hearing, only able to eat and sleep , plait ropes and raise rabbits and ducks." But they were feared and honoured because of their sharp tongues.
4. Unoc runa. The sick, deaf, dumb, blind, hunchbacked, dwarfs , and maimed. They gave what service they could and "were the butt s of the rest."
5. Sava panac. From eighteen to twenty years. They carried the messages and tended the herds. Practiced poverty and ab stinence, and were not entitled to women.
6. Macta cona. From twelve to eighteen years. They kept the flocks, caught birds with a net and offe red the feathers to the curaca.
7. Tocilacoc namracona. From nine to twelve years. They protected the small birds, sown seeds and harvests.
8. Pucllacoc namracona. "Those who play," from five to nine years. Their favorite toy was a spinning top, but it was agreed that they should be "taught and pu nished for the good of the realm."
9. Llullo vamracona. From first steps to five years. The law permitted parents two years to care for their children, to enjoy them, and "to save them from falling or being burned."
10. Uaua quiro-picac. Infants in the cradle.