Source: Copy from WTL's copy of Bernal Díaz's Historia verdadera de la conquista de la Nueva España.
Comment: This is the title page from this work's first published edition: Madrid, 1632. Notice the publishing style: it is late Renaissance or early Baroque stye. Distinctive aspects are the profusion of visual symbols, long, complicated title, and heavy classical elements such as the columns and the capital at the top with the crown in the center. On the left is an image of Hernán Cortés, and on the right is Fr. Bartolomé de Olmedo--one the conquistador par excellence and the other a Dominican priest. Fray Bartolomé de Olmedo accompanied Pedro de Alvarado on the conquest and evangelization of Tehuantepec, México, in 1522.
Question: Why are these two figures shown facing the title page?