the least object belonging to the divine domain; it was predicted of
such "that he would be killed like an ox in the midst of his prosperity,
and slaughtered like a wild urus in the fulness of his strength!... May
his name be effaced from his stelae in the temple of his god! May his
god see pitilessly the disaster of his country, may the god ravage his
land with the waters of heaven, ravage it with the waters of the
earth. May he be pursued as a nameless wretch, and his seed fall under
servitude! May this man, like every one who acts adversely to his
master, find nowhere a refuge, afar off, under the vault of the skies or
in any abode of man whatsoever." These threats, terrible as they were,
did not succeed in deterring the daring, and the mighty men of the
time were willing to brave them, when their interests promoted them.
Gulkishar, Lord of the "land of the sea," had vowed a wheat-field to
Nina, his lady, near the town of Deri, on the Tigris. Seven hundred
years later, in the reign of Belnadinabal, Ekarrakais, governor of
Bitsinmagir, took possession of it, and added it to the provincial
possessions, contrary to all equity. The priest of the goddess appealed
to the king, and prostrating himself before the throne with many prayers
and mystic formulas, begged for the restitution of the alienated land.
Belnadinabal acceded to the request, and renewed the imprecations which
had been inserted on the original deed of gift: "If ever, in the
course of days, the man of law, or the governor of a suzerain who will
superintend the town of Bitsinmagir, fears the vengeance of the god
Zikum or the goddess Nina, may then Zikum and Nina, the mistress of the
goddesses, come to him with the benediction of the prince of the gods;
may they grant to him the destiny of a happy life, and may they accord
to him days of old age, and years of uprightness! But as for thee, who
hast a mind to change this, step not across its limits, do not covet
the land: hate evil and love justice." If all sovereigns were not so
accommodating in their benevolence as Belnadinabal, the piety of private
individuals, stimulated by fear, would be enough to repair the loss,
and frequent legacies would soon make up for the detriment caused to
the temple possessions by the enemy's sword or the rapacity of an
unscrupulous lord. The residue, after the vicissitudes of revolutions,
was increased and diminished from time to time, to form at length in the
city an indestructibl