int of fighting her neighbours again and again, without a single
day's respite, that Rome succeeded in forging the weapons with which
she was to conquer the world; and any one who, repelled by their tedious
sameness, neglected to follow the history of her early struggles, would
find great difficulty in understanding how it came about that a city
which had taken centuries to subjugate her immediate neighbours should
afterwards overcome all the states on the Mediterranean seaboard with
such magnificent ease. In much the same way the ceaseless struggles of
Assyria with the Chaldaeans, and with the mountain tribes of the
Zagros Chain, were unconsciously preparing her for those lightning-like
campaigns in which she afterwards overthrew all the civilized nations
of the Bast one after another. It was only at the cost of unparalleled
exertions that she succeeded in solidly welding together the various
provinces within her borders, and in kneading (so to speak) the many
and diverse elements of her vast population into one compact mass,
containing in itself all that was needful for its support, and able to
bear the strain of war for several years at time without giving way, and
rich enough in men and horses to provide the material for an effective
army without excessive impoverishment of her trade or agriculture.

[Illustration: 173.jpg AN ASSYRIAN]

Drawn by Boudier, from a painted bas-relief given in Layard.

The race came of an old Semitic strain, somewhat crude as yet, and
almost entirely free from that repeated admixture of foreign elements
which had marred the purity of the Babylonian stock. The monuments show
us a type similar in many respects to that which we find to-day on the
slopes of Singar, or in the valleys to the east of Mossul.

The figures on the monuments are tall and straight, broad-shouldered and
wide in the hips, the arms well developed, the legs robust, with good
substantial feet. The swell of the muscles on the naked limbs is perhaps
exaggerated, but this very exaggeration of the modelling suggests
the vigour of the model; it is a heavier, more rustic type than the
Egyptian, promising greater strength and power of resistance, and in so
far an indisputable superiority in the great game of war. The head is
somewhat small, the forehead low and flat, the eyebrows heavy, the eye
of a bold almond shape, with heavy lids, the nose aquiline, and full at
the tip, with wide nostrils terminating in a hard, well-defin