gret to
pursue that of others in due course.

As soon as Esarhaddon had passed away, the separation of the two parts
of the empire which he had planned was effected almost automatically:
Assur-bani-pal proclaimed himself King of Assyria, and Shamash-shumukin,
in like manner, King of Babylon. One fact, which seems insignificant
enough to us when we read it in the Annals, but was decisive in the
eyes of their contemporaries, sanctioned the transformation thus
accomplished: Bel and the gods of Accad quitted Assur in the month of
Iyyar and returned to their resting-place in Babylon. The restoration
of the images to their own country became necessary as soon as it was
decided to have a king in Karduniash, even though he were an Assyrian.
To enable him to exercise legitimate authority, he must have celebrated
the rites and "taken the hands of Bel," but it was a question whether
this obligation could be fulfilled if Bel remained a prisoner in the
neighbouring capital. Assur-bani-pal believed for a moment that this
difficulty could be obviated, and consulted Shamash on this delicate
question: "Shamash-shumukin, the son of Esarhaddon, the King of Assyria,
can he in this year take the hands of Bel, the mighty lord Marduk, in
this very city, and then go to Babylon with the favour of Bel! If that
would be pleasing to thy great divinity and to the mighty lord Marduk,
thy great divinity must know it." The reply was not favourable, and
Shamash gave it as his opinion that Bel could not act as a sovereign
lord while still languishing in prison in a city which was not his own.
Assur-bani-pal had to resign himself to the release of his captive,
and he did it with a good grace. He proceeded in pomp to the temple of
Assur, where Marduk was shut up, and humbly entreated the exiled deity
to vouchsafe to return to his own country.

[Illustration: 168.jpg ASSUR-BANIPAL AS A BEARER OF OFFERINGS]

Drawn by Boudier, from a photograph in Lehmann.

"Think on Babylon, which thou didst bring to nought in the rage of thy
heart, and turn thy face towards the temple of E-sagilla, the lofty seat
of thy divinity! Revisit thy city which thou hast forsaken to inhabit a
place which is not worthy of thee, and do thou thyself, O Marduk, lord
of the gods, give the command to return to Babylon." The statue set out
on its journey, and was escorted by a solemn procession headed by the
two kings. The gods, by one accord, came forth from their cities
and sal