uted the traveller as he passed by--Beltis of Agade, Nebo of
Borsippa, Shamash of Sippara, and Nirgal. At length he reached his
beloved city, and entered E-sagilla in the midst of an immense throng
of people. The kings headed the _cortege_, and the delighted multitude
joined their two names with that of the god in their acclamations: it
was a day never to be forgotten. Assur-bani-pal, in his capacity of
suzerain, opened the sacred edifice, and then presented his brother, who
thereupon "took the hands of Bel."

[Illustration: 169.jpg SIHAMASH-SHUMUKIN AS A BEARER OF OFFERINGS]

Drawn by Boudier, from a photograph in Lehmann.

A quarter of a century had not passed since the victorious Sennacherib
had, as he thought, inflicted a mortal blow on the one power which stood
in the way of Assyria's supremacy in Western Asia; already, in spite of
his efforts, the city had sprung up from its ruins as vigorous as ever,
and his sons and grandsons had felt themselves irresistibly drawn
to resuscitate that which their ancestors had desired to annihilate
irrevocably. Babylon had rebuilt her palaces, her walls, and her
temples; she had received back her gods without a war, and almost
without any agitation, by the mere force of the prestige she exercised
over all around her, and even over her conquerors. As a matter of fact,
she had not regained her former position, and was still depressed and
enfeebled by the blow which had laid her low; in addition to this, her
king was an Assyrian, and a vassal of Assyria, but nevertheless he
was her own king, and hers alone. Her independence was already half
regained. Shamash-shumukin established his court at Babylon, and applied
himself from the outset to restore, as far as he was able, the material
and moral forces of his kingdom. Assur-bani-pal, on his side, met with
no opposition from his subjects, but prudence cautioned him not to
estrange them; the troubles of the preceding year were perhaps not
so completely suppressed as to prevent the chiefs who had escaped
punishment from being encouraged by the change of sovereign to renew
their intrigues. The king, therefore, remained in Nineveh to inaugurate
his rule, and confided to his generals the charge of conducting the
expeditions which had been undertaken during his father's lifetime.* One
of these undertakings was unimportant. Tandai of Kirbit, a petty chief,
was continually engaged in harassing the inhabitants of Yamutbal; he
bore down up