eir trade in the west. Assur-bani-pal lavished friendly speeches on
the Lydians, but left them to bear the brunt of the attack alone, and
devoutly thanked Assur for the security which their determined courage
procured for the western frontier of his empire.

The Cimmerian peril being, for the present at least, averted, there
no longer remained any foe to trouble the peace of the empire on the
northern or eastern frontier, Urartu, the Mannai, and the Medes having
now ceased to be formidable. Urartu, incessantly exposed to the ravages
of the barbarians, had drawn closer and closer to Assyria; and though
not actually descending to the point of owning its rival's superiority
in order to obtain succour against these terrible foes, it yet carefully
avoided all pretexts for war, and persistently maintained friendly
relations with its powerful neighbour. Its kings, Eusas II. and his
successor Erimenas, no longer meditated feats of arms and successful
raids, but devoted themselves to building their city walls, erecting
palaces and temples, and planning pleasant retreats in the mountain
fastnesses, where they lived surrounded by gardens planted at great
cost, watered by streams brought thither from distant springs. The
Mannai submitted without a murmur to their Assyrian governors, and the
Medes, kept in check by the garrisons of Parsua and Kharkhar, seemed
to have laid aside much of their fierce and turbulent disposition.
Esarhaddon had endeavoured to conciliate the good will of Elam by a
signal service. He had supplied its inhabitants with corn, wine, and
provisions of all sorts during a famine which had afflicted the country
about 670 B.C.; nor had his good will ended there. He refused to bring
into servitude those Elamite subjects who had taken refuge with their
families on Assyrian territory to escape the scourge, although the
rights of nations authorised him so to do, but having nourished them
as long as the dearth lasted, he then sent them back to their
fellow-citizens. Urtaku of Elam had thenceforward maintained a kind of
sullen neutrality, entering only into secret conspiracies against the
Babylonian prefects on the Tigris. The Aramaeans in the valleys of the
Ulai, indeed, were restless, and several of their chiefs, Bel-ikisha
of the G-ambula, and Nabo-shumirish, plotted in secret with
Marduk-shumibni, the Elamite general in command on the frontier. But no
hint of this had yet transpired, and peace apparently reigned there