the empire, and met with the same degree of
protection from the officials of Nineveh as from the magistrates of
their own country. Assur-bani-pal had at the outset furthered the wishes
of his brother to the utmost of his power: he had granted the privileges
demanded, and whenever a Chaldaean of noble birth arrived at his court,
he received him with special marks of favour. The two states enjoyed
a nearly absolute equality during the opening years of his reign, and
though the will of Esarhaddon had made Babylon dependent on Assyria, the
yoke of vassalage was far from heavy. The suzerain reserved to himself
the honour of dedicating the mighty works begun by his father, the
restoration of the temple of Bel-Marduk and of the double wall of
fortification; he claimed, in his inscriptions, the whole merit of the
work, but he none the less respected his brother's rights, and in no
way interfered in the affairs of the city except in state ceremonies
in which the assertion of his superior rank was indispensable. But with
success his moderation gradually gave place to arrogance. In proportion
as his military renown increased, he accentuated his supremacy, and
accustomed himself to treat Babylon more and more as a vassal state.
After the conquest of Elam his infatuated pride knew no bounds, and the
little consideration he still retained for Shamash-shumukin vanished
completely. He thenceforward refused to regard him as being more than
a prefect bearing a somewhat higher title than his fellows, a viceroy
owing his crown, not to the will of their common father, but to the
friendship of his brother, and liable to be deprived of it at any moment
through the caprice of the sovereign. He affected to consider all that
took place at Babylon as his own doing, and his brother as being merely
his docile instrument, not deserving mention any more than the ordinary
agents who carried out his designs; and if, indeed, he condescended to
mention him, it was with an assumption of disdainful superiority. It is
a question whether Shamash-Shumukin at this juncture believed that his
brother was meditating a design to snatch the reins of government from
his hand, or whether he merely yielded to the impulse of wounded vanity
in resolving to shake off a yoke which had become intolerable. Knowing
that his power was not equal to that of Assur-bani-pal, he sought to
enter into relations with foreign allies who shared the same fears, or
nursed a similar feelin