Babylonians.
"As for the children of Babylon, I had set them upon seats of honour,
I had clothed them in robes of many colours, I had placed rings of gold
upon their fingers; the children of Babylon had been established in
Assyria, and were admitted into my presence. But Shamash-shumukin, the
false brother, he has not observed my ordinances, but has raised against
me the peoples of Akkad, the Kalda, the Aramaeans, the peoples of the
country of the sea, from Akabah to Bab-salimeti!" Nineveh was at first
in a state of trepidation at this unexpected blow; the sacred oracles
gave obscure replies, and presaged evil four times out of five. At last,
one day, a seer slept and dreamed a dream, in which he saw this
sentence written on the ground in the temple of Sin: "All those who are
meditating evil against Assur-bani-pal, King of Assyria, and who
are preparing themselves to fight with him, I will inflict on them
a terrible death: by the swift sword, by flinging them into fire, by
famine and by pestilence, will I destroy their lives!" The courage
of the people being revived by this prophecy, Assur-bani-pal issued a
proclamation to the Babylonians, in which he denounced his brother's
treason, and commanded them to remain quiet as they valued their lives,
and, having done this, he boldly assumed the offensive (652 B.C.).*

* The proclamation is dated in the eponymous year of Assur-
duruzur, corresponding to 652 B.C.; the events which
immediately preceded the proclamation ought, very probably,
to be assigned to the same year.

The only real danger came from the side of Elam; this state alone was
in a condition to oppose him with as numerous and determined an army as
that which he himself could put into the field; if Blam were disabled,
it would be impossible for Babylon to be victorious, and its fall would
be a mere question of time. The opening of the campaign was a difficult
matter. Khumban-igash, having sold his support dearly, had at all events
spared no pains to satisfy his employer, and had furnished him with the
flower of his nobility, comprising Undashi, one of the sons of Tiumman;
Zazaz, prefect of Billate; Parru, chief of Khilmu; Attamitu, commanding
the archers; and Nesu, commander-in-chief of his forces. In order to
induce Undashi to serve under him, he had not hesitated to recall to his
memory the sad fate of Tiumman: "Go, and avenge upon Assyria the murder
of the father who begat thee!" The two