ough the shadows of the
past some twenty years ago, and has gradually been taking form ever since.
When civilization makes up its mind to re-enter upon that country, nothing
more will be needed for the re-awakening in it of life and reproductive
energy, than the restoration of the great works undertaken by the
contemporaries of Abraham and Jacob.

* * * * *

According to all appearance it was the Egyptian conquest about sixteen
centuries B.C., that led to the partition of Mesopotamia. Vassals of
Thothmes and Rameses, called by Berosus the "Arab kings," sat upon the
throne of Babylon. The tribes of Upper Mesopotamia were farther from Egypt,
and their chiefs found it easier to preserve their independence. At first
each city had its own prince, but in time one of these petty kingdoms
absorbed the rest, and Nineveh became the capital of an united Assyria. As
the years passed away the frontiers of the nation thus constituted were
pushed gradually southwards until all Mesopotamia was brought under one
sceptre. This consummation appears to have been complete by the end of the
fourteenth century, at which period Egypt, enfeebled and rolled back upon
herself, ceased to make her influence felt upon the Euphrates. Even then
Babylon kept her own kings, but they had sunk to be little more than
hereditary satraps receiving investiture from Nineveh. Over and over again
Babylon attempted to shake off the yoke of her neighbour; but down to the
seventh century her revolts were always suppressed, and the Assyrian
supremacy re-established after more or less desperate conflicts.

During nearly half a century, from about 1060 to 1020 B.C., Babylon seems
to have recovered the upper hand. The victories of her princes put an end
to what is called the FIRST ASSYRIAN EMPIRE. But after one or two
generations a new family mounted the northern throne, and, toiling
energetically for a century or so to establish the grandeur of the
monarchy, founded the SECOND ASSYRIAN EMPIRE. The upper country regained
its ascendency by the help of military institutions whose details now
escape us, although their results may be traced throughout the later
history of Assyria. From the tenth century onwards the effects of these
institutions become visible in expeditions made by the armies of Assyria,
now to the shores of the Persian Gulf or the Caspian, and now through the
mountains of Armenia into the plains of Cappadocia, or across the