homogeneous race, actuated by a common patriotic
spirit, became for many a year a region capriciously subdivided and torn
by the dissensions of a number of paltry antagonistic communities.
The colonists, exposed to the same hatreds as the original Assyrian
conquerors, soon forgot to look upon the latter as the oppressors of
all, and, allowing their present grudge to efface the memory of past
injuries, did not hesitate to make common cause with them. In time of
peace, the governor did his best to protect them against molestation on
the part of the natives, and in return for this they rallied round him
whenever the latter threatened to get out of hand, and helped him
to stifle the revolt or hold it in check until the arrival of
reinforcements. Thanks to their help, the empire was consolidated and
maintained without too many violent outbreaks in regions far removed
from the capital and beyond the immediate reach of the sovereign.* We
possess very few details with regard to the administration of these
prefects.**

* This was the history of the only one of those colonies
whose fate is known to us--that founded at Samaria by Sargon
and his successors.

** The texts contain a certain number of names of offices,
the precise nature of which it is not easy to ascertain,
e.g. the Khazanu, the Labuttu, and others. One of them,
apparently, should be read _Shuparshak_, and identical with
one of the titles mentioned in Ezra (v. 6, vi. 6) as being
in existence during the Persian epoch.

The various functionaries, governors of towns, tax-collectors, heads of
stations, and officers whose duty it was to patrol the roads and look
after the safety of merchants, were, for the most part, selected from
among natives who had thrown in their lot with Assyria, and probably
few Assyrians were to be found outside the more turbulent cities and
important fortresses. The kings and chiefs whose territory was attached
to a given province, either took their instructions direct from Nineveh,
or were sometimes placed under the control of a resident, or _kipu_,
with some sort of escort at his back, who kept watch over their
movements and reported them to the suzerain, and saw that the tribute
was paid regularly, and that the military service provided for in the
treaties was duly rendered. Governors and residents alike kept up a
constant correspondence with the court, and such of their letters as
have chanced