st."

The serpent did as Shamash advised, and the birds of the air began to
flock round the carcase in which she was hidden. The eagle came with the
rest, and at first kept aloof, looking for what should happen. When she
saw that the birds flew away unharmed all fear left her. In vain did the
wise eaglet warn her of the danger that was lurking within the prey; she
mocked at him and his predictions, dug her beak into the carrion, and
the serpent leaping out seized her by the wing. Then "the eagle her
mouth opened, and spake unto the snake, 'Have mercy upon me, and
according to thy pleasure a gift I will lavish upon thee!' The snake
opened her mouth and spake unto the eagle, 'Did I release thee, Shamash
would take part against me; and the doom would fall upon me, which now
I fulfil upon thee.' She tore out her wings, her feathers, her pinions;
she tore her to pieces, she threw her into a cleft, and there she died a
death of hunger and of thirst."

The gods allowed no living being to penetrate with impunity into their
empire: he who was desirous of ascending thither, however brave he might
be, could do so only by death. The mass of humanity had no pretensions
to mount so high. Their religion gave them the choice between a
perpetual abode in the tomb, or confinement in the prison of Allat; if
at times they strove to escape from these alternatives, and to picture
otherwise their condition in the world beyond, their ideas as to the
other life continued to remain vague, and never approached the minute
precision of the Egyptian conception. The cares of the present life were
too absorbing to allow them leisure to speculate upon the conditions of
a future existence.

[Illustration: 230.jpg Endplate]

CHAPTER III--CHALDAEAN CIVILIZATION

_CHALDAEAN CIVILIZATION--ROYALTY--THE CONSTITUTION OF THE FAMILY AND ITS
PROPERTY--CHALMAN COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY._

_The kings not gods, but the vicegerents of the gods: their sacerdotal
character--The queens and the women of the royal family: the sons and
the order of succession to the throne--The royal palaces: description
of the palace of Gudea at Lagash, the facades, the zigurat, the private
apartments, the furniture, the external decoration--Costume of the
men and women: the employees of the palace and the method of royal
administration; the military and the great lords._

_The scribe and the clay books.--Cuneiform writing: its hieroglyphic
origin; the Protean character of the