e
without his master, they stabbed each other simultaneously, and
perished, as they had lived, together. Khumban-khaldash, delivered by
this suicide from his embarrassments, had the corpse of the master and
the head of the faithful shield-bearer duly embalmed, and sent them to
Nineveh. Assur-bani-pal mutilated the wretched body in order to render
the conditions of life in the other world harder for the soul: he cut
off its head, and forbade the burial of the remains, or the rendering to
the dead of the most simple offerings.

[Illustration: 256.jpg Prayer in the Desert After Painting by Gerome]

About this time the inhabitants of Bit-Imbi, of Til-Khumba, and a
dozen other small towns, who had fled for refuge to the woods of Mount
Saladri, came forth from their hiding-places and cast themselves on
the mercy of the conqueror: he deigned to receive them graciously, and
enrolled them in his guard, together with the prisoners taken in the
last campaign. He was contented to leave Elam to itself for the moment,
as he was disquieted at the turn affairs were taking in Arabia. Abiyate,
scarcely seated on the throne, had refused to pay tribute, and had
persuaded Uate and Nadanu to join him in his contumacy; several cities
along the Phoenician seaboard, led away by his example, shut their gates
and declared themselves independent. Assur-bani-pal had borne all
this patiently, while the mass of his troops were engaged against
Khumban-khaldash; but after the destruction of Susa, he determined to
revenge himself. His forces left Nineveh in the spring of 642 B.C.,
crossed the Euphrates, and the line of wooded hills which bordered the
course of the river towards the west, provisioned themselves with water
at the halting-place of Laribda, and plunged into the desert in search
of the rebels. The Assyrians overran the country of Mash, from the town
of Iarki to Azalla, where "there dwell no beasts of the field, where
no bird of the sky builds its nest," and then, after filling their
water-skins at the cisterns of Azalla, they advanced boldly into the
thirsty lands which extend towards Qurazite; they next crossed the
territory of Kedar, cutting down the trees, filling up the wells,
burning the tents, and reached Damascus from the north-east side,
bringing in their train innumerable flocks of asses, sheep, camels,
and slaves. The Bedawin of the north had remained passive, but the
Nabathaeans, encouraged by the remoteness of their country and