ained. The animals, in particular, are portrayed with a
light and delicate touch--the wild asses pursued by hounds, or checked
while galloping at full speed by a cast of the lasso; the herds of goats
and gazelles hurrying across the desert; the wounded lioness, which
raises herself with a last dying effort to roar at the beaters. We are
conscious of Egyptian influence underlying the Asiatic work, and the
skilful arrangement of the scenes from the Elamite campaigns also
reminds us of Egypt. The picture of the battle of Tulliz recalls, in
the variety of its episodes and the arrangement of the perspective, the
famous engagement at Qodshu, of which Ramses II. has left such
numerous presentments on the Theban pylons. The Assyrians, led by the
vicissitudes of invasion to Luxor and the Ramesseum, had, doubtless,
seen these masterpieces of Egyptian art in a less mutilated state than
that in which we now possess them, and profited by the remembrance when
called upon to depict the private life of their king and the victories
gained by his armies.

[Illustration: 290.jpg A HERD OF WILD GOATS--A BAS-RELIEF OF THE TIME OF
ASSUR-BANI-PAL]

Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from the sketch by Place.

It was in this magnificent residence that Assur-bani-pal led an
existence of indolent splendour, such as the chroniclers of a later
age were wont to ascribe to all the Assyrian monarchs from the time of
Semiramis onwards.*

* Stories of the effeminacy of Sardanapalus had been
collected by Ctesias of Cnidus; they soon grew under the
hands of historians in the time of Alexander, and were
passed on by them to writers of the Roman and Byzantine
epochs.

[Illustration: 290b ILLUSTRATED MANUSCRIPT IN HEIROGLYPHICS]

We would gladly believe that he varied the monotony of his hunting
expeditions, his banquets, and entertainments in the gardens in company
with the women of the harem, by pleasures of a more refined nature, and
that he took an unusual interest in the history and literature of the
races who had become subject to his rule. As a matter of fact, there
have been discovered in several of the ruined chambers of his palaces
the remains of a regular library, which must originally have contained
thousands of clay tablets, all methodically arranged and catalogued for
his use. A portion of them furnish us at first-hand with the records
of his reign, and include letters exchanged with provincial governors,
augural pre