a
great danger, these tribes might consent to coalesce and to form
alliances, or even confederations; but the federal tie, never one of
much tenacity, and rarely capable of holding its ground in the presence
of monarchic vigor, was here especially weak. After one defeat of their
joint forces by the Assyrian troops, the confederates commonly
dispersed, each flying to the defence of his own city or territory, with
a short-sighted selfishness which deserved and ensured defeat. In one
direction only was Assyria confronted by a rival state pomsessing a
power and organization in character not unlike her own, though scarcely
of equal strength. On her southern frontier, in the broad flat plain
intervening between the Mesopotamian upland and the sea--the kingdom of
Babylon was still existing; its Semitic kings, though originally
established upon the throne by Assyrian influence, had dissolved all
connection with their old protectors, and asserted their thorough
independence. Here, then, was a considerable state, as much centralized
as Assyria herself, and not greatly inferior either in extent of
territory or in population, existing side by side with her, and
constituting a species of check, whereby something like a balance of
power was still maintained in Western Asia, and Assyria: was prevented
from feeling herself the absolute mistress of the East, and the
uncontrolled arbitress of the world's destinies.

Besides the great cylinder inscription of Tiglath-Pileser there exist
five more years of his annals in fragments, from which we learn that he
continued his aggressive expeditious during this space, chiefly towards
the north west, subduing the Lulumi in Northern Syria, attacking and
taking Carchemish, and pursuing the inhabitants across the Euphrates in
boats.

No mention is made during this time of any collision between Assyria and
her great rival. Babylon. The result of the wars waged by
Asshur-ris-ilim against Nebuchadnezzar I., had, apparently, been to
produce in the belligerents a feeling of mutual respect; and
Tiglath-Pileser, in his earlier years, neither trespassed on the
Babylonian territory in his aggressive raids, nor found himself called
upon to meet and repel any invasion of his own dominions by his southern
neighbors. Before the close of his reign, however, active hostilities
broke out between the two powers. Either provoked by some border ravage
or actuated simply by lust of conquest, Tiglath-Pileser marched