responds closely with the modern Arab kingdom of Hira. Esar-haddon
boasts that he marched into the middle of the territory, that he slew
eight of its sovereigns, and carried into Assyria their gods, their
treasures, and their subjects; and that, though Laile escaped him, he
too lost his gods, which were seized and conveyed to Nineveh. Then
Laile, like the Idumaean monarch above mentioned, felt it necessary to
humble himself. He went in person to the Assyrian capital, prostrated
himself before the royal footstool, and entreated for the restoration of
his gods; which Esar-haddon consented to give back, but solely on the
condition that Laile became thenceforth one of his tributaries.

If this expedition was really carried into the quarter here supposed,
Esar-haddon performed a feat never paralleled in history, excepting by
Augustus and Nushirvan. He led an army across the deserts which
everywhere guard Arabia on the land side, and penetrated to the more
fertile tracts beyond them, a region of settled inhabitants and of
cities. He there took and spoiled several towns; and he returned to his
own country without suffering disaster. Considering the physical perils
of the desert itself, and the warlike character of its inhabitants, whom
no conqueror has ever really subdued, this was a most remarkable
success. The dangers of the simoom may have been exaggerated, and the
total aridity of the northern region may have been overstated by many
writers; but the difficulty of carrying water and provisions for a large
army, and the peril of a plunge into the wilderness with a small one,
can scarcely be stated in too strong terms, and have proved sufficient
to deter most Eastern conquerors from even the thoughts of an Arabian
expedition. Alexander would, perhaps, had he lived, have attempted an
invasion from the side of the Persian Gulf; and Trajan actually
succeeded in bringing under the Roman yoke an outlying portion of the
country--the district between Damascus and the Red Sea; but Arabia has
been deeply penetrated thrice only in the history of the world; and
Esar-haddon is the sole monarch who ever ventured to conduct in person
such an attack.

From the arid regions of the great peninsula Esar-haddon proceeded,
probably in another year, to the invasion of the marsh-country on the
Euphrates, where the Aramaean tribe of the Gambulu had their
habitations, dwelling (he tells us) "like fish, in the midst of the
waters"--doubtless much af