is power in Media, began once more to aspire after
foreign conquests. Casting his eyes around upon the neighboring
countries, he became aware of the exhaustion of Assyria, and perceived
that she was not likely to offer an effectual resistance to a sudden and
vigorous attack. He therefore collected a large army and invaded Assyria
from the east, while it would seem that the Susianians, with whom he had
perhaps made an alliance, attacked her from the south.

To meet this double danger. Saracus, the Assyrian king, determined on
dividing his forces: and, while he entrusted a portion of them to a
general, Nabopolassar, who had orders to proceed to Babylon and engage
the enemy advancing from the sea, he himself with the remainder made
ready to receive the Medes. In idea this was probably a judicious
disposition of the troops at his disposal; it was politic to prevent a
junction of the two assailing powers, and, as the greater danger was
that which threatened from the Medes, it was well for the king to
reserve himself with the bulk of his forces to meet this enemy. But the
most prudent arrangements may be disconcerted by the treachery of those
who are entrusted with their execution; and so it was in the present
instance. The faithless Nabopolassar saw in his sovereign's difficulty
his own opportunity and, instead of marching against Assyria's enemies,
as his duty required him, he secretly negotiated an arrangement with
Cyaxares, agreed to become his ally against the Assyrians, and obtained
the Median king's daughter as a bride for Nebuchadnezzar, his eldest
son. Cyaxares and Nabopolassar then joined their efforts against
Nineveh; and Saracus, unable to resist them, took counsel of his
despair, and, after all means of resistance were exhausted, burned
himself in his palace. It is uncertain whether we possess any further
historical details of the siege. The narrative of Ctesias may embody a
certain number of the facts, as it certainly represented with truth the
strange yet not incredible termination. But on the other hand, we cannot
feel sure, with regard to any statement made solely by that writer, that
it has any other source than his imagination. Hence the description of
the last siege of Nineveh, as given by Diodorus on the authority of
Ctesias, seems undeserving of a place in history, though the attention
of the curious may properly be directed to it.

The empire of the Assyrians thus fell, not so much from any inherent
we