between the two towers
through a vaulted passage over fifty yards long, intersected at almost
equal intervals by two transverse galleries. The other three gates had a
special arrangement of their own; a flight of twelve steps built out
in front of the courtyard rendered them inaccessible to animals or
vehicles. At the entrance to the passage towered two colossal bulls with
human heads, standing like sentinels--their faces and foreparts turned
outward, their hind-quarters ranged along the inner walls--as though
gazing before them into space in company with two winged genii. The arch
supported by their mitred heads was ornamented by a course of enamelled
bricks, on which other genii, facing one another in pairs, offered
pine-cones across a circular ornament of many colours. These were the
mystic guardians of the city, who shielded it not only from the attacks
of men, but also from invasions of evil spirits and pernicious diseases.
The rays of the sun made the forecourt warm in winter, while it was
always cool under the archway in summer; the gates served as resorts for
pleasure or business, where old men and idlers congregated to discuss
their affairs and settle the destinies of the State, merchants
bargained and disposed of their goods, and the judge and notables of the
neighbouring quarter held their courts.

[Illustration: 400.jpg PART OF THE ENAMELLED COURSE OF A GATE]

Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a drawing published in Place.

It was here that the king generally exposed to view the chieftains and
kings whom he had taken captive; here they lay, chained like dogs in
cages, dependent on the pity of their guards or of passers-by for such
miserable fare as might be flung to them, and, the first feeling of
curiosity once passed, no longer provoking even the jeers of the crowd,
until a day came when their victor took it into his head to remove
them from their ignominious position, and either restored them to their
thrones or sent them to the executioner.* The town itself, being
built from plans drawn up by one mind, must have presented few of the
irregularities of outline characteristic of ancient cities.

* To mention but a single instance, it was in this way that
Assur-bani-pal treated the Arab kings captured by him.

The streets leading from the gates were of uniform breadth throughout,
from one side of the enclosure to the other. They were paved, had no
sideways or footpaths, and crossed one another