captivity in E-sagilla; they lamented over
the suppression of their daily sacrifices, and Marduk at length took
pity on them. He looked upon the countries of Sumir and Akkad, and saw
their sanctuaries in ruins and their towns lifeless as corpses; "he cast
his eyes over the surrounding regions; he searched them with his glance
and sought out a prince, upright, after his own heart, who should take
his hands. He proclaimed by name Cyrus, King of Anshan, and he called
him by his name to universal sovereignty." Alike for the people
of Babylon and for the exiled Jew, and also doubtless for other
stranger-colonies, Cyrus appeared as a deliverer chosen by the gods;
his speedy approach was everywhere expected, if not with the same
impatience, at least with an almost joyful resignation. His plans were
carried into action in the early months of 538, and his habitual good
fortune did not forsake him at this decisive moment of his career. The
immense citadel raised by Nebuchadrezzar in the midst of his empire, in
anticipation of an attack by the Medes, was as yet intact, and the walls
rising one behind another, the moats, and the canals and marshes which
protected it, had been so well kept up or restored since his time, that
their security was absolutely complete; a besieging army could do little
harm--it needed a whole nation in revolt to compass its downfall. A
whole nation also was required for its defence, but the Babylonians
were not inclined to second the efforts of their sovereign. Nabonidus
concentrated his troops at the point most threatened, in the angle
comprised near Opis between the Medic wall and the bend of the Tigris,
and waited in inaction the commencement of the attack. It is supposed
that Cyrus put two bodies of troops in motion: one leaving Susa under
his own command, took the usual route of all Blamite invasions in the
direction of the confluence of the Tigris and the Diyala; the other
commanded by Gobryas, the satrap of Gutium, followed the course of
the Adhem or the Diyala, and brought the northern contingents to the
rallying-place. From what we know of the facts as a whole, it would
appear that the besieging force chose the neighbourhood of the present
Bagdad to make a breach in the fortifications. Taking advantage of the
months when the rivers were at their lowest, they drew off the water
from the Diyala and the Tigris till they so reduced the level that they
were able to cross on foot; they then cut their wa