and on
its termination a proclamation of six days of mourning, up to the 3rd of
Nisan, was made for the death of Bel-sharuzur, and as an atonement for
the faults of Nabonidus, after which, on the 4th of Nisan, the notables
of the city were called together in the temple of Nebo to join in the
last expiatory ceremonies. Cyrus did not hesitate for a moment to act
as Tiglath-pileser III. and most of the Sargonids had done; he "took the
hands of Bel," and proclaimed himself king of the country, but in order
to secure the succession, he associated his son Cambyses with himself
as King of Babylon. Mesopotamia having been restored to order, the
provinces in their turn transferred their allegiance to Persia; "the
kings enthroned in their palaces, from the Upper Sea to the Lower, those
of Syria and those who dwell in tents, brought their weighty tribute to
Babylon and kissed the feet of the suzerain." Events had followed one
another so quickly, and had entailed so little bloodshed, that popular
imagination was quite disconcerted: it could not conceive that an
empire of such an extent and of so formidable an appearance should have
succumbed almost without a battle, and three generations had not elapsed
before an entire cycle of legends had gathered round the catastrophe.
They related how Cyrus, having set out to make war, with provisions of
all kinds for his household, and especially with his usual stores of
water from the river Choaspes, the only kind of which he deigned to
drink, had reached the banks of the Gyndes. While seeking for a ford,
one of the white horses consecrated to the sun sprang into the river,
and being overturned by the current, was drowned before it could
be rescued. Cyrus regarded this accident as a personal affront, and
interrupted his expedition to avenge it. He employed his army during one
entire summer in digging three hundred and sixty canals, and thus caused
the principal arm of the stream to run dry, and he did not resume his
march upon Babylon till the following spring, when the level of the
water was low enough to permit of a woman crossing from one bank to the
other without wetting her knees. The Babylonians at first attempted
to prevent the blockade of the place, but being repulsed in their
_sorties_, they retired within the walls, much to Cyrus's annoyance, for
they were provisioned for several years. He therefore undertook to
turn the course of the Euphrates into the Bahr-i-Nejif, and having
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