an with heart thus blessed.
Oh, let not curses fall upon that head
Whom love hath cradled on the welcome bed
Of bliss, the bosom of our fairest god,
Or hand of love e'er grasp the venging rod.

Oh, come, dear Zir-ri,[7] tune your lyres and lutes,
And sing of love with chastest, sweetest notes,
Of Accad's goddess Ishtar, Queen of Love,
And Izdubar, with softest measure move;
Great Samas'[8] son, of him dear Zir-ri sing!
Of him whom goddess Ishtar warmly wooed,
Of him whose breast with virtue was imbued.
He as a giant towered, lofty grown,
As Babil's[9] great _pa-te-si_[10] was he known,
His armed fleet commanded on the seas
And erstwhile travelled on the foreign leas;
His mother Ellat-gula[11] on the throne
From Erech all Kardunia[12] ruled alone.

[Footnote 1: "Samu," heaven.]

[Footnote 2: "Happy Fields," celestial gardens, heaven.]

[Footnote 3: "Subartu," Syria.]

[Footnote 4: "Sari," plural form of "saros," a cycle or measurement of
time used by the Babylonians, 3,600 years.]

[Footnote 5: From the "Accadian Hymn to Ishtar," terra-cotta tablet
numbered "S, 954," one of the oldest hymns of a very remote date,
deposited in the British Museum by Mr. Smith. It comes from Erech, one of
the oldest, if not the oldest, city of Babylonia. We have inserted a
portion of it in its most appropriate place in the epic. See translation
in "Records of the Past," vol. v. p. 157.]

[Footnote 6: "Kisar," the consort or queen of Sar, father of all the
gods.]

[Footnote 7: "Zir-ri" (pronounced "zeer-ree"), short form of "Zi-aria,"
spirits of the running rivers--naiads or water-nymphs.]

[Footnote 8: "Samas," the sun-god.]

[Footnote 9: Babil, Babylon; the Accadian name was "Diu-tir," or "Duran."]

[Footnote 10: "Pa-te-si," prince.]

[Footnote 11: "Ellat-gula," one of the queens or sovereigns of Erech,
supposed to have preceded Nammurabi or Nimrod on the throne. We have
identified Izdubar herein with Nimrod.]

[Footnote 12: "Kardunia," the ancient name of Babylonia.]

COLUMN II

THE FALL OF ERECH

O Moon-god,[1] hear my cry! With thy pure light
Oh, take my spirit through that awful night
That hovers o'er the long-forgotten years,
To sing Accadia's songs and weep her tears!
'Twas thus I prayed, when lo! my spirit rose
On fleecy clouds, enwrapt in soft repose;
And I beheld beneath me nations glide
In swift succession by, in all their pride:
The earth was filled with cities of mankind,
And empires fell ben