52 FALL OF NINEVEH. 



tribute every year ; and that they should furnish a 

 certain contingent of troops when he went to war. 



As long as a vigorous and dreaded king sat upon 

 the throne this simple machinery worked well enough. 

 Every year the tribute, with certain forms of homage, 

 and with complimentary presents of curiosities and 

 artisans were brought to the metropolis. But whenever 

 an imperial calamity of any kind occurred — an unsuc- 

 cessful foreign war, the death, or even a sickness of 

 the reigning prince — the tributes were withheld. Then 

 the Emperor set to work to subdue the provinces again. 

 But this time the conquered were treated, not as 

 enemies only, but as traitors. The vassal kings and 

 his advisers were tortured to death ; the cities were 

 razed to the ground ; and the rebels were transplanted 

 by thousands to another land, an effectual method of 

 destroying their patriotism or religion of the soil. The 

 Syrian expeditions of Sennacherib were provoked by the 

 contumacy of Judah and of Israel. The kingdom of 

 Israel was blotted out, but a camp plague broke up 

 the Assyrian army before Jerusalem, and not long 

 afterwards the empire crumbled away. All the vassal 

 nations became free, and for a short time Nineveh 

 stood alone, naked but unattacked. Then there was 

 war in every direction, and when it was over, the 

 city was a heap of charred ruins, and three great king- 

 doms took its place. 



The first kingdom was that of the Medes who had 

 set the example of rebellion, and by whom Nineveh 

 had been destroyed. They inhabited the highland 

 regions bordering on the Tigris. Ecbatana was their 

 capital. They were renowned for their luxury, and 

 especially for their robes of flowing silk. Their priests 

 were called Magi, and formed a separate tribe or caste; 



