in ships to save himself alive. He came to Nia, to the great city. I sent my servants after him; a journey of one month and ten days. Then he left Thebes, the city of his empire, and went up the river. My soldiers made a slaughter in that city.' Assur-ban-ipal then reinstated the governors in their respective districts, and returned to Nineveh with great spoil. But Tirhakah, undaunted by defeat, came forth once more from the Nubian hills, and the vassal governors entered into a league with him. Many of them were Egyptian by birth, and unwilling subjects of the Assyrian king, and all were for the moment more afraid of Tirhakah, who was so near at hand, than of the distant power of Assyria. News, however, soon reached Nineveh of what was going on. Letters had been intercepted by 'judges,' and the insurgent vassals were sent to Nineveh bound hand and foot in chains. Assur-bani-pal once more took the field, breathing vengeance and slaughter. He found it politic, however, to restore Necho,[1] prince of Memphis, chief
- ↑ He was an Egyptian, and son of Tafnekht, who headed the league of northern chiefs against Piankhi (p. 246).
