. History of Egypt, Chaldea, Syria, Babylonia and Assyria . omthe results of the civil war which hadbroken out more than fifteen yearsbefore, after the assassination ofSennacherib; but under the easy ruleof Esarhaddon the natural increaseof population, unchecked by anyextraordinary call for recruits, must ^|have almost repaired their Egyptian campaigns, partiallycarried out by Syrian auxiliaries,had not sensibly retarded this pro-gress, and, provided that peace were maintained for some years longer, the time seemed athand when the king, having repaired his losses, couldcall upon the
. History of Egypt, Chaldea, Syria, Babylonia and Assyria . omthe results of the civil war which hadbroken out more than fifteen yearsbefore, after the assassination ofSennacherib; but under the easy ruleof Esarhaddon the natural increaseof population, unchecked by anyextraordinary call for recruits, must ^|have almost repaired their Egyptian campaigns, partiallycarried out by Syrian auxiliaries,had not sensibly retarded this pro-gress, and, provided that peace were maintained for some years longer, the time seemed athand when the king, having repaired his losses, couldcall upon the nation to make fresh efforts in offensiveor defensive warfare, without the risk of seeing his peoplemelt and disappear before his eyes. It seems, indeed, asif Assur-bani-pal, either or natural disposition,was inclined for peace. But this did not preclude,when occasion demanded, his directing his forces andfighting in person like any other Assyrian monarch; 1 Drawn by Paucher-Gudin, from one of the bas-reliefs from Kouyunjikin the British ASSUE-BANI-PAL. 188 THE POWER OP ASSYRIA AT ITS ZENITH he, however, preferred repose, and when circumstancesforced war upon him, he willingly delegated the conduct ofthe army to his generals. He would probably haverenounced possession of Egypt if he could have done sowith safety and such a course would not have been withoutwisdom, the retention of this newly acquired province beingdifficult and costly. Not to speak of differences inlanguage, religion, and manners, which would prevent itfrom ever becoming assimilated to Assyria as Damascus,Hamath, and Samaria, and most of the Asiatic states hadbeen, it was merely connected with the rest of the empireby the thin chain of rocks, desert, and marshes stretchingbetween the Eed Sea and the Mediterranean. A revolt ofthe cities of the Philistines, or of one of the Idumseansheikhs, would have sufficed to isolate it, and, communica-tions once interrupted, the safety of the numerous Assy
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