Babylonian and Assyrian Literature | Page 7

18: "Lul-lu-bu," a country northward of Mesopotamia and
Nizir.]
[Footnote 19: "Kharsak-kala-ma," the city supposed to lie at the base of
Kharsak-kurra, or Mount Nizir, or Mount Elwend. The same city was
afterward called Echatana.]
[Footnote 20: "Eridu," the land of Ur, or Erech.]
[Footnote 21: "Duran," Babylonia.]
[Footnote 22: "Masari," guards of the palace, etc.]
[Footnote 23: See Sayce's translation in the "Chal. Acc. of Gen.," by
Smith, p. 193.]
[Footnote 24: "Sedu," spirits of prosperity.]

[Footnote 25: "Tar-u-mani izzu Sarri," son of the faith, the fire of kings,
or fire-king.]
[Footnote 26: "Kardunia," the ancient name of Babylon.]
[Footnote 27: "Sami," heavens (plural).]
[Footnote 28: "Tamu," dawn or sunrise, day.]
COLUMN III
THE RESCUE OF ERECH BY IZDUBAR
Heabani, weary, eyes his native land,
And on his harp now lays his
trembling hand;
The song has ended in a joyous lay,
And yet, alas!
his hands but sadly play:
Unused to hope, the strings refuse their aid

To tune in sympathy, and heartless played.
Again the minstrel
bows his head in woe,
And the hot tear-drops from his eyelids flow,

And chanting now a mournful melody,
O'er Erech's fall, thus sang
an elegy:
[1] "How long, O Ishtar, will thy face be turned,
While Erech desolate doth cry to thee?
Thy towers magnificent, oh,
hast thou spurned?
Her blood like water in Ul-bar,[2] oh, see!
The
seat of thine own oracle behold!
The fire hath ravaged all thy cities
grand,
And like the showers of Heaven them all doth fold.
O Ishtar!
broken-hearted do I stand!
Oh, crush our enemies as yonder reed!

For hopeless, lifeless, kneels thy bard to thee,
And, oh! I would exalt
thee in my need,
From thy resentment, anger, oh, us free!"
With eyes bedimmed with tears, he careful scans
The plain, "Perhaps
the dust of caravans
It is! But no!! I see long lines of spears!
A
warrior from the lifting cloud appears,
And chariots arrayed upon the
plain!
And is the glorious omen not in vain?
What! no?" He rubs
his eyes in wild surprise,
And drinks the vision while he loudly cries:


"Oh, joy! our standards flashing from afar!
He comes! he comes!
our hero Izdubar!"
He grasps his harp inspired, again to wake
In
song--the cry of battle now doth break.
"Nin-a-rad,[3] servant of our great Nin,[4]
Shall lead our hosts to victory!
God of the chase and war, o'er him, oh,
shine!
Tar-u-ma-ni iz-zu sar-ri![5]
"Let Elam fall! the cause of Accad's woes,
Revenge of Erech, be the cry!
This land our father's blessed, our king
they chose,
Tar-u-ma-ni iz-zu sar-ri!
Our holy fathers sleep upon
this plain,
We conquer, or we here will die;
For victory, then raise
the cry, ye men!
Tar-u-ma-ni iz-zu sar-ri!"
The minstrel ceases, lifts his hands on high,
And still we hear his
joyful waning cry:
Now echoed by yon hosts along the sky,
"He
comes! Tar-u-ma-ni iz-zu sar-ri!
Great Accad's hosts arrayed with
spears and shields
Are coming! see them flashing o'er the fields!

And he! bright flashing as the god's attire,
Doth lead in burnished
gold, our king of fire.
His armor shines through yonder wood and fen,

That tremble 'neath the tread of armèd men.
See! from his jewelled
breastplate, helmet, fly
The rays like Samas from the cloudless sky!

How martially he rides his sable steed,
That proudly treads and
lifts his noble head,
While eagerly he gallops down the line,
And
bears his princely load with porte divine;
And now, along the plains
there sounds afar
The piercing bugle-note of Izdubar;
For Erech's
walls and turrets are in view,
And high the standards rise of varied
hue.
The army halts; the twanging bows are strung;
And from their
chariots the chieftains sprung.
The wheeling lines move at each
chief's command,
With chariots in front;
On either hand
Extend the lines of spears and cavalry,
A wingèd

storm-cloud waiting for its prey:
And see! while Accad's army ready
waits,
The enemy are swarming from the gates.
The charge, from
either host, the trumpets sound,
And bristling chariots from each
army bound:
A cloud of arrows flies from Accad's bows
That hides
the sun, and falls among their foes.
Now roars the thunder of great
Accad's cars,
Their brazen chariots as blazing stars
Through
Nuk-khu's[6] depths with streams of blazing fire,
Thus fall upon the
foe with vengeful ire.
The smoking earth shakes underneath their
wheels,
And from each cloud their thunder loudly peals.
Thus
Accad on their foes have fiercely hurled
Their solid ranks with
Nin-rad's flag unfurled,
The charging lines meet with a fearful sound,

As tempests' waves from rocks in rage rebound;
The foe thus meet
the men of Izdubar,
While o'er the field fly the fierce gods of war.

Dark Nin-a-zu[7] her torch holds in her hand.
With her fierce screams
directs the gory brand;
And Mam-mit[8] urges her with furious hand,

And coiling dragons[9] poison all the land
With their black folds
and pestilential breath,
In fierce delight thus ride the gods of death.
The shouts of Accad mingle with the cries
Of wounded men and fiery
steeds, which rise
From all the fields with shrieks of carnage, war,

Till victory crowns the host of Izdubar.
The chariots are covered with
the slain,
And crushed beneath lie dead and dying men,
And horses
in their harness wounded fall,
With dreadful