bride from the embraces of the bridegroom,--they snatch the child from between the knees of the man,--they entice the unwary from out of his fruitful house,--they are the threatening voice which pursues him from behind.” Their malice extended even to animals: “They force the raven to fly away on the wing,--and they make the swallow to escape from its nest;--they cause the bull to flee, they cause the lamb to flee--they, the bad demons who lay snares.” The most audacious among them did not fear at times to attack the gods of light; on one occasion, in the infancy of the world, they had sought to dispossess them and reign in their stead. Without any warning they had climbed the heavens, and fallen upon Sin, the moon-god; they had repulsed Shamash, the Sun, and Eamman, both of whom had come to the rescue; they had driven Ishtar and Anu from their thrones: the whole firmament would have become a prey to them, had not Bel and Nusku, Ea and Merodach, intervened at the eleventh hour, and succeeded in hurling them down to the earth, after a terrible battle. They never completely recovered from this reverse, and the gods raised up as rivals to them a class of friendly genii--the “Igigi,” who were governed by five heavenly Anunnas. [Illustration: 141.jpg SIN DELIVERED BY MERODACH FROM THE ASSAULT OF THE SEVEN EVIL SPIRITS.] Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from an Assyrian intaglio published by Layard. The earthly Anunnas, the Anunnaki, had as their chiefs seven sons of Bel, with bodies of lions, tigers, and serpents: “the sixth was a tempestuous wind which obeyed neither god nor king,--the seventh, a whirlwind, a desolating storm which destroys everything,”--“Seven, seven,--in the depth of the abyss of waters they are seven,--and destroyers of heaven they are seven.--They have grown up in the depths of the abyss, in the palace;--males they are not, females they are not,--they are storms which pass quickly.--They take no wife, they give birth to no child,--they know neither compassion nor kindness,--they listen to no prayer nor supplication.--As wild horses they are born in the mountains,--they are the enemies of Ba,--they are the agents of the gods;--they are evil, they are evil--and they are seven, they are seven, they are twice seven.” Man, if reduced to his own resources, could have no chance of success in struggling against beings who had almost reduced the gods to submission. He invoked in his defence the help of the whole universe, the spirits of heaven and earth, the spirit of Bel and of Belit, that of Ninib and of Nebo, those of Sin, of Ishtar, and of Bamman; but Gibir or Gibil, the Lord of Fire, was the most powerful auxiliary in this incessant warfare. The offspring of night and of dark waters, the Anunnaki had no greater enemy than fire; whether kindled on the household hearth or upon the altars, its appearance put them to flight and dispelled their power. [Illustration: 142.jpg STRUGGLE BETWEEN A GOOD AND AN EVIL GENIUS.]