_Shalt thou be better than No-Amon,[300] Which sat upon the Nile streams[301]—waters were round her— Whose rampart was the sea,[302] and waters her wall?[303] Kush was her strength and Miṣraim without end; Phut and the Lybians were there to assist her.[304] Even she was for exile, she went to captivity: Even her children were dashed on every street corner; For her nobles they cast lots, And all her great men were fastened with fetters._ _Thou too shalt stagger,[305] shalt grow faint; Thou too shalt seek help from[306] the foe! All thy fortresses are fig-trees with figs early-ripe: Be they shaken they fall on the mouth of the eater. Lo, thy folk are but women in thy midst:[307] To thy foes the gates of thy land fly open; Fire has devoured thy bars._ _Draw thee water for siege, strengthen thy forts! Get thee down to the mud, and tramp in the clay! Grip fast the brick-mould! There fire consumes thee, the sword cuts thee off.[308] Make thyself many as a locust swarm, Many as grasshoppers, Multiply thy traders more than heaven’s stars, —The locusts break off[309] and fly away. Thy ...[310] are as locusts and thy ... as grasshoppers, That hive in the hedges in the cold of the day:[311] The sun is risen, they are fled, And one knows not the place where they be._ _Asleep are thy shepherds, O king of Assyria, Thy nobles do slumber;[312] Thy people are strewn on the mountains, Without any to gather. There is no healing of thy wreck, Fatal thy wound! All who hear the bruit of thee shall clap the hand at thee, For upon whom hath not thy cruelty passed without ceasing?_ FOOTNOTES: [253] See above, pp. 22 ff.