“After this, Sanacharib, king of the Arabians and of the Assyrians, marched a great host against Egypt. Then the warriors of the Egyptians refused to come to the rescue, and the priest (Hephaistos, whose name was Sethos),(115) being driven into a strait, entered into the sanctuary of the temple and bewailed to the image of the god the danger which was impending over him; and as he was thus lamenting, sleep came upon him, and it seemed to him in his vision that the god came out and stood by him and encouraged him, saying that he should suffer no evil if he went forth to meet the army of the Arabians, for he would himself send him helpers. Trusting in these things seen in sleep, he took with him, they say, those of the Egyptians who were willing to follow him, and encamped in Pelusion, for by this way the invasion came; and not one of the warrior class followed him, but shopkeepers and artisans and men of the market. Then after they came, there swarmed by night upon the enemies mice of the fields, and ate up their quivers and their bows, and moreover the handles of their shields, so that on the next day they fled, and being without defence of arms great numbers fell. And at the present time this king stands in the temple of Hephaistos in stone, holding upon his head a mouse, and by letters inscribed he says these words, ‘Let him who looks upon me learn to fear the gods.’ ” Josephus’s quotation from Herodotus differs somewhat from the above, in that he makes the Egyptian king to pray to God (and not before his image), and omits all reference to the dream. This was doubtless to make the parallel with the case of Hezekiah more striking. [Plate XI.] Sennacherib before Lachish. For the translation of the inscription, see the opposite page. British Museum, Assyrian Saloon. The face of the king is mutilated in the original bas-relief, and has been restored.