"On the following day the dogs rouse three lions from their jungle. These are killed after having made a desperate resistance. The three bodies are carried back to the camp, then presented to Ishtar with the same ceremonies that had celebrated the triumph over the wild bulls, and the sculptors were ordered to represent the hand-to-hand struggle of the sovereign and his savage foe. 'I, Asshurbanipal, king of peoples, king of Assyria, alone on foot, in my majesty, I seized a lion of the desert by the ear; and by the mercy of Asshur and Ishtar, queen of battles, I pierced its loins with my lance, with mine own hands.'"[1] A banquet sometimes celebrated the return from a fine and successful hunt, but it faded into insignificance when compared with the one held after the return from a war of pillage and conquest. The entire population of the capital became temporary guests of the king. "After the procession, the day is passed in a perfect frenzy of joy by the whole nation. It is customary for all the inhabitants of the city, slaves and freemen, to eat and drink at the king's expense during the festival; this is a method of giving them a share of the booty. For seven days the palace gates are open to all comers. Many colored stuffs suspended over the walls by means of ropes have transformed the courts into immense banqueting halls. The crowd is coming and going from morning till night; the people install themselves upon state-seats and ask for whatever they like; the slaves have orders to give them anything they wish for, and to bring each person whatever he desires as many times as he asks for it. Women and children are admitted to these festivals as well as men. The soldiers kept in barracks by their duty are not forgotten; the king sends them the food and wine they cannot fetch for themselves in so great profusion that they have nothing to regret. The loaves disappear by thousands, by thousands also the oxen, sheep, goats, and birds of all kinds are sacrificed to satisfy the public appetite. But what they eat is nothing to what they drink. The Assyrian is sober in ordinary life, but he does not know how to stop if he once allows himself any excess. Wines of Assyria and Chaldea, wines from Elam, wines from Syria and Phoenicia, wines from Egypt, the skins are emptied as soon as opened, without visibly quenching the universal thirst. After one or two days no brain is strong enough to resist it, and Nineveh presents the extraordinary spectacle of a whole city in different degrees of intoxication; when the festival is over, several days are required before it resumes its usual aspect.