the priestess spoke his ears listened.  For it was to him the priestess spoke—­to him, Eabani.  “Thou who art superb, Eabani, as a god, why dost thou live among the beasts of the field?  Come, I will conduct thee to Uruk the well-protected, to the glorious house, the dwelling of Anu and Ishtar—­to the place where is Gilgames, whose strength is supreme, and who, like a Urus, excels the heroes in strength.”  While she thus spoke to him, he hung upon her words, he the wise of heart, he realized by anticipation a friend.  Eabani said to the priestess:  “Let us go, priestess; lead me to the glorious and holy abode of Anu and Ishtar—­to the place where is Gilgames, whose strength is supreme, and who, like a Urus, prevails over the heroes by his strength.  I will fight with him and manifest to him my power; I will send forth a panther against Uruk, and he must struggle with it."* The priestess conducted her prisoner to Uruk, but the city at that moment was celebrating the festival of Tammuz, and Gilgames did not care to interrupt the solemnities in order to face the tasks to which Eabani had invited him:  what was the use of such trials since the gods themselves had deigned to point out to him in a dream the line of conduct he was to pursue, and had taken up the cause of their children.  Shamash, in fact, began the instruction of the monster, and sketched an alluring picture of the life which awaited him if he would agree not to return to his mountain home.  Not only would the priestess belong to him for ever, having none other than him for husband, but Gilgames would shower upon him riches and honours.  “He will give thee wherein to sleep a great bed cunningly wrought; he will seat thee on his divan, he will give thee a place on his left hand, and the princes of the earth shall kiss thy feet, the people of Uruk shall grovel on the ground before thee.”  It was by such flatteries and promises for the future that Gilgames gained the affection of his servant Eabani, whom he loved for ever.

     * I have softened down a good deal the account of the
     seduction, which is described with a sincerity and precision
     truly primitive.

Shamash had reasons for being urgent.  Khumbaba, King of Elam, had invaded the country of the Euphrates, destroyed the temples, and substituted for the national worship the cult of foreign deities;* the two heroes in concert could alone check his advance, and kill him.  They collected their troops, set out on the march, having learned from a female magician that the enemy had concealed himself in a sacred grove.  They entered it in disguise, “and stopped in rapture for a moment before the cedar trees; they contemplated the height of them, they contemplated the thickness of them; the place where Khumbaba was accustomed to walk up and down with rapid strides, alleys were made in it, paths kept up with great care.  They saw at length the hill of cedars, the abode of the gods, the sanctuary of Irnini, and before the