Mine eyes beheld thy fallen gates,
    Thy blood warm flowing in thy streets,
          My heart was broken then. 
    I raised mine eyes and saw thy Sar
    In glory on his steed of war,
          And joy returned again!

    I saw the foe in wild dismay
    Before him flee that glorious day. 
          With joy I heard the cry
    Of victory resound afar,
    Saw Elam crushed ’neath Accad’s car: 
          I shouted, Victory!

    Away! till birds of prey shall rend
    His flesh and haughty Elam bend
          Before our mighty Sar! 
    Beneath his forest of pine-trees
    The battle-cry then loudly raise,
          We follow Izdubar!

    And may the birds of prey surround
    Khumbaba stretched upon the ground,
          Destroy his body there! 
    And Izdubar alone be king,
    And all his people joyful sing,
          With glory crown him here!

    All hail!  All hail! our giant King,
    The amaranti[6] for him bring,
          To crown him, crown him here,
    As King of Accad and Sutu,
    And all the land of Subar-tu! 
          So sayeth Hea’s seer!”

The counsellors and chieftains wildly cry
Around the throne, “All hail izzu sar-ri
Of Su-bar-tu!” and shouting leave the halls
To summon Accad’s soldiers from the walls
To hear the war proclaimed against their foes,
And Accad’s war-cry from them loud arose. 
King Izdubar Heabani warmly prest
Within his arms upon his throbbing breast,
And said, “Let us to the war temple go,
That all the gods their favor may bestow.” 
The seer replied, “Tis well! then let us wend
Our way, and at the altar we will bend,—­
To Ishtar’s temple, where our goddess queen
Doth reign, seek her propitious favor, then
In Samas’ holy temple pray for aid
To crush our foe;—­with glory on each blade,
Our hands will carry victory in war.” 
The chiefs, without the temple, join their Sar.

[Footnote 1:  “Rab-sak-i,” chief of the high ones, chief of the seers and counsellors; prime minister.]

[Footnote 2:  “Twenty kaspu,” 140 miles; each kaspu was seven miles, or two hours’ journey.]

[Footnote 3:  “Six gars,” 120 feet; each gar was a twenty-foot measure.  Khumbaba’s walls were thus 120 feet high and forty feet thick—­much like the walls of Babylon.]

[Footnote 4:  “Nipur” was one of the cities of Izdubar’s kingdom, from whence he came to the rescue of Erech.]

[Footnote 5:  “Man-u-ban-i,” a tree or shrub of unpleasant odor mentioned by Heabani.  See Sayce’s revised edition Smith’s “Chald.  Acc. of Genesis,” p. 254.  The fragment translated by Mr. Sayce should be placed in another position in the epic.]

[Footnote 6:  “Amaranti,” amaranth.  “Immortal amaranth.”—­“Par.  Lost.”]

COLUMN III