17　一头卷发的国王

罗马城建立起来之后，便有了一任又一任的国王；而这些国王当中，有些人非常高尚，有些人却相当邪恶……

此时，在底格里斯河附近有一个城市叫尼尼微，它是世界上最有名的城市之一，离罗马很远，而住在那里的，就是我在前面已经跟你们说过的亚述古国的历代国王。

照例，我们所知的关于亚述和亚述人的主要情况，便是他们不断地与邻国打仗。然而，引发战争的过错，却不在于他们的邻国一方。

居住在尼尼微的亚述历代国王都想要获得更多的土地和权力，所以他们便发动战争，想要夺取邻国的土地。这些国王都有着长长的螺旋状卷发。他们都凶狠善战，令远近各族都闻风丧胆。他们对待俘虏的时候非常残忍；他们会活剥俘虏的皮、割掉俘虏的耳朵、割掉俘虏的舌头、用棍子捅进俘虏的眼睛里，之后还到处吹嘘。他们强迫那些被征服的民族向他们上缴大笔钱财，还迫使被征服者保证随时跟着他们出征。

于是，亚述古国的实力变得越来越强大，不但占领了世界上的许多地方，拥有了底格里斯、幼发拉底两河之间的美索不达米亚，和由此往东、往北、往南以及腓

This big,big country of Assyria was ruled by the kings at Nineveh,who lived in great magnificence. They built wonderful palaces for themselves,and on each side of the way that led to the palace,they placed rows of huge statues of bulls and lions with wings and men's heads.These winged animals are what are called cherubs in the Bible.

Perhaps you have heard a pretty little baby angel called a cherub. Isn't it strange that these Assyrian monsters should be called cherubs also?

When the Assyrian kings were not fighting men,they were fighting wild animals,for they were very fond of hunting with bow and arrow,and they had pictures and statues made of themselves on horseback or in chariots fighting lions. Often they would capture the animals they hunted alive and put them in cages so that the people could come and see them.This was something like a zoo such as we have nowadays.

The rulers of Assyria had very strange names. Sennacherib was one of the most famous.Sennacherib lived about 700 B.C.Once upon a time Sennacherib was fighting Jerusalem.His whole army was camped one night when as they lay asleep something happened,for when the morning came,none woke up；all were dead，

both men and horses. An English poet named Byron has written a poem called The Destruction of Sennacherib describing this event.Perhaps they were poisoned；what do you think?

Ashurbanipal was another king who ruled later—

尼基的大片土地，甚至还包括埃及。

这个巨大广袤的亚述古国，由住在尼尼微的国王们统治着；而国王们所住的宫殿，则非常奢华富丽。他们为自己建造了许多令人惊叹的宫殿，而在每一条通往宫殿的道路两旁，都摆放着一排排巨大的、长有翅膀的人首牛身和人首狮身雕像。这些长有翅膀的动物，就是《圣经》中所称的“小天使”。

你们或许听说过，一个小小的、婴儿般的天使才叫小天使。可亚述古国的这些怪兽也叫小天使，是不是很奇怪呢？

当亚述古国的国王们不与其他国家打仗的时候，他们便会去跟动物作战；他们都很喜欢用弓箭狩猎，还叫人画了许多画、刻了许多雕像来描绘他们骑在马上或者驾着战车与狮子搏斗的场景。他们通常都会活捉猎物，然后用笼子关起来，这样人们便可以来观看这些猎物了。这可有点儿像是我们今天的动物园呢。

亚述古国的统治者，名字都稀奇古怪得很。其中最著名的一个，便是辛那赫瑞布。辛那赫瑞布生活在公元前700年左右。有一次，辛那赫瑞布正在跟耶路撒冷打仗。一天晚上，他手下的整支军队扎下营寨、睡熟了之后，发生了一件怪事，因为第二天天亮后，竟然没有一个人醒来；所有的人和马匹，全都死了。一位叫作拜伦的英国诗人曾经写过一首诗，叫作《辛那赫瑞布之死》，描述了这一事件。或许他们是被人下了毒；你们认为呢？

about 650 B. C.He was a great fighter too,but he was also very fond of books and reading；so Ashurbanipal started the first public library.The books in that first public library were,however,very peculiar.Of course they were not printed books,and they were not even made of paper.They were made of mud with the words pressed into the clay before it dried.This writing was cuneiform,which I have already told you about.The books were not arranged in bookcases either,but were placed in piles on the floor.They were,however,kept in careful order and numbered so that a person who wanted to see a book in the library could call for it by its number.

Assyria reached the height of her power during the reign of Sennacherib and Ashurbanipal,and everything in Nineveh was so lovely for the Ninevites that the time when Ashurbanipal reigned was called the Golden Age.

Although everything in Nineveh was so lovely for the Ninevites,everywhere else the Assyrians were hated and feared,for their armies brought death and destruction wherever they went.

It came to pass that not long after Ashurbanipal died,two of the neighbors of Nineveh could stand it no longer.These two neighbors were the king of Babylon,who lived south,and a people called the Medes,who lived to the east.The kings of Babylon and the Medes got together and attacked Nineveh,and together they wiped that city off the face of the earth.This was in 612 B.C.—Six-One-Two—and the power of Nineveh and Assyria was killed dead.This,therefore is called the Fall of Nineveh,the end of Nineveh.We might put up a tombstone.

亚述巴尼拔是后来统治过亚述古国的另一位国王，其时大约是公元前650年。他也是一位骁勇善战的国王，但他还很喜欢书籍和阅读；于是，亚述巴尼拔便创建了世界上的第一座公共图书馆。然而，这个公共图书馆里的藏书，却非常奇特。它们当然不是印刷出来的书籍，甚至也不是用纸张制成的。它们都是用泥巴制成，都是趁着泥巴还没有干的时候，就把文字压上去形成的。这种文字，就是我前面已经跟你们说过的楔形文字了。藏书也不是整整齐齐地码放在书架上，而是堆放在地板上的。然而，这些书籍都按照精心制定的顺序保存着，并且标上了编号；这样，一个人到图书馆去看某一本书时，按照编号就可以把书取来了。

在辛那赫瑞布和亚述巴尼拔两位国王统治的那个时期，亚述古国达到了实力的巅峰；当时尼尼微的一切对于尼尼微人来说都非常美好，因此，他们便将亚述巴尼拔统治的这一时期称为“黄金时代”。

尽管尼尼微的一切对于尼尼微人来说都非常美好，但其他地方的人对亚述人却是又恨又怕，因为亚述军队所到之处，带来的都是死亡和毁灭。

就在亚述巴尼拔死后不久，尼尼微的两个邻居再也无法忍受亚述古国的压迫了。这两个邻居，一个是南方古巴比伦王国的国王，另一个则是居住在东边的米堤亚人。古巴比伦和米堤亚两国的国王联合起来攻打尼尼微，并且一起将这座城市夷为了平地。这场战争，发生在公元前612年：6—1—2，尼尼微和亚述古国的政权就此覆灭了。因此，这一事件，史称“尼尼微衰亡”，即尼尼微的终结。我们可以为它立上一块这样的墓碑。