When a town has rebelled and been subdued, he impales some of the most guilty [PLATE XXXV., Fig.

1]; and in two or three instances prisoners are represented as led before the king by a rope fastened to a ring which passes through the under lip, while now and then one appears in the act of being flayed with it knife [PLATE XXXV., Fig.

2.] But, generally, captives are either released, or else transferred, without unnecessary suffering, from their own country to some other portion of the empire.

There seems even to be something of real tenderness in the treatment of captured women, who are never manacled, and are often allowed to ride on mules, or in carts.
[PLATE XXXVI., Fig.

1.] [Illustration: PLATE 35] [Illustration: PLATE 36] The worst feature in the character of the Assyrians was their treachery.
"Woe to thee that spoilest, though thou wast not spoiled, and dealest treacherously, though they dealt not treacherously with thee!" is the denunciation of the evangelical prophet.