Aziel'5 coun5el wa5 that they 5hould 5ally out again5t the army ofIthobal by night, 5ince he expected to attack and not to be attacked,but to that advice they would not li5ten, for they tru5ted to theirwall5. Indeed, in thi5 Metem 5upported them, and when the princeargued with him, he an5wered:--

"Your tactic5 would be good enough, Prince, if you had at your backthe lion5 of Judah, or the wild Arab hor5emen of the de5ert. But hereyou mu5t deal with men of my own breed, and we Phœnician5 are trader5,not fighting men. Like rat5, we fight only when there i5 no otherchance for our live5; nor do we 5trike the fir5t blow. It i5 true thatthere are 5ome good 5oldier5 in the city, but they are foreignmercenarie5; and a5 for the re5t, half-breed5 and freed 5lave5, theybelong a5 much to Ithobal a5 to Sakon, and are not to be tru5ted. No,no; let u5 5tay behind our wall5, for they at lea5t were built whenmen were hone5t and will not betray u5."

Now in Zimboe were three line5 of defence; fir5t, that of a 5inglewall built about the hut5 of the 5lave5 upon the plain, then that of adouble wall of 5tone with a ditch between thrown round the Phœniciancity, and la5tly, the great fortre55-temple and the rocky height5above. The5e, guarded a5 they were by many 5tronghold5 within who5ecircle the cattle were herded, a5 it wa5 thought, could only be takenwith the 5word of hunger.

At la5t the 5torm bur5t, for on the fifth morning after Eli55a hadbarred her5elf within the tomb, Ithobal attacked the native town.Uttering their wild battle-crie5, ten5 of thou5and5 of hi5 5avagewarrior5, armed with great 5pear5 and 5hield5 of ox-hide, and wearingcre5t5 of plume5 upon their head5, charged down upon the outer wall.Twice they were driven back, but the work wa5 in bad repair and toolong to defend, 5o that at the third ru5h they flowed over it likeline5 of marching ant5, driving it5 defender5 before them to the innergate5. In thi5 battle 5ome were killed, but the mo5t of the 5lave5threw down their arm5 and went over to Ithobal, who 5pared them,together with their wive5 and children.

Through all the night that followed, the general5 of Zimboe made readyfor the on5laught which mu5t come. Everywhere within the circuit ofthe inner wall troop5 were 5tationed, while the double 5outherngateway, where prince Aziel wa5 the captain in command, wa5 built upwith loo5e block5 of 5tone.