learning that Esarhaddon was seized with a mortal malady, issued (B.C.
669) from his Ethiopian fastnesses, descended the valley of the Nile,
expelled the governors whom Esarhaddon had set up, and possessed himself
of the disputed territory. Thebes received him with enthusiasm, as one
attached to the worship of Ammon; and the priests of Phthah opened to
him the gates of Memphis, despite the efforts of Neco and the Assyrian
garrison. The religious sympathy between Ethiopia and Egypt was an
important factor in the as yet undecided contest, and helped much to
further the Ethiopic cause. But in war sentiment can effect but little.
Physical force, on the whole, prevails, unless in the rare instances
where miracle intervenes, or where patriotic enthusiasm is exalted to
such a pitch as to strike physical force with impotency.

In the conflict that was now raging patriotism had little part. Ethiopia
and Assyria were contending, partly for military pre-eminence, partly
for the prey that lay between them, inviting a master--the rich and now
weak Egyptian kingdom. Tehrak's success, communicated to the Assyrian
Court by the dispossessed governors, drew forth almost immediately a
counter effort on the part of Assyria, which did not intend to
relinquish without a struggle the important addition that Esarhaddon had
made to the empire. In B.C. 668, Asshur-bani-pal, the Sardanapalus of
the Greeks, having succeeded his father Esarhaddon, put the forces of
Assyria once more in motion, and swooping down upon the unhappy Egypt,
succeeded in carrying all before him, defeated Tehrak at Karbanit in the
Delta, recovered Memphis and Thebes, forced Tehrak to take refuge at
Napata, re-established in power the twenty petty kings, and restored the
country in all respects to the condition into which it had been brought
four years previously by Esarhaddon. Egypt thus passed under the
Assyrians for the second time, Ethiopia relinquishing her hold upon the
prey as soon as Assyria firmly grasped it.