305 Sheared through the shield-wall. They shot fast and furiously,

Men stirred to strife, the stalwart Hebrews,

The thanes, at that time, thirsting exceedingly,

Fain for the spear-fight. Then fell in the dust

The chiefest part of the chosen warriors,

310 Of the staunch and the steadfast Assyrian leaders,

Of the fated race of the foe. Few of them came back

Alive to their own land.

The leaders returned

Over perilous paths through the piles of the slaughtered,