| Gilgamesh, where are you hurrying to? You will never find that life for which you are looking. When the gods created man they allotted to him death, but life they retained in their own keeping. As for you, Gilgamesh, fill your belly with good things; day and night, night and day, dance and be merry, feast and rejoice. Let your clothes be fresh, bathe yourself in water, cherish the little child that holds your hand, and make your wife happy in your embrace; for this too is the lot of man. |
Oh father Utnaphishtim, you who have entered the assembly of the gods, I wish to question you concerning the living and the dead, how shall I find the life for which I am searching? Utnaphishtim said, "There is no permanence. Do we build a house to stand for ever, do we seal a contract to hold for all time?....From the days of old there is no permanence. The sleeping and the dead, how alike they are, they are like a painted death.....When the judges and the mother of destinies come together they decree the fates of men. Life and death they allot but the day of death they do not disclose." |
