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Epic of Gilgamesh: Tablet XII
EPIC OF GILGAMESH TABLET XII
-
- Descent to the Underworld The Afterlife
-
- "If only I'd have protected our instruments in the
- safe home of the drum-maker;
- If only I'd have given so precious a
harp to
the
- craftsman's wife, she who shepherds such jewel-like
children.
- God, has your heart forgotten me?
- Who shall descend to Hell and
redeem
the
- drum from where
it rests unused?
- Who shall risk his life to retrieve
- the precious gifts
of Ishtar from death?"
-
- 10. And for this quest his friend alone did
pledge.
- So Gilgamesh said this to Enkidu:
- "Descend, descend to
Hell where life does end
- but listen now to words you need to know.
- Go slow to where death rules, my brother
dear,
- and then arise again above and over
fear."
- And, once more, Gilgamesh said this to
Enkidu:
- "Let all who would be saved today, take
heed,
- and listen to god's words in time of
need.
- When walking with the strong or with the
dead,
-
- 20. do not wear
clothes of purple or of red.
- Shun make-up that presents a holy face
- for they attack the phony and the base.
- Leave here with me your knife and rock and club;
- such weapons only add to their own
strife.
- Put down your bow, as you would leave a
wife.
- The souls of death will soil your hands and
feet.
- Go naked, filthy, tearful, when you
meet.
- Be quiet, mild, remote, and distant
too
- as those who will surround and follow
you.
-
- 30. Greet no girl with kiss so kind upon her
lips;
- push none away from you with fingertips.
- Hold no child's hand as you descend to Hell
- and strike no boy who chooses there to
dwell.
- Around you, Enkidu, the lament of the dead
- will whirl and scream,
- for she alone, in that good place, is at home
who,
- having given birth to beauty,
- has watched that beauty die.
- No graceful robe any longer graces her naked
self
-
- 40. and her kind breasts, once warm with
milk,
- have turned into bowls of cold stone."
- But Enkidu refused to heed his friend
- as he set out that day to then descend
- to where the dead who-do-not-live do
stay.
- He wore bright
clothes of celebrative red,
- the sight of which offended all the
dead.
- His colored
face made him seem fair and good
- but spirits hate the flesh that would
dare
- remind us of the beauty they have lost.
-
- 50. He brought with him his club and rock and knife
- and did cause
strife with those whom he did
mock.
- There, too, is where he showed off;
- where he went clothed among the naked,
- where he wasted food beside the starving,
- where he danced beside the
grief-stricken.
- He kissed a happy girl.
- He struck a good woman.
- He enjoyed his fatherhood.
- He fought with his son.
-
- 60. Around him, the lament for the dead
arose;
- for she alone, in that sad place, is at home
who,
- having given birth to beauty,
- has watched that beauty die.
- No graceful robe any longer graces her naked
self
- and her kind breasts, once warm with
milk,
- have turned into bowls of cold stone.
- She never even dreamed once of letting him
return
- to life. Namtar, the
decision-maker,
- would not help Enkidu. Nor would
illness
-
- 70. help. Hell became his home.
- Nergal, chief-enforcer,
would not help.
- Dirges and laments rose all around.
- Not even the soldier's death-in-battle,
- with all its false and phony honor,
- helped Enkidu. Death just swallowed him,
unrecognized.
- So the great son of Ninsun, proud
Gilgamesh,
- cried for his beloved friend
- and went to the temple of Enlil,
- the savage god of soldiers,
-
- 80. to say: "My god, when death
- called for me, my best friend went
- in my place and he is now no longer
living."
- But the savage god of soldiers, Enlil, was
mute.
- So Gilgamesh turned next to one who flies
alone,
- and to the moon he said: "My god,
when death
- called for me, my best friend went
- in my place and he is now no longer
living."
- But the moon, who flies alone, was also
mute;
- so he went next to Ea, whose waters
fill
-
- 90. the desert oasis even when no rain
falls.
- "My god," he cried, "when death
- called for me, my best friend went
- in my place and he is now no longer
living."
- And Ea, whose waters keep us
alive as we journey over desert sands,
- said this to Nergal, great soldier in
arms.
- "Go now, mighty follower; free Enkidu to speak once to
kin
- and show this Gilgamesh how to descend
halfway
- to Hell through the bowels of earth."
- And Nergal, accustomed to absurd orders,
-
- 100. obeyed as soldiers do.
- He freed Enkidu to speak once to kin
- and showed Gilgamesh how to descend halfway
- to Hell through the bowels of earth.
- Enkidu's shadow
rose slowly toward the living
- and the brothers, tearful and weak,
- tried to hug, tried to speak,
- tried and failed to do anything but sob.
- "Speak to me please, dear brother,"
- whispered Gilgamesh.
-
- 110. "Tell me of death and where you are."
- "Not willingly do I speak of death,"
- said Enkidu in slow reply.
- "But if you wish to sit for a brief
- time, I will describe where I do stay."
- "Yes," his brother said in early grief.
- "All my skin and all my bones are dead
now.
- All my skin and all my bones are now
dead.
- "Oh no," cried Gilgamesh without relief.
- "Oh no," sobbed one enclosed by grief.
-
- 120. "Did you see there a man who never fathered
any child?"
- "I saw there a no-man who died."
- "Did you see there a man whose one son
died?"
- "I saw him sobbing all alone in open
fields."
- "Did you see there a man with two grown
sons?"
- "I did indeed and he smiles all day
long."
- "Did you see there a man with three of his own
boys?"
- "I did, I did; and his heart's full of
joys."
- "Did you there see a king with four full
kids?"
- "I did see one whose pleasure is
supreme."
-
- 130. "Did you see there anyone with five
children?"
- "oh yes, they go about with laughs and
shouts."
- "And could you find a man with six or seven
boys?"
- "You could and they are treated as the
gods."
-
- "Have you seen one who died too soon?"
- "Oh yes; that one sips water fair and rests each
night upon a couch."
- "Have you seen one who died in War?"
- "Oh yes; his aged father weeps and his young
widow visits graves."
- "Have you seen one buried poor, with other
homeless nomads?"
-
140. "Oh yes; that one knows rest that is not sure,
far from the proper place."
- "Have you seen a brother crying among
relatives
- who chose to ignore his prayers?"
- "Oh yes; he brings
bread to the hungry from the dumps
- of those who feed their dogs
- with food they keep from people
- and he eats trash that no other man would
want."
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