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Proverbs: collection 14

Segment A


14.1

1. (cf. 6.2.5: UM 29-16-519 Seg. B l. 1) Let the favour be repaid to him who repays a favour.


14.2

2. (cf. 6.2.5: NBC 8072) May Luma grant prosperity to him {who speaks well of others} {(1 ms. has instead:) who has good things}.


14.3

3-4. (cf. 6.1.16.c1, 6.2.5: UM 29-16-519 Seg. A ll. 7-8) The farmer lifts his gaze to you (i.e. Enlil) : "May Enlil look upon the city that he cursed."


14.4

5-6. (cf. 6.1.15.b1, 6.1.16.c2, 6.2.5: UM 29-16-519 Seg. A ll. 9-10) The herdsman lifts his gaze to you: "May Enlil look upon the city that he cursed."


14.5

7-8. (cf. 6.1.15.b2, 6.1.16.c3, 6.2.5: UM 29-16-519 Seg. A ll. 11-12) The potter lifts his gaze to you: "May Enlil look upon the city that he cursed."


14.6

9-11. (cf. 6.1.03.149, 6.1.16.c5, 6.1.22: ll. 172-175, 6.1.25.1) The day became cloudy but it did not rain. It rained, but not enough for people to undo their sandals. The Tigris was not surging at its inlet, so water did not fill the arable lands.


14.7

12-14.
3 lines fragmentary
approx. 5-10 lines missing

Segment B


14.15

1. (cf. 6.1.01.68, 6.1.25.6) You should drive them like pack-asses into a death-stricken city.


14.16

2-3. The temple E-babbar, which Me-silim had built, was destroyed by Nanni, whose posterity had been cut off.


14.17

4. (cf. 6.1.02.143) If a household has harmed an acquaintance, the matter should be investigated.


14.18

5-6. (cf. 6.1.03.92, 4.05.1: ll. 54-55) Enlil's temple is a collecting (?) of wages (?); yet to reach out, to look with greedy eyes and to seize should be abominations there.


14.19

7. Both the palace and the nether world require obedience from their inhabitants.


14.20

8-10. (cf. 6.1.02.157, 6.1.25.11, 6.2.3: UET 6/2 317) A palace cannot ignore waste land. A barge cannot ignore straw. A freeborn man cannot ignore toil.


14.21

11-12. (cf. 6.1.02.153) The palace is an ox; you should catch it by the tail. Utu is lord; you should fix your gaze on him.


14.22

13-14. (cf. 6.1.02.158, 6.1.17.b9, 6.1.25.10) The palace: one day a mother giving birth, the next day a mother in mourning.


14.23

15. (cf. 6.1.02.156, 6.1.25.8) The palace is a slippery place …….


14.24

16.
1 line fragmentary


14.37

17.
1 line fragmentary


14.38

18. …… a river …….


14.39

19-20. (cf. 6.1.01.160) Having wives is human. Having children is from the gods.


14.40

21-22. (cf. 6.1.01.151, 6.1.28.17) When I married a malicious husband -- when I bore a malicious son.


14.41

23-25. (cf. 6.1.01.125, 6.1.22: l. 33, 6.1.23.2) My husband heaps up for me, my child measures out for me; my lover picks the bones from the fish for me.


14.42

26. (cf. 6.1.01.126, 6.1.19.c6, 6.1.22: l. 34, 6.2.3: UET 6/2 284) A plant as sweet as a husband does not grow in the desert.


14.43

27. My husband needn't bring me grass; it will not make a decoration for my genitals (idiom: sense unclear) .


14.44

28. (cf. 6.1.01.154) A malicious wife living in a house is the worst of all afflictions.


14.45

29-30. (cf. 6.1.22: ll. 35-37, 6.2.5: UM 29-15-748 ll. 6-7) A pig was carrying something (?): "Where is my sow?" it said. As it neared its fate, it said: "It is my dung-spattered (?) food!"


14.46

31. As for a daughter-in-law -- what about making a reed mat?


14.46a

32-33. (cf. 6.1.01.169) As for the fiancé, what has he brought? And as for the father-in-law, what has he sorted out?


14.47

34-35. The fiancé brought …… did not come out.
approx. 7 lines missing

Segment C


14.55

1. (cf. 6.1.15.c4) A stranger is leader in a foreign city.


14.56

2-4. (cf. 6.1.15.c5) I am one who does not ……. I can ……. I can …….


14.57

5-6.
2 lines fragmentary


14.58

7.
1 line fragmentary


14.59

8-11.
4 lines fragmentary


14.60

12. …… barley (?) …….


14.61

13.
1 line fragmentary


14.62

14-17. (cf. 6.1.26.d14) The nights are fifty, the days are fifty; at its ……, …… greatly.


14.63

18-19.
2 lines fragmentary


14.64

20-21.
2 lines fragmentary



Revision history

25.i.2002: JT, editor: adapting translation
16.ix.2002: JAB, editor: proofreading
16.xii.2002: GC, editor: SGML tagging
20.vi.2003: JE, editor: web publication
01.vi.2003: GC/JE, editor/technical developer: XML/TEI conversion

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