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Proverbs: collection 25


25.1

1-4. (cf. 6.1.03.149, 6.1.14.6, 6.1.15.b5, 6.1.16.c5, 6.1.22: ll. 172-175) It became cloudy, but it did not rain. It rained, but no one undid their belt. Although the Tigris was on its high tide, no water reached the arable lands. It rained on the riverbank, but the dry land did not get any of it.


25.2

5-6. (cf. 6.1.15.b7) The en priest eats fish and eats leeks; but cress makes him ill.


25.3

7-8. (cf. 6.1.03.59) The lord (i.e. An (?)) cursed Unug, but he himself was cursed by the lady of E-ana (i.e. Inana) .


25.4

9-15. (cf. 6.1.03.31, 6.1.09.b1, 6.1.11.18, 6.1.15.b8, 6.2.1: Ni 4469 Seg. A ll. 9-12) Nanni cherished his old age. He had not finished the building of Enlil's temple. He ...... the building of the wall of Nibru. He had abandoned the building of the E-ana, ....... He had captured Simurrum, but had not managed to carry off (?) its tribute. Mighty kingship was not bestowed upon him. Was not Nanni thus brought to the nether world with a depressed heart?


25.5

16-20. (cf. 6.1.01.57) Although the number of unhappy days is endless (?), yet life is better than death ....... When I ......
2 lines fragmentary


25.6

21-22. (cf. 6.1.01.68, 6.1.14.15) Into a plague-stricken city one has to be driven like a pack-ass.


25.7

23-24. (= Alster 1997 25.8; cf. 6.1.02.142, 6.1.23.7) A house built by a righteous man is destroyed by a treacherous man.


25.8

25-26. (= Alster 1997 25.7; cf. 6.1.02.156, 6.1.02.161, 6.1.03.165, 6.1.14.23) The palace is a slippery place, where one slips. Watch your step when you decide to go home!


25.9

27. (cf. 6.1.11.56, 6.1.26.a2, 6.2.5: UM 29-16-519 Seg. B l. 2) The palace bows down, but only of its own accord.


25.10

28. (cf. 6.1.02.158, 6.1.14.22, 6.1.17.b9) The palace -- one day a lamenting mother, the next day a mother giving birth.


25.11

29-30. (cf. 6.1.02.157, 6.1.14.20, 6.2.3: UET 6/2 317) Even the palace cannot avoid the wasteland. Even a barge cannot avoid straw. Even a nobleman cannot avoid corvée work.


25.12

31-34. (cf. 6.1.26.a3, 6.2.5: YBC 9908, 5.6.1: ll. 95-96) What flows in is never enough to fill it, and what flows out can never be stopped -- don't envy the king's property!


25.13

35-36. (cf. 6.1.03.170, 6.1.26.a10, 6.2.5: BM 57994 Seg. A ll. 1-3) When a man sailing downstream encounters a man whose boat is travelling upstream, an inspection is an abomination to Suen.



Revision history

22.xi.2000: GZ, editor: adapting translation
07.xii.2000: JAB, editor: proofreading
10.xii.2000: GZ, editor: SGML tagging
06.xi.2002: GC, editor: minor corrections
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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