twice twelve hours he groped blindly onward, until he saw a ray of light.  Quickening his steps, he then escaped from the dreadful tunnel and once more rejoiced in the rays of the sun.  He found himself in an enchanted garden, and in the midst of it he saw a divine and beautiful tree towards which he hastened.  On its gleaming branches hung clusters of precious stones and its leaves were of lapis lazuli.  His eyes were dazzled, but he did not linger there.  Passing many other wonderful trees, he came to a shoreland, and he knew that he was drawing nigh to the Sea of Death.  The country which he entered was ruled over by the sea lady whose name was Sabitu.  When she saw the pilgrim drawing nigh, she entered her palace and shut the door.

Gilgamesh called out requesting that he should be allowed to enter, and mingled his entreaties with threats to break open the door.  In the end Sabitu appeared and spoke, saying: 

    Gilgamesh, whither hurriest thou? 
    The life that thou seekest thou wilt not find. 
    When the gods created man
    They fixed death for mankind. 
    Life they took in their own hand. 
    Thou, O Gilgamesh, let thy belly be filled! 
    Day and night be merry,
    Daily celebrate a feast,
    Day and night dance and make merry! 
    Clean be thy clothes,
    Thy head be washed, bathe in water! 
    Look joyfully on the child that grasps thy hand,
    Be happy with the wife in thine arms![211]

This is the philosophy of the Egyptian “Lay of the Harper”.  The following quotations are from two separate versions:—­

How rests this just prince! 
The goodly destiny befalls,
The bodies pass away
Since the time of the god,
And generations come into their places.

* * * * *

(Make) it pleasant for thee to follow thy desire
While thou livest. 
Put myrrh upon thy head,
And garments on thee of fine linen.... 
Celebrate the glad day,
Be not weary therein.... 
Thy sister (wife) who dwells in thy heart. 
She sits at thy side. 
Put song and music before thee,
Behind thee all evil things,
And remember thou (only) joy.[212]

Jastrow contrasts the Babylonian poem with the following quotation from Ecclesiastes:—­

    Go thy way, eat thy bread with joy, and drink thy wine with
    a merry heart....  Let thy garments be always white; and
    let thy head lack no ointment.  Live joyfully with the wife whom
    thou lovest all the days of the life of thy vanity, which he [God]
    hath given thee under the sun, all the days of thy vanity:  for
        that
    is thy portion in this life, and in thy labour which thou takest
    under the sun.[213]

“The pious Hebrew mind”, Jastrow adds, “found the corrective to this view of life in the conception of a stern but just God, acting according to self-imposed standards of right and wrong, whose rule extends beyond the grave.”  The final words of the Preacher are, “Fear God and keep his commandments".[214]