“The scorpion-men, of whom the stature extends upwards as far as the supports of heaven, and of whom the breasts descend as low as Hades, guard the door.  The terror which they inspire strikes down like a thunderbolt; their look kills, their splendour confounds and overturns the mountains; they watch over the sun at his rising and setting.  Grilgames perceived them, and his features were distorted with fear and horror; their savage appearance disturbed his mind.  The scorpion-man said to his wife:  ’He who comes towards us, his body is marked by the gods.’* The scorpion-woman replied to him:  ’In his mind he is a god, in his mortal covering he is a man.’  The scorpion-man spoke and said:  ’It is as the father of the gods, has commanded, he has travelled over distant regions before joining us, thee and me.’” Gilgames learns that the guardians are not evilly disposed towards him, and becomes reassured, tell them his misfortunes and implores permission to pass beyond them so as to reach “Sha-mashnapishtim, his father, who was translated to the gods, and who has at his disposal both life and death.”  The scorpion-man in vain shows to him the perils before him, of which the horrible darkness enveloping the Mashu mountains is not the least:  Gilgames proceeds through the depths of the darkness for long hours, and afterwards comes out in the neighbourhood of a marvellous forest upon the shore of the ocean which encircles the world.  One tree especially excites his wonder:  “As soon as he sees it he runs towards it.  Its fruits are so many precious stones, its boughs are splendid to look upon, for the branches are weighed down with lapis, and their fruits are superb.”  When his astonishment had calmed down, Gilgames begins to grieve, and to curse the ocean which stays his steps.  “Sabitu, the virgin who is seated on the throne of the seas,” perceiving him from a distance, retires at first to her castle, and barricades herself within it.  He calls out to her from the strand, implores and threatens her in turn, adjures her to help him in his voyage.  “If it can be done, I will cross the sea; if it cannot be done, I will lay me down on the land to die.”  The goddess is at length touched by his tears.  “Gilgames, there has never been a passage hither, and no one from time immemorial has been able to cross the sea.  Shamash the valiant crossed the sea; after Shamash, who can cross it?  The crossing is troublesome, the way difficult, perilous the Water of Death, which, like a bolt, is drawn between thee and thy aim.  Even if, Gilgames, thou didst cross the sea, what wouldest thou do on arriving at the Water of Death?” Arad-Ea, Shamashnapishtim’s mariner, can alone bring the enterprise to a happy ending:  “if it is possible, thou shalt cross the sea with him; if it is not possible, thou shalt retrace thy steps.”

* We must not forget that Gilgames is covered with leprosy; this is the disease with which the Chaldaean gods mark their enemies when they wish to punish them in a severe fashion.