literature 125
(no. 95); animal fables: “the leopard met the goat and she was naked; the
leopard answered and said to the goat: ‘come and let me cover you with
my skin.’ the goat [replied] and said to the leopard: ‘Why should i do
(so), my lord? Do not take my hide from me!’ for (as they say): ‘[the
leopard] will not greet a gazelle except to suck its blood” (no. 80); com-
parisons: “a man who chops wood in the dark and does not see, is like a
thief who breaks into a house and is caught” (no. 83), or “[ho]w can wood
strive with fire, meat with knife, (or) a man with a king?” (no. 10); apho-
risms: “i have carried sand and loaded salt, but nothing is heavier than a
str[anger]” (no. 74).
from a thematic point of view, many sayings concern retribution: “el will
twist the mouth of the treacherous and tear out the tongue.. .” (no. 72),
or “[Whoever] does not exalt the name of his father or the name of his
mother, may Šamaš not shine [on him] for he is an evil man” (no. 52); but
also diligence: “[Keep the wo]rd of the king; if (something) is commanded
to you, it is a burning fire: hurry, do it!” (no. 9); obedience to duties: “[ho]w
can wood strive with fire, meat with knife, (or) a man with a king?” (no. 10),
or “if your master entrusts you with water, [do not] drink... , [then he will
(?)] leave gold in your hands” (no. 99); education: “Spare not your son from
the rod, otherwise you will not be able to save hi[m from... ]” (no. 86);
modesty: “Let the rich not say, ‘in my riches i am glorious’ ” (no. 112); and
many other usual wisdom topics.
from a semantic perspective, the proverbs show various rhetorical
figures such as puns (e.g., “there is no lion in the sea, therefore the sea-
monster (?) [qpʾ ] is called sea-lion [lbʾ ]”56 (no. 79); word pairs: “a stroke
for a slave-boy, a rebuke for a slave-girl.. .” (no. 92); antithetical chiasmus:
“for man’s favor is in his truthfulness, but his hatefulness is the lying of his
lips” (no. 47); or antithetical parallelism: “Do not be (too) sweet, lest they
swallow you; do not be (too) bitter [lest they spit you out]” (nos. 63–64).
56 aramaic lbʾ recalls the akkadian word labbu “lion”.