Sumerian·Book

Position in chronology

Proverbs: collection 28

~1800 BCE·Old Babylonian

Translation · reference

High confidence
(cf. 6.1.03.84) The battle-club does not find out his name, it just finds his flesh. The city may change its name, but let my name stand! The mongoose does not know fear of god. (cf. 6.1.01.145, 6.1.19.c3, 6.1.22: ll. 87-88) Accept your lot and make your mother happy! Run fast and make your god happy! An eagle (?) enters a man's mouth. When a fly enters, your mouth will buzz (lit. fly) . (cf. 6.1.15.c2, 6.1.26.b3) Let the ox be struck with a stick and let the sheep be given the whip. Where there is no toughness, no one can go about their business, not even a plenipotentiary. (cf. 6.1.01.104, 6.1.11.54, 6.1.15.c3, 6.1.26.b4) If oil is poured into the inside of a sceptre (-- nobody will know) .

Source: ETCSL c.6.1.28: Proverbs: collection 28. Black, J.A., Cunningham, G., Robson, E. & Zólyomi, G. (eds.), The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature, Faculty of Oriental Studies, University of Oxford. https://etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk/cgi-bin/etcsl.cgi?text=c.6.1.28

Why it matters

Transliteration

Scholarly note

Composition c.6.1.28 in the ETCSL catalogue. Sumerian literary text reconstructed from multiple cuneiform manuscripts, the great majority Old Babylonian (c. 1900–1600 BCE). Translation reproduced from the ETCSL edition.

Attribution

Image: .
Translation excerpted from ETCSL c.6.1.28: Proverbs: collection 28. Black, J.A., Cunningham, G., Robson, E. & Zólyomi, G. (eds.), The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature, Faculty of Oriental Studies, University of Oxford. https://etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk/cgi-bin/etcsl.cgi?text=c.6.1.28.

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