Tablet IX: Gilgamish In Terror of Death Seeks Eternal Life

Gilgamish bitterly wept for his comrade, (for) Enkidu, ranging
Over the desert: "I, too—shall I not die like Enkidu also?
Sorrow hath enter’d my heart; I fear death as I range o’er the desert,
I will get hence on the road to the presence of Uta-Napishtim,
—Offspring of Ubara-Tutu is he—and with speed will I travel.
(If) ’tis in darkness that I shall arrive at the Gates of the Mountains,
Meeting with lions, then terror fall on me, I'll lift my head (skywards),
Offer my prayer to the Moon-god, (or else) to . . the gods let my orison
Come . . . 'O deliver me!'" . . . He slept . . . (and) a dream . . .
[Saw he] . . . which were rejoicing in life,
Poised he [his] axe . . . in his hand, (and) drew [his glaive from] his baldric,
Lance-like leapt he amongst them . . . smiting, . . . (and) crushing.

Mashu the name of the hills; as he reach’d the Mountains of Mashu,
Where ev’ry day they keep watch o’er [the Sun-god's] rising [and setting],
Unto the Zenith of Heaven [uprear’d are] their summits, (and) downwards
(Deep) unto Hell reach their breasts: (and there) at their portals stand sentry
Scorpion-men, awful in terror, their (very) glance Death: (and) tremendous,
Shaking the hills, their magnificence; they are the Wardens of Shamash,
Both at his rising and setting. (No sooner) did Gilgamish see them"
(Than) from alarm and dismay was his countenance stricken with pallor,
Senseless, he grovell’d before them.
(Then) unto his wife spake the Scorpion:
"Lo, he that cometh to us—’tis the flesh of the gods is his body."
(Then) to the Scorpion-man answer]d his wife: "Two parts of him god-(like),
(Only) a third of him human."

Bearing its fruit (all) ruby, and hung about with (its) tendrils.
Fair for beholding, and azure the boskage it bore; (aye), ’twas bearing
Fruits (all) desirable unto the eye.

"[He of the wild things hath dresséd] their pelts and the flesh of them eateth.
Gilgamish, [never] a crossing [shall be (?)] where none hath been ever,
(No), [so long] as the gale driveth water."
Shamash was touch’d, that he summon’d him, (thus) unto Gilgamish speaking:
"Gilgamish, why dost thou run, (forasmuch as) the life which thou seekest
Thou shalt not find?" (Whereat) Gilgamish answer’d the warrior Shamash:
"Shall I, after I roam up and down o’er the waste as a wand’rer,
Lay my head in the bowels of earth, and throughout the years slumber
Ever and aye? Let mine eyes see the Sun and be sated with brightness,
(Yea, for) the darkness is (banish’d) afar, if wide be the brightness.
When will the man who is dead (ever) look on the light of the Sunshine?"