1. Some Babylonian Proverbs from the Library of Ashurbanipal.[574]

1. A hostile act thou shalt not perform, that fear of vengeance (?) shall not consume thee.

2. Thou shalt not do evil, that life (?) eternal thou mayest obtain.

3. Does a woman conceive when a virgin, or grow great without eating?

4. If I put anything down it is snatched away; if I do more than is expected, who will repay me?

5. He has dug a well where no water is; he has raised a husk without kernel.

6. Does a marsh receive the price of its reeds, or fields the price of their vegetation?

7. The strong live by their own wages; the weak by the wages of their children.

8. He is altogether good, but he is clothed with darkness.

9. The face of a toiling ox thou shalt not strike with a goad.