Babylonian and Assyrian Literature · Chapter 21Tablet IV[1]—Column I
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Hail holy union! wedded love on earth! The highest bliss which crowns us from our birth, Our joy! the mainspring of our life and aims, Our great incentive when sweet love inflames Our hearts to glorious deeds and ever wreathes Around our brows, the happy smile that breathes Sweet fragrance from the home of holy love, And arms us with a courage from above.
O Woman! Woman! weave thy love around Thy chosen lover, who in thee hath found A loveliness and purity so sweet, That he doth watch for coming of the feet That brings him happiness and thrill his heart— For one, of all thy kind who can impart To him the holiest bliss, the sweetest joy, That e'er can crown his life so tenderly; He worships thee within a holy fane, Let not his hope and joy be all in vain!
O thou, sweet Queen! we crown thee in our homes, And give to thee our love that holy comes From Heaven to inspire and bless our lives. For this mankind all hope to take pure wives To sacredest of all our temples, shrines, And keep thee pure within sweet love's confines That we may worship thee, and daily bring Devotions to our altar,—to thee sing Our orisons of praise, and sacred keep Our homes till we shall softly drop asleep Within the arms we love so tenderly, And carry with us a sweet memory Of purity and bliss that blessed our lives, And children gave from sweetest of pure wives.
Thou art our all! O holy woman, pure Forever may thy charms on earth endure! Oh, trample not upon thy husband's love! For true devotion he doth daily prove. Oh, shackle not his feet in life's fierce strife, His weary shoulders burden,—blast his life! Or palsy those dear hands that work for thee, And fill his eyes with tears of agony, Till love shall turn as acid to his teeth, And thorns shall tear his side with hellish wreath, And daggers pierce his heart, and ice his soul, And thou become to him a hated ghoul!
[2]What married woman is untainted, pure? She, who when married spreads for men no lure, Bestows caresses on no man but him Who is her husband; she who doth not trim Her form to catch the vulgar gaze, nor paints Herself, or in her husband's absence taunts Not her sweet purity; exposes not Her form undraped, whose veil no freeman aught Has raised;[3] or shows her face to others than Her slaves; and loves alone her husbandman; She who has never moistened her pure lips With liquors that intoxicate;[4] nor sips With others joys that sacred are alone To him, her strength; who claims her as his own.
O Beauty, Purity, my theme inspire! To woman's love of old, my muse aspire! When her sweet charms were equally bestowed, And fairest of the sex with hopes imbued Of capturing men of wealth and lives of ease, When loveliness at public sale[5] doth please The nobles of the land to wealth bestow Upon ill-favored sisters, maids of woe, Who claimed no beauty, nor had lovely charms; When crones and hags, and maids with uncouth forms, Secured a husbandman despite of fate, And love redeemed them from the arms of hate.
The proclamation Izdubar had made To bring to the great plaza every maid, For Beltis' feast and Hergal's now arrives, When maidens are selected as the wives Of noblemen or burghers of the towns And cities of the kingdom; when wealth crowns The nobles richest, ever as of old, With beauty they have purchased with their gold. The festival, the Sabat-tu[6] hath come! The Sabat-tu of Elul! hear the hum Of voices filling Erech's streets! The maids are coming, how each gaily prates! The day and hour has come for them to stand And meet the bidders from all Sumir's land; The day that ends their maidenhood, and brings Them joy or not. Oh, how the poor young things With throbbing hearts approach yon gathering throng To hear their fate pronounced; but is it wrong? The custom old, Accadia thinks is good, They all are young and fresh with maidenhood; The ugly ones as well, shall husbands have, And their young lives from shame thus they will save. No aged maids shall pass from yonder throng With bitterness,—their heart's unuttered song For some dear love to end their joyless woe, And longings unallayed that e'er may flow.
But Love! O where art thou? art thou a thing That gold may buy? Doth lucre thy bright wing Unfold to hover over human hearts? Oh, no! Thy presence to our soul imparts A sweeter joy than selfishness can give, Thou givest love that thou mayst love receive; Nor asking aught of wealth, of rank, or fame. True love in palace, hovel, is the same Sweet joy, the holiest of sacred things. For this we worship Ishtar, for she brings Us happiness, when we ourselves forget In the dear arms we love; no coronet Of power, or countless gold, or rank, or fame, Or aught that life can give, or tongue can name, Can reach the heart that loyally doth love, Nor hopes of heaven, nor fears of hell can move.
Mayhap, this Sabattu, some lover may All wealth he claims abandon on this day, For the dear heart that seeming pleads to him, While her fond glistening eyes shall on him gleam. A look, a glance; when mingling souls speak love, Will in his breast undying longings move; And let us hope that when the youths have lain[7] Their all before the herald, that no men Who see their sacrifice will rob their hearts Of all that gives them joy or bliss imparts; Or that this day alone will maidens see Who have not loved, and they will happy be With him who purchases her as his wife; Or proud young beauties will enjoy the strife Of bidders to secure their lovely charms, And love may bring their husbands to their arms.
The day is sacred, dedicated old To Love and Strength, when loving arms shall fold A vigorous husband to a maiden's breast, Where she may ever stay and safely rest. The day of Ishtar, Queen of Love! the day Of Nergal, the strong god, to whom they pray For strength to bless with vigor Accad's sons. For many anxious years this day atones.
[8]This day their Sar the flesh of birds eats not, Nor food profaned by fire this day, nor aught Of labor may perform nor zubat[9] change, Nor snowy ku-bar-ra[10] anew arrange. A sacrifice he offers not, nor rides Upon his chariot this day, nor guides His realm's affairs, and his Tur-tan-nu rests. Of soldiers, and of orders, he divests His mind; and even though disease may fall Upon him, remedies he may not call. The temple he shall enter in the night, And pray that Ishtar's favor may delight His heart; and lift his voice in holy prayer, In Nergal's temple rest from every care, Where he before the holy altar bends With lifted hands, his soul's petition sends.
Around the square the palms and cedars shine, And bowers of roses cluster round divine. Beneath an arch of myrtles, climbing vines, And canopy,—with wreathing flowers it shines, There stands a wondrous garland-wreathèd throne, Where maids are gathered;—each unmarried one. The timid maids and bold of Babylon Are each in turn led to the rosy throne; The crowd of bidders round the herald stand, The richest and the poorest of the land.
The queen of Accad's maids doth now appear, We see the burnished chariot coming near, Ten beauteous bays with proud steps, nodding plumes Come first; behind, a train of nobles comes; And now we see the close-drawn canopy Thrown back by slaves, who step aside, that she The queen of beauty crowned with lilies, rose, May here alight. And see! she queenly goes With dainty steps between the noblemen, Who stand on either side the queen Of beauty of the plains, who first this day Shall reign upon the throne, and lead the way For all the maids who shall be bought for gold, And thus the first upon the throne is sold.
She takes her seat beneath the canopy, Upon the throne high raised, that all may see; As she her veil of fine spun gold flings back From her sweet face and o'er her ringlets black, Her large dark eyes, soft as a wild gazelle's, Upon the richest nobles dart appeals. Her bosom throbs 'neath gems and snowy lace, And robes of broidered satin, velvets, grace Her beauty with their pearly folds that fall Around her form.
Hark! hear the herald's call! "Behold this pearl! my lords and noblemen, And who will bid for her as wife, my men?" "Ana-bilti khurassi ash at ka!"[11] "Akhadu khurassi ana sa-sa!"[12] "U sinu bilti khurassi!"[11] two cried. "Sal-sutu bilti!"[12] nobles three replied; And four, and five, and six, till one bid ten, A vast amount of gold for noblemen:
But see! the bidders in excitement stand Around a youth who cries with lifted hand And features pale and stern, who now began To bid against a wealthy nobleman, Whose countless herds graze far upon the plain, His laden ships that ride upon the main He counts by scores. He turns his evil eyes And wolfish face upon the youth and cries, "Khamisserit!"[13] The lover answering says: "Esra'a!"[14] "U selasa'a!"[15] then brays The gray-haired lover. "U irbaha!"[16] cries The youth, and still the nobleman defies; Who answers cooly, "Khausa'a;"[17] and eyes The anxious youth, who wildly "Miha!"[18] cries. "Mine! mine! she is! though you alapu[19] bid!" "A fool thou art!" the noble, leaving, said. "One hundred talents for a maid!" he sneered, And in the crowd he growling disappeared. The measures filled with shining gold are brought, And thus the loveliest of all is bought.
The next in beauty on the throne is sold, And thus the beautiful are sold for gold. The richest thus select the beautiful, The poor must take alone the dutiful And homely with a dower which beauty bought, And ugliness with gold becomes his lot. The ugliest, unsightly, and deformed, Is now brought forth; with many wriggles squirmed She to the throne, where beauty late had sat: Her ugliness distorted thus; whereat The herald cries: "Who will this woman take With smallest dowry? She can cook and bake, And many household duties well perform, Although she does not claim a beauty's charm. Who wants a wife?" The ugly crone with blinks Doth hideous look, till every bidder shrinks. A sorry spectacle, mis-shapen, gross, She is, and bidders now are at a loss How much to ask to take the hag to wife. At last one cries: "Five bilti,[20] for relief Of herald I will take, to start the bid!" "And four of bilti, I'll take, with the maid!" "Three and a half!" one cries with shaking head, "And she is yours, my man!" the herald said, And thus she bought a husband and a home.
And so the scare-crows, scraggy ones, now come In turn; the lean, ill-favored, gawky, bald, Long-nosed, uncouth, raw-boned, and those with scald And freckled, frowsy, ricketty and squat, The stumpy, bandy-leggèd, gaunt, each bought A man; though ugly as a toad, they sold, For every man with her received his gold. The heaped-up gold which beauteous maids had brought Is thus proportioned to the bidder's lot; The grisly, blear-eyed, every one is sold, And husbands purchased for a pile of gold, And happiness diffused throughout the land; For when the maid refused her husband's hand She might return by paying back the gold. And every maid who thus for wife was sold Received a bond from him who purchased her, To wed her as his wife, or else incur The forfeit of his bond, and thus no maids In all the land were found as grumbling jades, Whose fate it was to have no husbandman, For every woman had a husband then.
[Footnote 1: We have included in Tablet IV Tablets V and VI of the original, as classified by Mr. Sayce.]
[Footnote 2: The above is taken from an Assyrian fragment ("W.A.I.," ii. 35, No. 4) translated in "Records of the Past," vol. xi., pp. 159, 160, and presents the Assyrian view of purity and the customs of their people.]
[Footnote 3: Literally, "whose veil no freeman of pure race has raised." Before slaves and men of mean rank, women of the East are not obliged to veil the face.]
[Footnote 4: Literally, "who has never moistened her teeth with an intoxicating liquor." "Rec. of the Past," p. 160, l. 6.]
[Footnote 5: The public sale herein described is taken from the statement of Herodotus (see Herodotus, vol. i., p. 196. Compare "Nic. Dam. Fr.," 131, and Ælian. "Var. Hist.," iv. 1), who says all the marriageable virgins in all the towns of the empire or kingdom were sold at public auction. The beautiful maidens were sold to the highest bidder, and the proceeds were deposited before the herald. The ugly maidens in turn were then put up, and the bidders were called upon to take them as wives with the smallest dowry to be paid from the proceeds of the sales of the beautiful maids, and they were in turn awarded to those who would accept them with the smallest amount as dowry. The numerous contracts for the sales of women now in the British Museum may possibly be records of these transactions.]
[Footnote 6: "Sab-at-tu," a day of rest for the heart ("W.A.I.," ii. 32), the Sabbath day, which was dedicated to the worship of the sun, moon, and stars, and their gods, which were known by different names.]
[Footnote 7: "Lain," to lay, v.a. (pretr. "laid," part, passive "lain," from "liggan," Sax.), "to place along the ground."—Fenning's Royal Eng. Dic., London, MDCLXXV.]
[Footnote 8: From the Babylonian Festival Calendar ("C.I.W.A.," vol. iv., pls. 32, 33); also translated in "Records of the Past," vol. vii., pp. 162, 163.]
[Footnote 9: "Zubat," robes.]
[Footnote 10: "Ku-bar-ra," linen robes.]
[Footnote 11: "And two golden talents!"]
[Footnote 12: "Three talents!"]
[Footnote 13: "Fifteen!"]
[Footnote 14: "Twenty!"]
[Footnote 15: "And thirty!"]
[Footnote 16: "And forty!"]
[Footnote 17: "Fifty!"]
[Footnote 18: "One hundred!"]
[Footnote 19: "One thousand!"]
[Footnote 20: "Five bilti," about £3,165 sterling, or $15,825.]