466 PROCEEDINGS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY. 



defence of traditional theology against the current pessimism and 

 skepticism of the time. This legend of a righteous and orthodox 

 man unjustly afflicted with poverty and disease, originated in 

 Sumer, and was known as early as the twenty-fifth century. 



The Righteous Sufferer was a resident of Nippur, named Lalur 

 elimma, "Good is the protection of Enlil." The Semitic poem, as 

 now reconstructed from texts of the late period, utilizes some old 

 Sumerian legend which has not been recovered. The poem con- 

 tains a detailed statement of the pessimism of the day, and the 

 orthodox reply thereto. The Righteous Sufferer challenges the 

 justice of God and the ways of providence. The good suffer and 

 the wicked prosper. Strict observance of the rituals availed not. 

 The priests of the mysteries and divination failed to avert the 

 afflictions sent by the gods. This righteous man had committed 

 no sin, and yet he was daily visited by divine punishment. Death 

 is therefore preferable to life, and labor in the service of religion is 

 futile. 



After a long account of the current pessimism as illustrated by 

 Lalur elimma's bitter complaint, the poet refers to the orthodox 

 theory of rewards and punishments. Affliction is a certain indi- 

 cation of sin. If the sufferer has committed no offense against 

 God, then his ancestors must have done so. The orthodox theory 

 of original sin is expounded, and emphasis is laid on man's igno- 

 rance and God's impenetrable wisdom. Across the gulf between 

 God and man, only prayer and ritual elicit a reply. Faith in the 

 orthodox rituals finally triumphs over skepticism, and the Right- 

 eous Sufferer receives a revelation by divination, and sees that his 

 virtue will soon receive its reward. He is restored to health and 

 prosperity, and the poem ends with a long hymn of praise to 

 Marduk, god of Babylon, who intervened and delivered the be- 

 liever. This later element of the poem shows that the work was 

 finally issued from the school of the priesthood at Babylon, who 

 redacted all the older poems in like manner to glorify their patron 

 deity Marduk. 



The Poem of the Righteous Sufferer forms one section of Mr. 

 Langdon's volume, Babylonian Wisdom. This will contain also 

 the recently recovered Dialogue of Pessimism and the Books of 

 Proverbs. 



