146 THEO. G. PINCHES, ESQ., NOTES UPON SOME OF THE 



earlier times, too, he dearly loved a lawsuit. Unlike the 

 nations of modern times, he seems easily to have adapted 

 himself to foreign rule ; whether his kinsman the Assyrian 

 did so or not we do not know. 



Three excellent points, however, did the Babylonian 

 possess : — 



Painstaking in study, he easily became a learned man in 

 his own particular way ; but better than this, he was kind- 

 hearted; respectful and considerate to his parents; and 

 steadfast in friendship. 



One of the most interesting texts bearing upon this is 

 now in New York (it belongs to the Wolfe collection, which 

 was obtained by Dr. Hayes Ward in Babylonia). It is a 

 will, in which a man, named Nabu-sum-iddina, whilst leaving 

 certain slaves and the produce of certain lands to his wife, 

 Tablutu, takes care also to make provision for his mother. 

 Day by day, and year by year, as long as she lived, she was 

 to receive a certain quantity of grain, fruit, &c. ; as well as 

 meat and poultry. The sustenance of the parents, indeed, 

 seems to have been regarded as an obligation, as witness 

 the following letter : — * 



" ["Letter of] Iddina-aha [to] Remut his son. May [Bel] 

 and Nebo bespeak peace and life for my son. He, my son, 

 knows that there is no corn in the house. Let my son cause 

 2 or 3 gur of corn to be brought by the hands of someone 

 whom thou knowest. Wilt thou not send by the hands of 

 the boatman whom thou iridicatedst ? As for him, [lie is 

 coming?] unto me — send a gift, cause it to go forth to (thy) 

 father. To-day I pray Bel and Nebo for the preservation of 

 the life of my son. Remat asks after the peace of Remut, 

 her son." 



There is someting plaintive about this gentle but urgent 

 appeal. And then the ending, in which the father mentions 

 Remat, the mother after whom Remut has apparently been 

 named, adds, by the suggestion of her needs, to the gentle 

 urgency of it. 



Steadfastness in friendship, how often do we see it now ? 

 The tendency of the world is to believe ill of others — to 

 listen to slanders of the most spiteful kind, and to act 

 accordingly. A slight fault, or even no fault at all, but 

 merely a supposed one, is magnified, and repeated to the 

 disadvantage of another. He who is going down-hill is 

 sped on his way, and the sooner he arrives at the bottom 



* This text is in private hands. 



