over his cheeks. He said to his companion: "To what end has my strength been renewed, to what end does my soul rejoice in its restoration? No benefit have I done to myself, to the earth lion is the benefit fallen." With dirges they wandered on till they came to the city of Erekh.
For the present cuneiform literature unfortunately tells us no more about this Island of the Blessed which so vividly calls to mind the Greek garden of the gods, Elysium, that Paradise in the western ocean where rose the springs of nectar and ambrosia. Neither do we hear of any other inhabitants of it, though it can hardly be supposed that the couple rescued from the Flood and their ferryman dwelt there entirely alone. It is, indeed, expressly stated that they lived "in the assembly of the gods." Thither fancy transferred other heroes of the people. Olympus was merged with Elysium by the Babylonians as later by the Greeks. Tiglath Pilesar expresses a hope that the great gods "have called the race of his priesthood to a dwelling-place on the mount of the gods for ever." According to the Gilgamesh epic he "who had fallen in battle with men" can claim a privileged lot after death. We are re- minded of Walhalla when, at the close of the same epic, we read of the fate of the fallen as follows:
