This is the philosophy of the Egyptian "Lay of the Harper". The following quotations are from two separate versions:-- How rests this just prince! The goodly destiny befalls, The bodies pass away Since the time of the god, And generations come into their places. * * * * * (Make) it pleasant for thee to follow thy desire While thou livest. Put myrrh upon thy head, And garments on thee of fine linen.... Celebrate the glad day, Be not weary therein.... Thy sister (wife) who dwells in thy heart. She sits at thy side. Put song and music before thee, Behind thee all evil things, And remember thou (only) joy.[212] Jastrow contrasts the Babylonian poem with the following quotation from Ecclesiastes:-- Go thy way, eat thy bread with joy, and drink thy wine with a merry heart.... Let thy garments be always white; and let thy head lack no ointment. Live joyfully with the wife whom thou lovest all the days of the life of thy vanity, which he [God] hath given thee under the sun, all the days of thy vanity: for that is thy portion in this life, and in thy labour which thou takest under the sun.[213] "The pious Hebrew mind", Jastrow adds, "found the corrective to this view of life in the conception of a stern but just God, acting according to self-imposed standards of right and wrong, whose rule extends beyond the grave." The final words of the Preacher are, "Fear God and keep his commandments".[214] Gilgamesh did not accept the counsel of the fatalistic sea lady. He asked her how he could reach Pir-napishtim, his ancestor, saying he was prepared to cross the Sea of Death: if he could not cross it he would die of grief. Sabitu answered him, saying: "O Gilgamesh, no mortal is ferried over this great sea. Who can pass over it save Shamash alone? The way is full of peril. O Gilgamesh, how canst thou battle against the billows of death?" At length, however, the sea lady revealed to the pilgrim that he might obtain the aid of the sailor, Arad Ea, who served his ancestor Pir-napishtim. Gilgamesh soon found where Arad Ea dwelt, and after a time prevailed upon him to act as ferryman. Arad Ea required a helm for his boat, and Gilgamesh hastened to fashion one from a tree. When it was fixed on, the boat was launched and the voyage began. Terrible experiences were passed through as they crossed the Sea of Death, but at length they drew nigh to the "Island of the Blessed" on which dwelt Pir-napishtim and his wife. Wearied by his exertions and wasted by disease, Gilgamesh sat resting in the boat. He did not go ashore. Pir-napishtim had perceived the vessel crossing the Sea of Death and marvelled greatly. The story is unfortunately interrupted again, but it appears that Gilgamesh poured into the ears of his ancestor the tale of his sufferings, adding that he feared death and desired to escape his fate.