The following is a selection from an interesting collection of Accadian
songs and proverbs, gjven in a mutilated reading-book of the ancient
language which was compiled for the use of Assyrian (or rather Semitic
Babylonian) students. These sentences were drawn up at a time when it was
necessary for the scribes to be familiar with the old language of Accad,
and to be able to translate it into Assyrian, and hence these phrases are
of very great philological value, since they indicate often analogous
words and various verbal forms. The Assyrian translation and the Accadian
texts are arranged in parallel columns. Some of the proverbs must be taken
from an agricultural treatise of the same nature as the "Works and Days"
of Hesiod. Copies of the texts will be found in the "Cuneiform
Inscriptions of Western Asia," Vol. II, 15, 16.