"Now Gilgamesh is your beloved brother-friend!
He will have you lie on a grand couch,
and will have you lie in the seat of ease, the seat at his left,
so that the princes of the world kiss your feet.
He will have the people of Uruk go into mourning and moaning over you,
and fill the happy people with woe over you.
And after you he will let his body bear a filthy mat of hair,
will don the skin of a lion and roam the wilderness." (7.124-137)
Here, Shamash is telling Enkidu to wash out his filthy mouth and stop cursing the trapper and Shamhat because they were the ones who brought him out of the wilderness—thus unleashing the chain of events that ultimately led to him being struck by the gods with a mysterious illness. But what do you think of Shamash's argument? Is having even just one great friendship a good trade-off for dying young?
When Shamash heard what his mouth had uttered,
he suddenly called out to him from the sky:
"Enkidu, why are you cursing the harlot, Shamhat,
she who fed you bread fit for a god,
she who gave you wine fit for a king,
she who dressed you in grand garments,
and she who allowed you to make beautiful Gilgamesh your brother comrade?" (7.122-128)
Shamash doesn't like what he's hearing from Enkidu. Here, he reminds Enkidu of all the good things that have come with civilization—like Enkidu's new friendship with Gilgamesh. But notice that Shamash never breathes a word in support of the trapper. Why do you think the god doesn't stick up for him?
"Now Gilgamesh is your beloved brother-friend!
He will have you lie on a grand couch,
and will have you lie in the seat of ease, the seat at his left,
so that the princes of the world kiss your feet.
He will have the people of Uruk go into mourning and moaning over you,
and fill the happy people with woe over you.
And after you he will let his body bear a filthy mat of hair,
will don the skin of a lion and roam the wilderness." (7.129-137)
Here, Shamash is trying to comfort a dying Enkidu. What's interesting here is that Shamash thinks one of civilized life's big pay-offs for Enkidu is that there will be ceremonies to commemorate him after he is dead. But, if he's dead, what difference does it make to him? How do people's lives change if they have consciousness (as Enkidu now receives) of what will happen to them after their existence is over? (And what's the point of coming up with a belief about the afterlife if it's this depressing?)