1 Category One Epic of Gilgamesh (109) 1. Urshanabi spoke to Gilgamesh, saying:' "Why are your cheeks emaciated, your expression desolate! 2. Gilgamesh spoke to Urshanabi, saying: "Urshanabi, should not my cheeks be emaciated, my expression desolate! 3. My friend who chased wild asses in the mountain, the panther of the wilderness… 4. My friend, whom I love deeply, who went through every hard- ship with me, 5. Enkidu, my friend, whom I love deeply, who went through every hardship with me, has died. 6. Six days and seven nights I mourned over him and would not allow him to be buried until a maggot fell out of his nose. 7. I was terrified by his appearance(!), 8. I began to fear death, and so roam the wilderness. 9. The issue of my friend oppresses me, so I have been roaming long trails through the wilderness. 10. The issue of Enkidu, my friend, oppresses me, so I have been roaming long roads through the wilderness. 11. How can I stay silent, how can I be still! 12. My friend whom I love has turned to clay; 13. Enkidu, my friend whom I love, has turned to clay! 14. Am I not like him! Will I lie down, never to get up again!" 15. Utanapishtim spoke to Gilgamesh, saying: "Gilgamesh, you came here exhausted and worn out. What can I give you so you can return to your land? I will disclose to you a thing that is hidden, Gilgamesh, a... I will tell you. 16. There is a plant... like a boxthorn, whose thorns will prick your hand like a rose. 17. If your hands reach that plant you will become a young man again.” 18. ….He took the plant, though it pricked his hand, and cut the heavy stones from his feet, letting the waves(?) throw him onto its shores. 19. Gilgamesh spoke to Urshanabi, the ferryman, saying: "Urshanabi, this plant is a plant against decay by which a man can attain his survival. I will bring it to Uruk-Haven, and have an old man eat the plant to test it. 20. The plant's name is 'The Old Man Becomes a Young Man.'" 2 21. Then I will eat it and return to the condition of my youth." At twenty leagues they broke for some food, at thirty leagues they stopped for the night. 22. Seeing a spring and how cool its waters were, Gilgamesh went down and was bathing in the water. 23. A snake smelled the fragrance of the plant, silently came up and carried off the plant. While going back it sloughed off its casing.' 24. At that point Gilgamesh sat down, weeping, his tears streaming over the side of his nose. (109) Academy of Ancient Texts. The Epic of Gilgamesh is in the Public Domain. Source URL: http://www.ancienttexts.org/library/mesopotamian/gilgamesh/tab11.htm 3 Book of Ecclesiastes (110) Chapter 3 15 That which is has been long ago, and that which is to be has been long ago. God seeks again that which is passed away. 16 Moreover I saw under the sun, in the place of justice, that wickedness was there; and in the place of righteousness, that wickedne.

1. 1
Category One
Epic of Gilgamesh (109)
1. Urshanabi spoke to Gilgamesh, saying:'
"Why are your cheeks emaciated, your expression desolate!
2. Gilgamesh spoke to Urshanabi, saying:
"Urshanabi, should not my cheeks be emaciated, my
expression
desolate!
3. My friend who chased wild asses in the mountain, the panther
of the wilderness…
4. My friend, whom I love deeply, who went through every
hard-
ship with me,
5. Enkidu, my friend, whom I love deeply, who went through
every hardship with me, has died.
6. Six days and seven nights I mourned over him
and would not allow him to be buried until a maggot fell out of
his nose.
7. I was terrified by his appearance(!),
8. I began to fear death, and so roam the wilderness.
9. The issue of my friend oppresses me,

2. so I have been roaming long trails through the wilderness.
10. The issue of Enkidu, my friend, oppresses me,
so I have been roaming long roads through the wilderness.
11. How can I stay silent, how can I be still!
12. My friend whom I love has turned to clay;
13. Enkidu, my friend whom I love, has turned to clay!
14. Am I not like him! Will I lie down, never to get up again!"
15. Utanapishtim spoke to Gilgamesh, saying:
"Gilgamesh, you came here exhausted and worn out.
What can I give you so you can return to your land?
I will disclose to you a thing that is hidden, Gilgamesh,
a... I will tell you.
16. There is a plant... like a boxthorn,
whose thorns will prick your hand like a rose.
17. If your hands reach that plant you will become a young
man again.”
18. ….He took the plant, though it pricked his hand,
and cut the heavy stones from his feet,
letting the waves(?) throw him onto its shores.
19. Gilgamesh spoke to Urshanabi, the ferryman, saying:
"Urshanabi, this plant is a plant against decay
by which a man can attain his survival.
I will bring it to Uruk-Haven,
and have an old man eat the plant to test it.
20. The plant's name is 'The Old Man Becomes a Young Man.'"
2

3. 21. Then I will eat it and return to the condition of my youth."
At twenty leagues they broke for some food,
at thirty leagues they stopped for the night.
22. Seeing a spring and how cool its waters were,
Gilgamesh went down and was bathing in the water.
23. A snake smelled the fragrance of the plant,
silently came up and carried off the plant.
While going back it sloughed off its casing.'
24. At that point Gilgamesh sat down, weeping,
his tears streaming over the side of his nose.
(109) Academy of Ancient Texts. The Epic of Gilgamesh is in
the Public Domain.
Source URL:
http://www.ancienttexts.org/library/mesopotamian/gilgamesh/ta
b11.htm
3
Book of Ecclesiastes (110)
Chapter 3
15 That which is has been long ago, and that which is to be has
been long ago. God

4. seeks again that which is passed away.
16 Moreover I saw under the sun, in the place of justice, that
wickedness was there; and
in the place of righteousness, that wickedness was there. 17 I
said in my heart, “God will
judge the righteous and the wicked; for there is a time there for
every purpose and for
every work.”
20 All go to one place. All are from the dust, and all turn to
dust again. 21 Who knows the
spirit of man, whether it goes upward, and the spirit of the
animal, whether it goes
downward to the earth?”
22 Therefore I saw that there is nothing better than that a man
should rejoice in his
works; for that is his portion: for who can bring him to see what
will be after him?
Chapter 4
9 Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for
their labor. 10 For if they
fall, the one will lift up his fellow; but woe to him who is alone
when he falls, and doesn’t
have another to lift him up. 11 Again, if two lie together, then
they have warmth; but how
can one keep warm alone? 12 If a man prevails against one who
is alone, two shall
withstand him; and a threefold cord is not quickly broken.
13 Better is a poor and wise youth than an old and foolish king
who doesn’t know how to
receive admonition any more. 14 For out of prison he came out
to be king; yes, even in
his kingdom he was born poor. 15 I saw all the living who walk
under the sun, that they
were with the youth, the other, who succeeded him.

5. (110) The World English Bible. Book of Ecclesiastes 3:15-17,
20-22; 4:9-15 is in the
Public Domain.
Source URL: https://ebible.org/web/ECC03.htm
4
Category Two
Plato
Apology by Plato
Someone will say: Yes, Socrates, but cannot you hold your
tongue, and then you may
go into a foreign city, and no one will interfere with you? Now I
have great difficulty in
making you understand my answer to this. For if I tell you that
this would be a
disobedience to a divine command, and therefore that I cannot
hold my tongue, you will
not believe that I am serious; and if I say again that the greatest
good of man is daily to
converse about virtue, and all that concerning which you hear
me examining myself and
others, and that the life which is unexamined is not worth living

6. - that you are still less
likely to believe…. (111)
Let us reflect in another way, and we shall see that there is
great reason to hope that
death is a good, for one of two things: - either death is a state of
nothingness and utter
unconsciousness, or, as men say, there is a change and
migration of the soul from this
world to another. Now if you suppose that there is no
consciousness, but a sleep like
the sleep of him who is undisturbed even by the sight of dreams,
death will be an
unspeakable gain. For if a person were to select the night in
which his sleep was
undisturbed even by dreams, and were to compare with this the
other days and nights
of his life, and then were to tell us how many days and nights he
had passed in the
course of his life better and more pleasantly than this one, I
think that any man, I will not
say a private man, but even the great king, will not find many
such days or nights, when
compared with the others. Now if death is like this, I say that to
die is gain; for eternity is
then only a single night. (112)
Source:
(111) Wikiquote. Socrates is licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.
Source URL: https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Socrates
(112) Wikiquote Apology (Plato) is licensed under CC-BY-SA
3.0.

7. Source URL: https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Apology_(Plato)
5
Nicomachean Ethics by Aristotle (113)
Happiness extends, then, just so far as contemplation does, and
those to whom
contemplation more fully belongs are more truly happy, not as a
mere concomitant but
in virtue of the contemplation; for this is in itself precious.
Happiness, therefore, must be
some form of contemplation.
But, being a man, one will also need external prosperity; for our
nature is not self-
sufficient for the purpose of contemplation, but our body also
must be healthy and must
have food and other attention. Still, we must not think that the
man who is to be happy
will need many things or great things, merely because he cannot
be supremely happy
without external goods; for self-sufficiency and action do not
involve excess, and we can
do noble acts without ruling earth and sea; for even with
moderate advantages one can
act virtuously (this is manifest enough; for private persons are
thought to do worthy acts
no less than despots-indeed even more); and it is enough that we
should have so much
as that; for the life of the man who is active in accordance with

8. virtue will be happy.
(113) Nicomachean Ethics by Aristotle (350 BCE) translated by
W. D. Ross in 1908 is in
the Public Domain.
Source URL:
http://classics.mit.edu/Aristotle/nicomachaen.10.x.html
6
Book of Mathew, Jesus son of Joseph (114)
Chapter 5
1 Seeing the multitudes, he went up onto the mountain. When he
had sat down, his
disciples came to him. 2 He opened his mouth and taught them,
saying,
3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit,
4 Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
5 Blessed are the gentle, for they shall inherit the earth.
6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness,
for they shall be filled.
7 Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.
8 Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
9 Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children
of God.
10 Blessed are those who have been persecuted for
righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the
Kingdom of Heaven.
11 “Blessed are you when people reproach you, persecute you,
and say all kinds of evil

9. against you falsely, for my sake. 12 Rejoice, and be exceedingly
glad, for great is your
reward in heaven. For that is how they persecuted the prophets
who were before you.
43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your
neighbor and hate your
enemy.’ 44 But I tell you, love your enemies, bless those who
curse you, do good to
those who hate you, and pray for those who mistreat you and
persecute you, 45 that you
may be children of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes
his sun to rise on the
evil and the good, and sends rain on the just and the unjust. 46
For if you love those who
love you, what reward do you have? Don’t even the tax
collectors do the same? 47 If you
only greet your friends, what more do you do than others? Don’t
even the tax
collectors do the same?
Chapter 6
2 Therefore when you do merciful deeds, don’t sound a trumpet
before yourself, as the
hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they
may get glory from men.
Most certainly I tell you, they have received their reward. 3 But
when you do merciful
deeds, don’t let your left hand know what your right hand does,
4 so that your merciful
deeds may be in secret, then your Father who sees in secret will
reward you openly.
25 Therefore I tell you, don’t be anxious for your life: what you
will eat, or what you will

10. drink; nor yet for your body, what you will wear. Isn’t life more
than food, and the body
7
more than clothing? 26 See the birds of the sky, that they don’t
sow, neither do they
reap, nor gather into barns. Your heavenly Father feeds them.
Aren’t you of much more
value than they?
27 “Which of you, by being anxious, can add one moment‡ to
his lifespan? 28 Why are
you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how
they grow. They don’t
toil, neither do they spin, 29 yet I tell you that even Solomon in
all his glory was not
dressed like one of these. 30 But if God so clothes the grass of
the field, which today
exists, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, won’t he much
more clothe you, you of
little faith?
34 Therefore don’t be anxious for tomorrow, for tomorrow will
be anxious for itself. Each
day’s own evil is sufficient.
(114) The World Bible. English Book of Matthew, Chapter 5,
Verse 1-11, 43-47; Chapter
6, Verse 2-4, 25-30, 34 is in the Public Domain.
Source URL: https://ebible.org/web/MAT05.htm

11. 8
Moral Letters to Lucilius - Letter 9 by Seneca (115)
There is this difference between ourselves and the Epicureans:
our ideal wise man feels
his troubles, but overcomes them; their wise man does not even
feel them. But we and
they alike hold this idea, - that the wise man is self-sufficient.
Nevertheless, he desires
friends, neighbors, and associates, no matter how much he is
sufficient unto himself.
And mark how self-sufficient be is; for on occasion he can be
content with a part of
himself. If he lose a hand through disease or war, or if some
accident puts out one or
both of his eyes, he will be satisfied with what is left, taking as
much pleasure in his
impaired and maimed body as he took when it was sound. But
while he does not pine
for these parts if they are missing, he prefers not to lose them.
In this sense the wise
man is self-sufficient, that he can do without friends, not that he
desires to do without
them….
For what purpose, then, do I make a man my friend? In order to
have someone for
whom I may die, whom I may follow into exile, against whose
death I may stake my own
life, and pay the pledge, too. The friendship which you portray
is a bargain and not a
friendship; it regards convenience only, and looks to the results.

12. Beyond question the
feeling of a lover has in it something akin to friendship; one
might call it friendship run
mad. But, though this is true, does anyone love for the sake of
gain, or promotion, or
renown? Pure/a love+, careless of all other things, kindles the
soul with desire for the
beautiful object, not without the hope of a return of the
affection. What then? Can a
cause which is more honorable produce a passion that is base?
You may retort: "We
are now discussing the question whether friendship is to be
cultivated for its own sake."
On the contrary, nothing more urgently requires demonstration;
for if friendship is to be
sought for its own sake, he may seek it who is self-sufficient.
"How, then," you ask,
"does he seek it?" Precisely as he seeks an object of great
beauty, not attracted to it by
desire for gain, nor yet frightened by the instability of Fortune.
One who seeks
friendship for favorable occasions, strips it of all its nobility.
"The wise man is self-sufficient." This phrase, my dear
Lucilius, is incorrectly explained
by many; for they withdraw the wise man from the world, and
force him to dwell within
his own skin. But we must mark with care what this sentence
signifies and how far it
applies; the wise man is sufficient unto himself for a happy
existence, but not for mere
existence. For he needs many helps towards mere existence; but
for a happy existence
he needs only a sound and upright soul, one that despises
Fortune.

13. (115) Moral letters to Lucilius by Seneca by Wikisource is
licensed under CC BY-SA
3.0..
Source URL:
https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Moral_letters_to_Lucilius/Letter
_9
9
Category Three
Summa Theologica by Thomas Acquinas (116)
Now, it is clear from what we have said that it is impossible for
human happiness to
consist in bodily pleasures, the chief of which are those of food
and sex…. Besides,
happiness is a certain kind of good, appropriate to man. Indeed,
brute animals cannot
be deemed happy, unless we stretch the meaning of the term.
But [bodily] pleasures are
common to men and brutes. So, happiness should not be
attributed to them.
Similarly, neither can worldly power be man’s highest good,
since in its attainment, also,
fortune can play a most important part. It is also unstable; nor is
it subject to man’s will;
oftentimes it comes to bad men—and these characteristics are
incompatible with the

14. highest good, as was evident in the foregoing arguments.
Moreover, that man’s highest good does not lie in goods of the
body, such as health,
beauty, and strength, is clearly evident from similar
considerations. For these things are
possessed in common by both good and bad men....Moreover,
many animals are better
endowed than men, as far as the goods of the body go; for some
are faster than man,
some are stronger, and so on. If, then, man’s highest good lay in
these things, man
would not be the most excellent of animals; which is obviously
false. Therefore, human
felicity does not consist in goods of the body….
So, if the ultimate happiness of man does not consist in external
things which are called
the goods of fortune, nor in the goods of the body, nor in the
goods of the soul
according to its sensitive part, nor as regards the intellective
part according to the
activity of the moral virtues, nor according to the intellectual
virtues that are concerned
with action, that is, art and prudence—we are left with the
conclusion that the ultimate
felicity of man lies in the contemplation of truth.
If then you are master of yourself, you will be in possession of
that which you will never
wish to lose, and which Fortune will never be able to take from
you. Yet consider this
further, that you may.
(116) Summa Theologica by Thomas Acquinas (1485) published
by Benziger Brothers

15. in 1911 is in the Public Domain.
Source URL: http://dhspriory.org/thomas/ContraGentiles3a.htm
- 30
10
The Consolation of Philosophy by Boethius (117)
If then you are master of yourself, you will be in possession of
that which you will never
wish to lose, and which Fortune will never be able to take from
you. Yet consider this
further, that you maybe assured that happiness cannot be fixed
in matters of chance: if
happiness is the highest good of a man who lives his life by
reason, and if that which
can by any means be snatched away, is not the highest good
(since that which is best
cannot be snatched away), it is plain that Fortune by its own
uncertainty can never
come near to reaching happiness. Further, the ma n who is borne
along by a happiness
which may stumble, either knows that it may change, or knows
it not: if he knows it not,
what happiness can there be in the blindness of ignorance? If he
knows it, he must
needs live in fear of losing that which he cannot doubt that he
may lose; wherefore an

16. ever-present fear allows not such an one to be happy. Or at any
rate, if he lose it
without unhappiness, does he not think it worthless? For that,
whose loss can be calmly
borne, is indeed a small good. You, I know well, are firmly
persuaded that men's
understandings can never die; this truth is planted deep in you
by many proofs: since
then it is plain that the happiness of fortune is bounded by the
death of the body, you
cannot doubt that, if death can carry away happiness, the whole
race of mortals is
sinking into wretchedness to be found upon the border of death.
But we know that many
have sought the enjoyment of happiness not only by death, but
even by sorrow and
sufferings: how then can the presence of this life make us
happy, when its end cannot
make us unhappy
(117) The Consolation of Philosophy by Boethius (AD 523)
translated by W. V. Cooper,
J.M. Dent and Company in 1902 is in the Public Domain.
Source URL:
http://faculty.georgetown.edu/jod/boethius/boetrans.html