The histories of Herodotus;

I20-I2I] THE TROJAN WAR 1 27
they had it not in their power to restore Helen, nor when they
spoke the truth, did the Greeks give credit to them : providence
ordaining, as I am of opinion, that they, by utterly
perishing, should make it clear to all men that for great crimes
great punishments at the hands of the gods are in store. Thus
these things have been related as they appear to me.
The priests also informed me that Rhampsinitus succeeded
Proteus in the kingdom: he left as a monument the portico
of the Temple of Vulcan, fronting to the west ; and he erected
two statues before the portico, twenty-five cubits high. Of
these, the one standing to the north the Egyptians call Summer;
and that to the south, Winter: and the one that they
call Summer, they worship and do honour to; but the one
called Winter, they treat in a quite contrary way.
This king, they said, possessed a great quantity of money,
such as no one of the succeeding kings was able to surpass,
or even nearly come up to; and he, wishing to treasure up
his wealth in safety, built a chamber of stone, of which one
of the walls adjoined the outside of the palace. But the
builder, forming a plan against it, devised the following contrivance
: He fitted one of the stones so that it might be easily
taken out by two men, or even one. When the chamber was
finished, the king laid up his treasures in it ; but in course of
time the builder, finding his end approaching, called his sons
to him, for he had two, and described to them how (pro-
viding for them that they might have abundant sustenance)
and hav-
he had contrived when building the king's treasury ;
ing clearly explained to them everything relating to the removal
of the stone, he gave them its dimensions, and told
them, if they would observe his instructions, they would be
stewards of the king's riches. He accordingly died, and the
sons were not long in applying themselves to the work ; and
having come by night to the palace, and having found the
stone in the building, they easily removed it, and carried off
a great quantity of treasure. When the king happened to
open the chamber, he was astonished at seeing the vessels
deficient in treasure ; but he was not able to accuse any one,
as the seals were unbroken, and the chamber well secured.
When, therefore, on his opening it two or three times, the
treasures were always evidently diminished (for the thieves
did not cease plundering), he adopted the following plan : He
ordered traps to be made, and placed them round the vessels
in which the treasures were. And when the thieves came as
before, and one of them had entered, as soon as he went near
a vessel he was straightway caught in the trap; perceiving,