herodotus

wishing to store his wealth in safety he caused to be built a chamberof stone, one of the walls whereof was towards the outside of hispalace: and the builder of this, having a design against it, contrivedas follows, that is, he disposed one of the stones in such a mannerthat it could be taken out easily from the wall either by two men oreven by one. So when the chamber was finished, the king stored hismoney in it, and after some time the builder, being near the end ofhis life, called to him his sons (for he had two) and to them herelated how he had contrived in building the treasury of the king, andall in forethought for them, that they might have ample means ofliving. And when he had clearly set forth to them everythingconcerning the taking out of the stone, he gave them the measurements,saying that if they paid heed to this matter they would be stewards ofthe king's treasury. So he ended his life, and his sons made no longdelay in setting to work, but went to the palace by night, and havingfound the stone in the wall of the chamber they dealt with it easilyand carried forth for themselves great quantity of the wealth within.(b) And the king happening to open the chamber, he marvelled when hesaw the vessels falling short of the full amount, and he did not knowon whom he should lay the blame, since the seals were unbroken and thechamber had been close shut; but when upon his opening the chamber asecond and a third time the money was each time seen to be diminished,for the thieves did not slacken in their assaults upon it, he did asfollows:--having ordered traps to be made he set these round about thevessels in which the money was; and when the thieves had come as atformer times and one of them had entered, then so soon as he came nearto one of the vessels he was straightway caught in the trap: and whenhe perceived in what evil case he was, straightway calling his brotherhe showed him what the matter was, and bade him enter as quickly aspossible and cut off his head, for fear lest being seen and known hemight bring about the destruction of his brother also. And to theother it seemed that he spoke well, and he was persuaded and did so;and fitting the stone into its place he departed home bearing with himthe head of his brother. (c) Now when it became day, the king enteredinto the chamber and was very greatly amazed, seeing the body of thethief held in the trap without his head, and the chamber unbroken,with no way to come in or go out: and being at a loss he hung up thedead body of the thief upon the wall and set guards there, with chargeif they saw any one weeping or bewailing himself to seize him andbring him before the king. And when the dead body had been hung up,the mother was greatly grieved, and speaking with the son who survivedshe enjoined him, in whatever way he could, to contrive means by whichhe might take down and bring home the body of his dead brother; and ifhe should neglect to do this, she earnestly threatened that she wouldgo and give information to the king that he had the money. (d) So asthe mother dealt hardly with the surviving son, and he though saying