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[1]
There was a trick, too, that this same queen contrived. She had a tomb made for herself and set high over the very gate of that entrance of the city which was used most, with writing engraved on the tomb, which read:
There was a trick, too, that this same queen contrived. She had a tomb made for herself and set high over the very gate of that entrance of the city which was used most, with writing engraved on the tomb, which read:
[2] “If any king of
Babylon [44.4,32.55] (deserted settlement), Babil, Iraq, Asia
Babylon
in the future is in need of money, let him open this tomb and take as much as he likes: but let him not open it unless he is in need; for it will be the worse for him.”
[3] This tomb remained untouched until the kingship fell to
Darius. He thought it a very strange thing that he should never use this gate, or take the money when it lay there and the writing itself invited him to.
[4] The reason he did not use the gate was that the dead body would be over his head as he passed through.
[5] After opening the tomb, he found no money there, only the dead body, with writing which read: “If you were ever satisfied with what you had and did not disgrace yourself seeking more, you would not have opened the coffins of the dead.” Such a woman, it is recorded, was this queen.
Histories. Herodotus. ed. A.D. Godley. Cambridge. 1920-1925.
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