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187.
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 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.
Herodotus, with an English translation by A. D. Godley. Cambridge. Harvard University Press. 1920.
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References (26 total)
- Commentary references to this page (2):
- Cross-references to this page
(6):
- Herbert Weir Smyth, A Greek Grammar for Colleges, PARTICLES
- Raphael Kühner, Bernhard Gerth, Ausführliche Grammatik der griechischen Sprache, KG 1.pos=2.2
- Raphael Kühner, Bernhard Gerth, Ausführliche Grammatik der griechischen Sprache, KG 3.6.1
- Harper's, Nitōcris
- William Watson Goodwin, Syntax of the Moods and Tenses of the Greek Verb, Chapter IV
- William Watson Goodwin, Syntax of the Moods and Tenses of the Greek Verb, Chapter V
- Cross-references in general dictionaries to this page
(18):
- LSJ, ἄπληστ-ος
- LSJ, ἀκίν-ητος
- LSJ, ἀμείνων
- LSJ, ἀνοίγ-νυ_μι
- LSJ, αἰσχρο-κερδής
- LSJ, διεξ-ελαύνω
- LSJ, ἐγκολ-άπτω
- LSJ, ἐπι[πολ]-ή
- LSJ, ἐπικα^λέω
- LSJ, εἰμί
- LSJ, γε
- LSJ, γράμμα
- LSJ, λα_ο-φόρος
- LSJ, μετέωρος
- LSJ, μὴ οὐ
- LSJ, θήκ-η
- LSJ, σπα^ν-ίζω
- LSJ, ὑπέρ
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