A traveller, who had a long journey to make, vowed that, if he found anything, he would dedicate half of it to Hermes. Now he found a bag in which there were almonds and dates. He picked it up, imagining it was money, shook it, and, seeing what it held, ate it: then, taking the almond shells and the date stones, he placed them on an altar, saying, "I am quit of my vow, O Hermes; for I have shared with you the outside and the inside of what I found."
*Greed may drive even the devout to cheat the gods they invoke.
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