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The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from Herodias by Gustave Flaubert: Searching for buried treasure was a veritable mania among the Romans.
The tetrarch swore that no treasure was hidden in that spot.
"What is concealed there, then?" the proconsul demanded.
"Nothing--that is, only a man--a prisoner."
"Show him to me!"
The tetrarch hesitated to obey, fearing that the Jews would discover
his secret. His reluctance to lift the cover made Vitellius impatient.
"Break it in!" he cried to his lictors. Mannaeus heard the command,
and, seeing a lictor step forward armed with a hatchet, he feared that
the man intended to behead Iaokanann. He stayed the hand of the lictor
after the first blow, and then slipped between the heavy lid and the
Herodias | 
