It is in respect to these architects that the first authentic account of a misunderstanding as to professional compensation is related. It must not be thought that because some of the early architects were related to the nobility of Mount Olympus, they were any the less mercenary than are architects in our own time, or were any more inclined to work for nothing than are their professional descendants of to-day. Plutarch tells us that Agamedes and Trophonius, after working hard upon the Delphic temple, and not receiving any pay, began to lose faith in the mortals who were backing the undertaking. As they grew more and more dubious about their compensation, and possibly having notes or bills to meet, they finally decided to appeal directly to Apollo, in whose glorification the shrine had been built. Apollo, who was consulted through the Delphic Oracle, informed them that he must have time to think the matter over. In other words, he could not be hurried in his decision, but would give them an answer at the end of seven days. It is not unlikely that the Oracle saw an occasion here where it might be a matter of financial prudence to consult with the other side before rendering a decision. However that may be, the two architects were told that Apollo wished that they should spend the intervening time in “festive indulgence.” Thinking from this, quite naturally, that they were in the good graces of the god, and suspecting no ungodly duplicity, Agamedes and Trophonius set about to enjoy themselves according to the most liberal interpretation of their instructions. The result was that at the end of the seventh day they were found dead in their beds, whether from too much festivity on their part or too much duplicity on the part of the Oracle, no one knows, but the inference is conclusive that as they were dead it was not necessary to give them the professional compensation they had been so anxiously demanding. Cicero tells the story a little differently, and eliminates the question of compensation from it. He says that they consulted Apollo to know what in his opinion was “best for man”? This being a much easier question to handle, Apollo took but three days to answer it, but the consequences of the consultation to poor Agamedes and Trophonius were quite as disastrous. It may be that, taking everything into consideration, it is best for man to be dead, but most architects don’t think so, and had Agamedes and Trophonius anticipated such an answer, it is probable that they would have asked no questions. Pausanias relates an altogether different legend and connects it with the treasury of Hyrieus, which Agamedes and Trophonius built, instead of with the temple of Apollo. The story by Pausanias would tend to show that these architects were even more mercenary than Plutarch has given us to understand they were.