The Shepherd of Hermas

Now the tower was being built four-square by the six young men who had come with her; but tens of thousands of other men were bringing stones, some from the deep sea, and some from the land, and were giving them to the six young men, and these kept taking them and building.

The stones which had been[*](The stones) dragged from the deep sea, they placed without exception as they were into the building, for they had all been shaped and fitted into the joins with the other stones. And they so fastened one to the other that their joins could not be seen. But the

Of the other stones, which were being brought from the dry ground, they cast some away, and some they put into the building and others they broke up and cast far from the tower.

And many other stones were lying round the tower, and they did not use them for the building, for some of them were rotten, and others had cracks, and others were too short, and others were white and round and did not fit into the building.

And I saw other stones being cast far from the tower, and coming on to the road, and not staying on the road, but rolling from the road into the rough ground. And others were falling into the fire, and were being burnt, and others were falling near the water, and could not be rolled into the water, although men wished them to be rolled on and to come into the water.