A freely adapted and translated quotation from Herodotus has become famous as the unofficial motto of the United States Post Office (now United States Postal Service). The monumental General Post Office building in New York, built in 1914, has a 280-foot frieze bearing an inscription selected by the architect: Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds. Herodotus was writing about the couriers of King Xerxes of Persia.