One day, a sailing ship sank to the bottom of the sea with all its passengers. A man who was a witness of the shipwreck claimed that the decrees of the gods were unjust, for to lose a single impious person they had also made the innocent perish. There were a great many ants on the spot where he was standing. As he was saying this, it happened that one of them bit him. In order to kill it, he crushed them all. Then Hermes appeared to him, and struck him with his wand, saying: And now do you not admit that the gods judge men in the same way you judge the ants?





某日，一只航船连同所有的乘客一起沉入了海底。有个沉船事件的目击者声称神明处罚不公，为了把一个对神不敬的人置于死地，无端连累了众多的无辜者。 那人的脚边聚集了一大群蚂蚁。就在他说话时，有只蚂蚁咬了他一口。为了除掉这只蚂蚁，他把所有的蚂蚁全都踩死了。 此时赫尔墨斯在他眼前出现了，一边用魔杖敲他，一边说道： “这下你总该承认，神处置人类和你处置蚂蚁，用的方式没什么两样吧？”





寓意：



寓意：神明不容亵渎。祸患降及己身，理当反躬自省