A man once saw a ship go down with all its crew, and commented severely¹ on the injustice² of the gods. "They care nothing for a man's character," said he, "but let the good and the bad go to their deaths together," There was an ant-heap close by where he was standing³, and, just as the spoke⁴, he was bitten in the foot by an ant. Tuning⁵ in a temper to the ant-heap he stamped upon it and crushed hundreds of unoffending ants. Suddenly Mercury appeared, and belaboured him with his staff, saying as he did so, "You villain⁶, where's your nice sense of justice now?"

 

一个人在海边看见一艘船遇难，船上的人全部都淹死了，他便愤愤不平地抱怨上帝。“哎，上帝都不考虑一个人的品格，”他说，“竟然让好人和坏人一起死 。” 这个人当时正站在一个蚂蚁窝旁，当他说这番话时，被爬到脚上的一只蚂蚁咬了一口。他立刻冲着身旁的蚂蚁窝撒起火来，碾死了许多并没有伤害他的蚂蚁。这时，墨丘利出现了，用棍棒痛打了他一顿，而且还重复那人所说的话：“你这个恶棍，现在你的正义感又去哪里了呢？”

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