A man once saw a ship go down with all its crew, and commented severely on the injustice 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 standing, and, just as the spoke, he was bitten in the foot by an ant. Tuning 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 villain, 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？”