Gaius Furius and his companion Sulpicius paused on the steps of the portico after touring the artwork and exhibits of the Porticus Meleagri. Looking across the Saepta, they saw the small crowd of shoppers visiting the vendors displaying their wares. It was the fourth hour of the day.

On a bench just below them, a Roman of middle age was talking to two small boys who were listening intently to his story.

“Glires,” he began, “quercum arborem glandiferam dentibus eruere destinaverunt, quo paratiorem haberent cibum, ne victus gratia toties ascendere et descendere cogerentur.”

Gaius and Sulpicius stood listening quietly as the man continued.

“Sed quidam ex his qui aetate et usu rerum ac prudentia ceteros longe anteibat, eos absterruit, dicens, ‘Si nutricem nostram nunc interfecerimus, quis futuris annis nobis ac posteris nostris alimenta praebebit?’.”

“And the moral, uncle?,” one of the boys asked.

“Fabula haec monet virum prudentem debere non modo praesentia intueri, verum etiam futura longe prospicere,” the man said. Gaius and Sulpicius smiled and walked past them toward the baths of Agrippa.

“I remember that story from my own youth,” said Sulpicius.

“Indeed, so do I, said Gaius. “My grandfather told me that fable many times. It has a lesson many of our young men would do well to remember instead of wasting the patrimony of their ancestors on so many frivolous pursuits.”

“Quite so, my friend,” replied Sulpicius. “Quite so.”

To work on a crossword puzzle using the words from this fable, visit Latin Crosswords. (This link will not directly reveal the translation).