The Oaks and Jupiter

THE OAKS presented a complaint to Jupiter, saying, "We bear for
no purpose the burden of life, as of all the trees that grow we
are the most continually in peril¹ of the axe²."  Jupiter made
answer:  "You have only to thank yourselves for the misfortunes to
which you are exposed:  for if you did not make such excellent
pillars and posts, and prove yourselves so serviceable to the
carpenters and the farmers, the axe would not so frequently be
laid to your roots."