 In modern times the fable has been applied in the religious sphere to teach that if one participates in unrighteous activities one is not immune to harm.Aesop's fable was so widespread in Classical times that allusions to it became proverbial.One of the very earliest is in a poem by the 6th century BCE Greek poet Theognis of Megara, who refers to a friend who has betrayed him as the 'chill and wily snake that I cherished in my bosom'.