Nuces

Here is today's distich by Martial, 14.19. The nuts were used as gambling tokens. They might seem harmless, but as we can learn from Martial here, boys could also get themselves in trouble with such a pastime.

Alea parva nuces et non damnosa videtur;
Saepe tamen pueris abstulit illa nates.

Here is the vocabulary:

alea - game of dice, die, gambling
parvus - small
nux - nut
et - and
non - not, no
damnosus - harmful, ruinous
video - see; videor - seem
saepe - often
tamen - however, but
puer - boy
aufero - carry off, carry away
ille - that, that one
nates (pl.) - buttocks

(image source)