AMYNTAS.
35
Ten thousand times more worthy to be laughed at.
Guide then thy steps, my son, with circumspection:
Avoid the lumber, the parade of grandeur;
Let not thy mind be dazzled with the glare.
Fly from the Tyrian glow that mocks the eye;
The plume as airy as the head that wears it;
The lying blazon, falsely speaking worth;
The monument of long-departed greatness.
Fly all the vain idolaters of fashion;
Their souls as trifling as the modes they worship.
But above all, withold thy prudent step
From the grand magazine of earthly folly.
What place is that, said I?—There, he replied,
Female magicians dwell; who with false lights
Delude the eye, and with false sounds the ear.
Their diamond is rude stone, their gold but brass:
Their silver coffers full of orient treasure,
Are wicker baskets, and replete with trash.
With art of sorcery the walls are formed;
Guide then thy steps, my son, with circumspection:
Avoid the lumber, the parade of grandeur;
Let not thy mind be dazzled with the glare.
Fly from the Tyrian glow that mocks the eye;
The plume as airy as the head that wears it;
The lying blazon, falsely speaking worth;
The monument of long-departed greatness.
Fly all the vain idolaters of fashion;
Their souls as trifling as the modes they worship.
But above all, withold thy prudent step
From the grand magazine of earthly folly.
What place is that, said I?—There, he replied,
Female magicians dwell; who with false lights
Delude the eye, and with false sounds the ear.
Their diamond is rude stone, their gold but brass:
Their silver coffers full of orient treasure,
Are wicker baskets, and replete with trash.
With art of sorcery the walls are formed;
Strangely
