But take this to the mint; defaced ’twill be, in fine.165

Then be not thou misled with gilded counterfeit;

Delusion will thee plunge headlong into hell’s pit.


V.
The Lion and the Beasts.

Kalīl’ and Dimna’s book relates a charming tale,[136]

From which males may a moral draw;—and eke, female.

Within a shelter’d vale, four-footed game in droves,

Were kept in tremor by a lion from its groves.

So frequently had he borne victims off from thence,