# Epigraph explained — The Cords of Vanity

> Chapter companion for The Cords of Vanity by James Branch Cabell.

## What happens

The epigraph quotes a biblical warning against those who are drawn into sin through vanity, foretelling decay and ruin.

## Themes in this chapter

### Vanity and Self-Deception

The epigraph directly invokes vanity as a cord that draws people into iniquity, setting a thematic warning for the book.

## Key lines

> Woe unto them that draw iniquity with cords of vanity! … their root shall be as rottenness and their blossom shall go up as dust.

Disaster awaits those who are pulled into wrongdoing by their own vanity; their foundation will decay and their achievements will turn to nothing.

_The epigraph foreshadows the consequences of self-deception and moral decay._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_cords_of_vanity_se/chapters/epigraph
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_cords_of_vanity_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_cords_of_vanity_se/chapters