Explain the quotation: "This to disclose is all thy guardian can: Beware of all, but most beware of man!”

Explain the quotation:

"This to disclose is all thy guardian can:

Beware of all, but most beware of man!”

Answer: These remarkable and conspicuous opening lines have been taken from the Canto-I of "The Rape of the Lock” by Alexander Pope, the prominent poet of the early eighteenth century. In these lines, Ariel warns Belinda of a coming disaster in the course of the day. The poet is satirizing the then society's beaux, fops, or gallants.

Belinda is under the protection of her guardian sylph named Ariel. The sylph summons a dream to the sleeping eyes of Belinda. In the guise of a well-dressed gallant, he appears in a vision before her. He warns Belinda that some unknown danger will befall her in the course of the day. But he does not know the exact nature of the calamity. He claims he is her guardian-sylph and is in a position to disclose to her. Therefore his warning is not being ignored. He warns she should be born of all the terrible misfortune. She should be conscious of chiefly against the male sex. By the warning of Belinda, Ariel ends his speech.

In fact, the poet has represented Ariel as a well-wisher of Belinda and has mocked the beaux of his time.