Brewer's: Amyris plays the fool

i.e. a person assumes a false character with an ulterior object, like Junius Brutus. Amyris was a Sybarite (3 syl.) sent to Delphi to consult the Oracle, who informed him of the approaching destruction of his nation. Amyris fled to Peloponnesus and his countrymen called him a fool; but, like the madness of David, his “folly” was true wisdom, for thereby he saved his life.

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