Question

what do you mean by 'gilded monuments of Princes ' ? why do you think that the rich and powerful people get their monuments and statues built in their memory?

Answer 1

gilded monuments means gold plated monuments.The rich and powerful build it so that the future generations can remember them,but they don't realize that they will be remembered for their good deeds and not for the monuments they built

Answer 2

It means monuments made of gold.
This is made so that people remember who they were and what they did.