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Superbia.
Pride
LXII.
En statuae statua,[1] & ductum de marmore marmor
Se conferre deis ausa procax Niobe.
[2]
Est vitium muliebre superbia, & arguit oris
Duritiem, ac sensus, qualis inest lapidi.
Behold a statue of a statue, marble carved from marble, insolent Niobe, who dared to set herself up against the gods. Pride is a woman’s vice, and shows hardness of face and feeling, such as exists in a stone.
1. According to the best-known story of her fate, Niobe was turned to stone. For the statue of Niobe by Praxiteles, see Ausonius, Epigrams, 63.2 and Anthologia Graeca, 16.130, a much translated epigram, which seems to have been in Alciato’s thoughts here.
2. Niobe in her pride boasted that having 12 (or 14) children, she was superior to Lato with just two, i.e. Apollo and Diana. These gods in revenge slew all her children and in her grief Niobe hardened into a rock; see Ovid, Metamorphoses, 6.165ff. See further, Erasmus, Adagia, 2233, ‘Niobes mala’.
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Relating to the text:
- kinds of non-precious stone (with NAME) [25D12(MARBLE)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- monument, statue [25I152] Search | Browse Iconclass
- femininity [31A721] Search | Browse Iconclass
- Audacity, Temerity; 'Audacia' (Ripa) (+ emblematical representation of concept) [54A82(+4)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- Indecency, Impudence; 'Sfacciatigine' (Ripa) [57AA5] Search | Browse Iconclass
- Pride, Loftiness; 'Alterezza in persona nata povera civile' (Ripa) (+ emblematical representation of concept) [57AA64(+4)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- Niobe changed into stone: in her grief for the loss of her children, Niobe is changed into a stone (Ovid, Metamorphoses VI 305) [97FF5] Search | Browse Iconclass
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