Link to an image of this page [N7r f90r]
EMBLEMA CXL.
Superbia.
Pride
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.
Link to an image of this page [N7v f90v]Das CXL.
Hoffart.[3]
Schauw an ein Seul beyr andern stan
Und ein Marmel am andern dran
Die freffel Niob hat sich gleich
Achten dörffen den Göttern reich
Hoffart ist ein Weibisch unart
Zeigt an gwiß und bezeugt zur fart
Ein Menschen der mit Hertz und Mund
Ist herter dann ein Stein all stund.
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’.
3. This woodcut does not correspond to the context of this emblem. It is designed for Emblem 194 ([A67a193]), where death is brought by Death and Cupid, rather than Apollo and Diana.
Related Emblems
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Relating to the image:
- (personifications and symbolic representations of) Love; 'Amore (secondo Seneca)' (Ripa) (+ emblematical representation of concept) [56F2(+4)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- adult man [31D14] Search | Browse Iconclass
- adult woman [31D15] Search | Browse Iconclass
- animals (+ wings of an animal) [25F(+342)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- archer's weapons: arrow (+ handling of weapons) [45C15(ARROW)(+63)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- archer's weapons: bow (+ handling of weapons) [45C15(BOW)(+63)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- archer's weapons: bow and arrow (+ handling of weapons) [45C15(BOW AND ARROW)(+63)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- arm stretched forward (+ holding something) [31A2512(+933)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- arm stretched sidewards - AA - both arms or hands (+ despairing) [31AA2513(+926)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- attributes of Cupid (with NAME) [92D18(ARROW)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- attributes of Cupid (with NAME) [92D18(BOW)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- beard [31A534] Search | Browse Iconclass
- boy (child between toddler and youth) (+ nude human being) [31D11221(+89)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- clouds [26A] Search | Browse Iconclass
- crawling, going on all fours [31A2712] Search | Browse Iconclass
- Cupid shooting a dart at Venus' order (+ variant) [92D15211(+0)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- Death as (rotting) corpse [31F25] Search | Browse Iconclass
- Death with bow and arrow ®® KEY (3) TO 31F2 personifications of Death; 'Morte' (Ripa) [31F2(+3)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- drawing, pulling something [31A2747] Search | Browse Iconclass
- dress, gown (+ men's clothes) [41D211(+81)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- flight, running away; pursuing [33B9] Search | Browse Iconclass
- flying [31A2762] Search | Browse Iconclass
- hand on the heart [31A25162] Search | Browse Iconclass
- kneeling figure [31A233] Search | Browse Iconclass
- low hill country [25H114] Search | Browse Iconclass
- lying face downwards with hands under the head [31A2366] Search | Browse Iconclass
- lying on the back with uplifted upper part of the body [31A2361] Search | Browse Iconclass
- old man [31D16] Search | Browse Iconclass
- pushing something [31A2748] Search | Browse Iconclass
- symbols and personifications of Death [31F0] Search | Browse Iconclass
- violent death by arrow(s) [31E23461] Search | Browse Iconclass
- walking-stick, staff [41D263] Search | Browse Iconclass
Relating to the text:
- (story of) Diana (Artemis) aggressive, unfriendly activities and relationships [92C34] Search | Browse Iconclass
- aggressive, unfriendly activities and relationships of Apollo [92B34] Search | Browse Iconclass
- Apollo and Diana kill Niobe's children [95B(NIOBE)62] Search | Browse Iconclass
- attributes of Apollo (with NAME) [92B38(BOW AND ARROW)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- attributes of Diana (with NAME) [92C38(BOW AND ARROW)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- Audacity, Temerity; 'Audacia' (Ripa) (+ emblematical representation of concept) [54A82(+4)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- femininity [31A721] Search | Browse Iconclass
- kinds of non-precious stone (with NAME) [25D12(MARBLE)] 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
- Pride, Loftiness; 'Alterezza in persona nata povera civile' (Ripa) (+ emblematical representation of concept) [57AA64(+4)] Search | Browse Iconclass
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