Link to an image of this page [O7r p221]
La superbe.
LXII.
Niobe en marbre fut à
l’instant convertie,[1]
Quand les Dieux frere & soeur,
superbe, elle deffie.
La superbe est un vice aux femmes familier,
Qui ont le front derain, sens de marbre ou d’acier.
Commentaires.
Les riches & puissans sont pour la plus part super-
bes, notamment les femmes. Plusieurs d’entre les superbes
ne se contentent pas de s’enfler contre les hommes, Link to an image of this page [O7v p222]
mais il osent encor s’attaquer à Dieu, le mesprisent,
& parlent de luy & de ses oeuvres sans respect &
reverence, Or n’y a-il point de superbe plus maudite,
& plus à detester, que celle qui nous ameine à un
mespris de la divinité. l’histoire de Niobé se void
en Ovide, Pausanias, & Palephate.
1. 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’. 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.
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Relating to the image:
- (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
- archer's weapons: bow and arrow (+ handling of weapons) [45C15(BOW AND ARROW)(+63)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- arm raised upward (+ despairing) [31A2511(+926)] 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
- clouds [26A] Search | Browse Iconclass
- crawling, going on all fours [31A2712] Search | Browse Iconclass
- crown (symbol of sovereignty) [44B191] Search | Browse Iconclass
- dress, gown (+ men's clothes) [41D211(+81)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- dress, gown (+ women's clothes) [41D211(+82)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- flight, running away; pursuing [33B9] Search | Browse Iconclass
- horse (with NAME of race or kind) [46C13141(...)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- kneeling figure - AA - female human figure [31AA233] Search | Browse Iconclass
- looking over the shoulder - AA - female human figure [31AA247] Search | Browse Iconclass
- lying face downwards with hands under the head [31A2366] Search | Browse Iconclass
- lying figure - AA - female human figure [31AA236] 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
- riding a horse, ass, or mule; rider, horseman [46C131] Search | Browse Iconclass
- sailing-ship, sailing-boat (+ under way, at sea (~ travelling)) [46C24(+63)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- sitting on an elevation - AA - female human figure [31AA2352] Search | Browse Iconclass
- squatting, crouching figure [31A234] Search | Browse Iconclass
- violent death by arrow(s) [31E23461] Search | Browse Iconclass
Relating to the text:
- 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
- minerals and metals (with NAME) [25D13(BRONZE)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- minerals and metals (with NAME) [25D13(STEEL)] 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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