Niobe

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Niobe is the sixth example carved in the procession of Purgatorio, set opposite that of Nimrod: while the biblical giant is a figure of human pride before God, Niobe belongs to classical mythology, and the alternation between Scripture and myth marks the sequence until the end. The verse—still Purgatorio XII 37—addresses her directly: «O Nïobè, con che occhi dolenti», showing her great limbs now vanquished, scattered across the ground. The note to verse 33 clarifies that the scattering is the effect of the thunderbolts hurled by Jupiter, citing Ovid's Metamorphoses. Dante, before these figures, grasps the suggestive power of a physical might that stirs the imagination, a theme on which Inferno Canto XXXI is also built. In the Purgatorial sequence Niobe is paired, among others, with the example of Arachne, another punished proud soul, indicating the common root of overweening arrogance and punishment.