Metamorphoses: Book 6: Niobe Summary & Analysis

The story of Arachne spreads. When Niobe, the queen of Thebes, hears it, she doesn’t take it as a warning. Niobe is proud of her husband Amphion, a skillful lyre player, and of her many children. One day, a woman storms through Thebes speaking a prophecy and telling the women to pray and offer incense to the goddess Latona and her children. The women obey.

When Niobe sees the women worshipping Latona, she gets angry. She feels that the women should worship her because her distant relations are gods and she has seven daughters and seven sons. Niobe is wealthy and powerful, but Latona has no home on earth and only two children. Niobe boasts that she is too blessed to suffer misfortune. The women cease their worship but continue to pray to Latona under their breath.

When Latona hears Niobe’s speech, she is furious. She tells her children, Apollo and Diana, to help her reclaim the honor she deserves. Apollo and Diana fly down at once and land on the roof of Niobe’s palace. Niobe’s seven sons have just mounted their horses for a race. Apollo and Diana kill each son with arrows. One of the sons begs for mercy, but he is already fatally wounded. Amphion kills himself with his sword, unable to bear the grief of losing his sons.

Niobe, hearing of the tragedy, runs to her sons and throws herself on their dead bodies. She calls out to Latona, boasting that she is still more powerful than her because her grief is stronger than Latona’s joy. Apollo and Diana kill each of Niobe’s daughters as they attempt to comfort their mother. Niobe begs the gods to spare her youngest daughter, but they ignore her request. Niobe collapses over her dead children. She turns to stone, unable to move but still weeping. Then, a wind sweeps her to a mountain top where she grieves for eternity.