There is a room in a famous gallery in Florence, Italy, called the Niobe room, because here are placed the famous statues of Niobe and her fourteen children, trying, in vain, to escape the fatal arrows of the divine archers.
Some people believe that this story means that the rays of the sun and moon are harmful. But others say that it only shows that Apollo, the sun, battles with Niobe and her children, who are the powers of winter. When his rays have overcome them, Niobe dissolves in tears, and the cold snows melt and disappear.
Hamo Thornycroft (modern).
Diana as Huntress.
APOLLO.
Lord of the unerring bow,
The God of life and poesy and light—
The sun in human limbs arrayed, and brow
All radiant from his triumph in the fight.
The shaft has just been shot—the arrow bright
With an immortal’s vengeance; in his eye
And nostril, beautiful disdain and might
And majesty flash their full lightnings by,
Developing in that one glance the Deity.