St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1876-03-31

not suppose such customs have materi-
rally changed here since Homer's time,
and if the artist intended to represent
the grief-stricken Niobe, it is the atti-
tude he would have assumed. Ovid
says, ''She sat dOWn among her dead
sons and daughters" One thing is GER
tain. The statue was designed to rep
resent woman, and it is also certain
that the woman is weeping. Some of
her tears fell on my hat. This phe-
nomenon is easily accounted for. The
water from above trickles down the
side of the rock and falling Oh the head
Hoods of tears.
The mineral and vegetable substan-
ces, that the water brings along with it,
have formed dark lines over the face
and down the body that stand out like
veins. The features are almost entire
ly worn away, though, with perhaps Il
little aid of the imagination, could
detect the places where once had been
eyes, nose and mouth. When viewed
close at hand the image does not seem
us llfe-like us when seen at Il little dis
tance, us it is not well proportioned,
and the features have been so much
distigured by time. If this be in reality
Niobe, it is the very spot which blind
old Homer had in mind when he wrote
Still
On the desert hills of Sipylus, she broods
Over the Woes inflicted by the gods"
DIR. Van Lennep relates that his guide
told him, There is IL tradition that this
dren were killed, and she wept So much
that God changed her into stone. They
say her tears made il pond down there
and still keep it full" There is pond
just ut the base of the mountain. So
the legend has been preserved among
the illiterate people of the vicinity
perhaps since the time of Homer.
The age of the sculpture is AN inter
esting question to conjecture upon. hut
ii difficult one to decide. Perhaps the
old negro, who was cutting wood just
below it, got the date about as near
right as any one can. Mr.. BarrowS
asked him if he knew how old it WAS,
and he replied with shrug of his shoul-
derS, ''llumph, how do | know?
came here two or three Years ago from
Ara .l.I.l 4 yL.,,, L..
reTy old" 1t seems to me quite certain
that it was there long enough before
the time of Homer to have become even
then, a tradition.
\ face that has looked out upon the
world for 1000 years. though it he of
stone. looks decidedly venerable. i assure
you. Another question of great inter
est to me is, whether the myth suggest
ed the image, or the image the myth.
In other words. whether il was made
for an image of the weeping Niobe, or
whether the whole story of Niohe, her
tears and her Sorrows. was suggested to
the fertile mind of some poet 10y the
weeping image. | suppose that most
of the old myths had some foundation
in fact, aud for several reasons | incline
to the latter explanation have given
to account for that of Niobe.
Many travellers have rejected the
Niobe hypothesis entirely, and c"nSid-
cred the statue an image of the ancient
goddess Cyhele. who was much wor-
shipped in Lydia. DIR. Van Leuncp,
and think with ii good deal of plausi
bility, unitcs the two. He suggests
that the statue was originally made to
represent Cybcle, or some ancient god
dess of Nature, and was worshipped aS
such; hut having been carved in Il
place where the water accidentally
trickled over the face it came TO he
known as the weeping goddess" The
question then arose. why does she
weep ?" and from this some fertile
brain devised the whole story OF Niohc
and her woes. He rather fancitully
connects the name with the Greek
words. nisO, nipto, nphO. meaning ''to
wash or ito fall in drops as water or
SNOW. BE that as it may. the name
"Niohe, the weeper," clung to the i'm
age, and when Homer had incorporated
it into the Had, it became tXed fact.
natural one than the other, as the water
dripping over the face is IL natural phe-
nomenon. and it is hardly likely that
an artist would devise such IL way of
representing Niobe.
A little stream flowing not far from
the image, is called 10y the Turks "Nif
where Niobe is transformed to stone
is,
where lie the couches of the goddessnymphs
Who lead the dance where Acheous flows"
DIR. Van Lennep makes ''Nif'' cor
ruptien for 'nymph," C''chay" means
stream,) and considers the Nif ebay to
be the ancient Acheloiis. If these con-
lectures be true, this colossal image
was looking out from the rocky sides of
Mt. Sipylus upon the broad Hermus
valley, and receiving the alteration of
its humble worshippers, in the days
when David kept his fathers tiocks in
Bethlehem and 1000 years had rolled
over its stony brow when ''David's
greater Son" proclaimed the way of
eternal life. And still she weepS on.
c. A. s.
D.lo,t r,lIara