Metamorphoses (Books I-XIV)
The Transformation of Niobe
6:435 Widow'd, and childless, lamentable state!
6:436 A doleful sight, among the dead
she sate;
6:437 Harden'd with woes, a statue
of despair,
6:438 To ev'ry breath of wind unmov'd
her hair;
6:439 Her cheek still red'ning, but
its colour dead,
6:440 Faded her eyes, and set within
her head.
6:441 No more her pliant tongue its
motion keeps,
6:442 But stands congeal'd within her
frozen lips.
6:443 Stagnate, and dull, within her
purple veins,
6:444 Its current stop'd, the lifeless
blood remains.
6:445 Her feet their usual offices
refuse,
6:446 Her arms, and neck their graceful
gestures lose:
6:447 Action, and life from ev'ry part
are gone,
6:448 And ev'n her entrails turn to
solid stone;
6:449 Yet still she weeps, and whirl'd
by stormy winds,
6:450 Born thro' the air, her native
country finds;
6:451 There fix'd, she stands upon
a bleaky hill,
6:452 There yet her marble cheeks eternal
tears distil.
Metamorphoses (Books I-XIV)
The Transformation of Niobe
6:435 Widow'd, and childless, lamentable state!
6:436 A doleful sight, among the dead
she sate;
6:437 Harden'd with woes, a statue
of despair,
6:438 To ev'ry breath of wind unmov'd
her hair;
6:439 Her cheek still red'ning, but
its colour dead,
6:440 Faded her eyes, and set within
her head.
6:441 No more her pliant tongue its
motion keeps,
6:442 But stands congeal'd within her
frozen lips.
6:443 Stagnate, and dull, within her
purple veins,
6:444 Its current stop'd, the lifeless
blood remains.
6:445 Her feet their usual offices
refuse,
6:446 Her arms, and neck their graceful
gestures lose:
6:447 Action, and life from ev'ry part
are gone,
6:448 And ev'n her entrails turn to
solid stone;
6:449 Yet still she weeps, and whirl'd
by stormy winds,
6:450 Born thro' the air, her native
country finds;
6:451 There fix'd, she stands upon
a bleaky hill,
6:452 There yet her marble cheeks eternal
tears distil.