"
Such impiety was enough to frighten any one, and her subjects returned
to their daily work, awestruck and silent.
But Apollo and Diana were filled with wrath at this insult to their
divine mother. Not only was she a great goddess and a power in the
heavens, but during her life on earth she had suffered many hardships
for their sake. The serpent Python had been sent to torment her; and,
driven from land to land, under an evil spell, beset with dangers, she
had found no resting-place but the island of Delos, held sacred ever
after to her and her children. Once she had even been refused water by
some churlish peasants, who could not believe in a goddess if she
appeared in humble guise and travel-worn. But these men were all
changed into frogs.
It needed no word from Latona herself to rouse her children to
vengeance. Swift as a thought, the two immortal archers, brother and
sister, stood in Thebes, upon the towers of the citadel. Near by, the
youth were pursuing their sports, while the feast of Latona went
neglected. The sons of Queen Niobe were there, and against them Apollo
bent his golden bow. An arrow crossed the air like a sunbeam, and
without a word the eldest prince fell from his horse. One by one his
brothers died by the same hand, so swiftly that they knew not what had
befallen them, till all the sons of the royal house lay slain. Only the
people of Thebes, stricken with terror, bore the news to Queen Niobe,
where she sat with her seven daughters.
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