Note to Hamlet, 1.2.149: "Niobe, all tears"


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Hamlet,
Act 1, Scene 2, line 149
Niobe boasted that her fourteen children entitled her to more respect than the goddess Leto, the mother of the twin deities Apollo and Artemis. To punish Niobe's pride, Apollo and Artemis killed all of Niobe's children. Niobe fled to Mount Sipylus, where she was turned to stone which wept unceasingly.