Having incurred the divine wrath, Niobe saw those dearest to her
destroyed by missiles from heaven, and was finally transformed into
a rock on Mount Sipylos which bore some vague resemblance to the
human form, and her tears became the rivulets which trickled from
the neighbouring strata.
Thus, in obedience to a moral and intellectual impulse, a striking
geographical appearance was explained, and for ages pious Greeks
looked with bated breath upon the rock at Sipylos which was once
Niobe, just as for ages pious Jews, Christians, and Mohammedans
looked with awe upon the salt pillar at the Dead Sea which was once
Lot's wife.
Pausanias, one of the most honest of ancient travellers, gives us
a notable exhibition of this feeling. Having visited this monument
of divine vengeance at Mount Sipylos, he tells us very naively
that, though he could discern no human features when standing near
it, he thought that he could see them when standing at a distance.
There could hardly be a better example of that most common and
deceptive of all things--belief created by the desire to believe.
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