Noctes Atticae
Gellius, Aulus
Gellius, Aulus. The Attic Nights of Aulus Gellius. Rolfe, John C., translator. Cambridge, Mass.; London: Harvard University Press; William Heinemann, 1927 (printing).
How the opinions of the Greeks differ as to the number of Niobe's children.
A STRANGE and indeed almost absurd variation is to be noted in the Greek poets as to the number of Niobe's children. For Homer says [*](Iliad xxiv. 602.) that she had six sons and six daughters; Euripides, [*](Frag. 455, N2.) seven of each; Sappho, [*](Frag. 143, Bergk.) nine; Bacchylides [*](Frag. 46, Blass2.) and Pindar, [*](Frag. 65, Bergk.) ten; while certain other writers have said that there were only three sons and three daughters.