| Description |  |
Latona and her children, Apollo and Diana, being tormented with mud slung by Lycian peasants, who refused to let her and her children drink from their pond, appealed to Zeus who responded by turning the Lycians into frogs. This episode from mythology was chosen as an allegory to the revolts of the Fronde, which occurred during the minority of Louis XIV. The link between Ovid's story and this episode from French history is emphasized by the reference to “mud slinging” in a political context. The revolts of the Fronde - the word fronde also means slingshot - have been regarded as the origin of the use of the term “mud slinging” in a political context (Berger, 1992; Marie, 1968, 1972, 1976; Nolhac, 1901; Thompson, 2006; Verlet, 1961, 1985; Weber, 1981). |