2 Metaphors for lowliness

Napoleon, the master of Europe, whom emperors and kings gladly called "brother," could now proudly remember his past; he had now risen so high that he no longer had cause to deny his humble origin; this very lowliness had now become a new triumph of his grandeur.

With him "lowliness is young ambition's ladder:" but he finds it a toil to climb in this way the steep of Fame.

2 Metaphors for  lowliness