II. iii. 72. swarth Cimmerian. Homer (cf. Odyssey, XI. 14) describes the Cimmerians as dwelling on the confines of the earth, 'shrouded in mist and darkness . . . and never does the shining sun look down on them.' Cf. Milton's 'dark Cimmerian desert' (L'Allegro, 10).
II. iii. 86. these slips have made him noted long. Dr. Johnson points out the fact that Tamora and Saturninus have presumably been married but one night.
II. iii. 93. barren detested vale. Tamora's description of this place here and in the lines immediately following is rather at variance with her description of it above (II. iii. 12–16). Or are we to assume that the scene has changed during the action?
II. iii. 110. Lascivious Goth. The Elizabethans pronounced Goth to sound like goat, and Shakespeare frequently quibbles on the word. Cf. As You Like It, III. iii. 7–9: 'I am here with thee and thy goats, as the most capricious poet, honest Ovid, was among the Goths.' (Capricious is from the Latin capra, goat.)
II. iii. 126. And with that painted hope braves your mightiness. The line stands thus in all the quartos and in the First Folio. The second, third, and fourth folios insert 'she' before 'braves.' It presents a crux as famous as any in Shakespeare. Various emendations have been suggested, and White suggests with reservations the reading, 'And with that faint hope braves, etc.' C. D. Stewart, in Some Textual Difficulties in Shakespeare, p. 156, offers the following interpretation: 'A painting occupies a position half way between the unsubstantial, uncertain, self-supported vision of a thing and the thing itself. Now when Lavinia gave him [Demetrius] such refusals his hope of success became more vivid. When she spoke of her chastity and gave excuses that were no real excuses to him, she only aggravated his passion
