the play than these presentiments of evil, of which the poet constantly makes use in all his tragedies. Cf. below, II. iii. 195 ff.
II. iii. 9. alms out of the empress' chest. Rather obscure, but apparently meaning, as Stoll suggests, that Aaron has taken the gold from Tamora's chest.
II. iii. 17–19. babbling echo mocks the hounds . . . a double hunt were heard at once. Cf. the strikingly similar lines in Venus and Adonis, 695, 696:
'Then do they spend their mouths: Echo replies,
As if another chase were in the skies.'
For other similarities between this play and Venus and Adonis, cf. Appendix C.
II. iii. 31. Saturn is dominator. According to the mediæval theory, persons born under the domination of the planet Saturn were of a morose, or saturnine, disposition. Collins quotes Greene, Planetomachia, 1585: 'The star of Saturn is especially cooling.' The planet Venus, which, according to Aaron, governs Tamora's disposition, has an entirely different influence.
II. iii. 43. Philomel. Philomela, daughter of Pandion, was ravished by Tereus, king of Thrace, who was the husband of her sister, Progne. Tereus then cut out her tongue to prevent her exposing him. That the story had made a deep impression on the poet's mind is witnessed by the frequent allusions to it in this play (cf. below, II. iv. 48, IV. i. 47 ff., and V. ii. 195). Cf. also in this connection the Rape of Lucrece, 1128–1134.
II. iii. 63. With horns, as was Actæon's. Actæon, a Theban prince, while hunting, accidentally saw Diana bathing, and was transformed by her into a stag, to be slain immediately by his dogs. The 'horns' which Tamora would fain see on Bassianus' temples are, of course, those of the cuckold.
