and seemed to be artfully drawing him on; and only to refuse him. It was as if she had painted the picture of his success with her own hands, or in her own person, and held it up before him. She made herself a "painted hope." This is simply a hope whose pictures are more vivid, more real, than the uncertain visions of hope unassisted.'
II. iii. 151, 152. The lion, mov'd with pity, did endure To have his princely paws par'd all away. Probably an allusion to the story of Androclus and the lion.
II. iii. 153. Some say that ravens foster forlorn children. Doubtless a bit of folklore. Cf. The Winter's Tale, II. iii. 185, 186:
'Some powerful spirit instruct the kites and ravens
To be thy nurses.'
The Biblical story of the feeding of Elijah by ravens may have given rise to it. Cf. 1 Kings 17. 3–6.
II. iii. 227. A precious ring, that lightens all the hole. Probably an allusion to the carbuncle, formerly believed to emit radiance of its own in the dark.
II. iii. 231. So pale did shine the moon on Pyramus. Cf. Midsummer Night's Dream, III. i. 50 ff.
II. iv. 5. See, how with signs and tokens she can scrowl. Ironically enough, Demetrius here suggests the very means by which Lavinia later exposes his crime, thus inciting her father to kill him. Cf. King Lear, III. vii. 56, 57, where Gloucester unwittingly pictures to Regan, in speaking of her treatment of Lear, the torture which Cornwall and she are to inflict upon him immediately afterward.
II. iv. 26. some Tereus hath deflower'd thee. Cf. note on II. iii. 43.
II. iv. 39. in a tedious sampler sew'd her mind. Philomela, after being ravished and mutilated by Tereus, made known her condition by working a sampler on which she told the story.
