Note to Macbeth, Act 2, Scene 1, line 55: "Tarquin's ravishing strides"


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Macbeth,
Act 2, Scene 1, line 55.
Wikipedia says: "According to Roman tradition, Lucretia . . , anglicized as Lucrece, was a noblewoman in ancient Rome whose rape by Sextus Tarquinius (Tarquin), an Etruscan king's son, was the cause of a rebellion that overthrew the Roman monarchy and led to the transition of Roman government from a kingdom to a republic."

This was a very famous incident, and Shakespeare wrote a poem about it, The Rape of Lucrece.



Tarquin and Lucretia
by
Titian, 1571