They may be due to reminiscence, though it is simpler to regard them as the current English of the day.

The strongest evidence for Boyle's theory is contained in Palamon's invocation to Venus:[380]

I never practised

Upon man's wife, nor would the libels read

Of liberal wits; I never at great feasts

Sought to betray a beauty.

These words certainly remind us of Leosthenes in The Bondman, both in thought and style:

Nor endeavour'd

To make your blood run high at solemn feasts,

With viands that provoke; the speeding philtres;