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for searching only. The parallel is from the fifth ode in Book I. It should be noticed that this ode to Pyrrha is headed in contemporary editions, "Miseros esse, qui illius amore teneantur. se ex eo, tanquam a naufragio, enatasse." In translation, the ode itself runs,
What slender youth, bedewed with perfumes, embraces thee amid many a rose, 0 Pyrrha, in the pleasant grotto? For whom dost thou tie up thy golden hair in simple elegance? Alas! How often shall he lament changed faith and gods, and marvel in surprise at waters rough with darkening gales, who now enjoys thee, fondly thinking thee all golden, who hopes that thou wilt ever be free of passion for another, ever lovely,-ignorant he of the treacherous breeze.14 Ah, wretched they to whom thou, untried, dost now appear so dazzling! As for me, the temple wall with its votive tablet shows I have hung up my dripping garments to the god who is master of the sea f5
As Collins notes," the context, as well as the particular phrase cited by Dr. Johnson, enters in. Horace points out the slipperiness of the lover's position; Shakspere applies the idea to the favor of men in general. The shipwreck comparison has taken the form of a drunken sailor slipping from a mast into the sea instead of being tossed there by the winds, further emphasizing the instability of earthly power. On this background the very peculiar expression "in air of your good looks" seems clearly to have its origins in Horace's phrase, "nescius aurae fallacis" of the fair lady, as Dr. Johnson pointed out. Incidentally, Lambinus had explained the phrase thus, "nescius, atque ignarus amoris muliebris, qui quouis veto mobilior, incertior, ac fallacior est," t and had pointed out its connection with the "allegory" of the piece. In fact, Shakspere's expression cannot be understood without Horace's phrase in its context. Since no translation was avail-able, Shakspere must have mastered this ode in the original.
Steevens pointed out another parallel to Horace, which seems to hold. The Bishop of Ely says of Henry V,
And so the prince obscured his contemplation Under the veil of wildness; which, no doubt, Grew like the summer grass, fastest by night, Unseen, yet crescive in his faculty.ls
14 This idea has also been developed into a comparison, "And as the aire which recciveth all the coloures and changes of the time, sheweth what the weather is, so saith one, the sire of a mans countenance" (Charron, Wisdome (1640), p. 20). If this comparison was known to Shakspere, it would also have aided the process.
's Bennett, Horace, p. 1g.
' Collins, Studies, p. 27.
17 Lambinus, D., Horace (1567), Pt. I, p. at.
18 Henry Y, I, r, 63-66.
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