 For his "Arianna" libretto Rinuccini drew on a variety of classical sources, notably the tenth book of Ovid's "Heroides", parts of the "Carmina" of Catullus, and the section in Virgil's epic Aeneid dealing with Dido's abandonment by Aeneas.He also used aspects of more recent literary works—Ludovico Ariosto's "Orlando Furioso", Torquato Tasso's "Gerusalemme liberata", and Giovanni Andrea dell' Anguillara's 1561 translation of Ovid's "Metamorphoses".The libretto was extended during the rehearsals when Carlo de' Rossi, a member of the duke's court, reported the Duchess Eleonora's complaint that the piece was "very dry" and needed to be enriched with further action.