These lines seem to have been suggested by the address of Patroclus to Achilles, near the commencement of the sixteenth book of the Iliad— “—— Ὀυκ αρα σοι γε πατηρ ἠν ἱπποτα Πηλευς, Ὀυδε Θετις μητηρ· γλαυκη δε σε τικτε Θαλασσα, Πετραι δ’ ἠλιβατοι, ὁτι τοι νεος ἐστιν απηνης.” Catullus, having put the expression of this idea in the mouth of a princess abandoned by her lover, it became a sort of _Formula_ for deserted heroines among subsequent poets. Thus Ovid, in the eighth book of his _Metamorphoses_— “Non genitrix Europa tibi est, sed inhospita Syrtis, Armeniæ tigres, austroque agitata Charybdis;” and thus Virgil makes Dido address Æneas— “Nec tibi Diva parens, generis nec Dardanus auctor, Perfide, sed duris genuit te cautibus horrens Caucasus, Hyrcanæque admôrunt ubera tigres.” Tasso, who was a great imitator of the Latin poets, attributes, from the lips of Armida, a similar genealogy to Rinaldo— “Nè te Sofia produsse, e non sei nato Dell’ Azzio sangue tu. Te l’onda insana Del mar produsse, e ’l Caucaso gelato, E le mamme allattar de tigre Ircana.” Boileau had happily enough parodied those rodomontades in the earlier editions of the _Lutrin_; but the passage has been omitted in all those subsequent to that of 1683— “Non, ton père à Paris ne fut point boulanger, Et tu n’es point du sang de Gervais, l’horloger; Ta mère ne fut point la maîtresse d’une coche: Caucase dans ses flancs te forma d’une roche, Une tigresse affreuse en quelque antre ecarté, Te fit sucer son lait avec sa cruauté.” I do not think the circumstances in which Armida pours forth her reproaches are judiciously selected. The Ariadne of Catullus vents her complaints when her betrayer is beyond reach of hearing, and Dido, though in his presence, before he had taken his departure: But Armida runs after, and overtakes Rinaldo, in which there is something degrading. She expresses, however, more tenderness and amorous devotedness amid her revilings, than any of her predecessors— “Struggi la fede nostra; anch’io t’affretto; Che dico nostra? Ah non più mia: fedele Sono a te solo, idolo mio crudele!” When she has ended her complaints of the cruelty and ingratitude of Theseus, Ariadne expresses a very natural wish, that the ship Argo had never reached her native shores— “Jupiter Omnipotens, utinam ne tempore primo Gnosia Cecropiæ tetigissent littora puppes.” Thus, apparently, imitated by Virgil— “Felix, heu nimium felix! si littora tantum Nunquam Dardaniæ tetigissent nostra carinæ.” But both these passages, it is probable, were originally drawn from the beginning of the Medea of Euripides— “Ἐιθ’ οφελ’ Αργους μη διαπτασθαι σκαφος Κολχων ες αιαν κυανεας συμπληγαδας.” Catullus proceeds with a much closer imitation of Euripides— “Nunc quo me referam? quali spe perdita nitar? An patris auxilium sperem, quemne ipsa reliqui?” which is almost translated from the Medea—