Note 703 — THE ARGUMENT.
Reading edition
Pope owes much throughout this poem to the character of Dido as drawn by Virgil, and this passage seems directly formed upon one in Dryden, Æn. iv. 667:
Oft when she visited this lonely dome Strange voices issued from her husband's tomb: She thought she heard him summon her away, Invite her to his grave, and chide her stay.
The imitation of the passage in Ovid, Epist. vii. 101, similar to this from Virgil, is still more palpable:
Hinc ego me sensi noto quater ore citari: Ipse sono tenui dixit, "Elissa, veni!" Nulla mora est; venio; venio, tibi debita conjux.—Wakefield.