AMENTHE, Wife to Potiphar. METHURA, Servant and Confident to Amenthe. Angels. Priests, Musicians, &c. SCENE, Heliopolis, in Egypt. The Drama begins early in the morning. Potiphar sets out for Sais. In the evening Amenthe tempts Joseph. Towards the morning the hymn begins. Towards the evening Potiphar returns to Heliopolis. ADVERTISEMENT. ༄།་་་། IN order to vindicate myself from the imputation of having capriciously invented circumstances merely for the embellishment of the following Drama, it will be necessary to cite some passages from writers not generally read; for though the Muse is allowed a great latitude for invention, yet no ornaments become her so much as those which she borrows from History, because no other can have equal propriety. 1 Gentle asp, p. 60.-It may be worth while to cite here a curious piece of natural history, in relation to the asp. Prosper Alpinus, Rer. Ægyp. lib. iv. c. 4, says, that its bite is very small; that it does not cause any inflammation or swelling; and that its poison immediately runs over all the body, and brings on a kind of numbness or lassitude, accompanied with a gentle sleep, so that those who die of it die not without pleasure. Prosper Alpinus seems to say this from his own knowledge, and quotes Nicander to the same purpose. |