The TYG MIES of the Ancients. 



KAaf^^ lai yt. 'TTfTovlct) he oeKAavoib poacuv 

 'Ay^gjcffi •Trvy/uutmai pdvov ;^ a^g^i (fn^aaoj, i. e. 



^iS fmul acfitgere Imbres, Hyetftemqne NivAkfft 

 Cum magna Oceani clangor e ferantur ad undas 

 Fygmais pugnafftqne Virk^ cadefquef event es. 



Or as HeUus Eobanm Heffus paraphrafes the whole (^). 



Fojlquam fub Dndbus digejia per agmina fiabant 

 ^aquefuk^ Equitum Uirma^ Veditumque Cohortes, 

 ObvJa torquentes Danak vefiigia Troes 

 Ibant, fublato Campum clamore replentes : 

 Non fecus ac cuneata Gruum fublime volantuni 

 Agmina^ diim fiigiunt Ifnbres, ac frigora Bruw(e^ 

 Per Cmlum matutmo clangor e feruntur^ 

 Oceanumqm petunt, mortem exitmrnqne cruentum 

 Irrita Pigmak moturk armaferentes. 



By dv^^si 'mj^fAMiom therefore, which is the Paffage upon which they 

 have grounded all their fabulous Relations of the Pygmies, why may 

 not Homer mean only Pygmies or Apes like Men. Such an Expreffion is 

 very allowable in a Poet, and is elegant and fignificant, efpecially fince 

 there is fo good a Foundation in Nature for him to ufe it , as we have 

 already feen, in the Anatomy of the Orang-Ontang, Nor is a Poet tied 

 to that ftridtnefs of Expreffion, as an Hi(iorian or Philofopher , he has 

 the liberty of pleafing the Reader's Phancy, by Pictures and Reprefen- 

 tations of his own. If there be a becoming likencfs, 'tis all that he is 

 accountable for. I might therefore here make the fame Apology for him, 

 as Strabo (c) do's on another account for his Geography, a -^ ti^T a.yvoia.v 

 ■^ -n-mmv Aiyilaq^ dM' n^vrii; ;c,'^^4iti>g )^cl^v. That he faid if, not thro' 

 Ignorance, but to pleafe and delight : Or, as in another place he ex- 

 prelTeS himfelf (^d), a ;i^ tc^f ayvoiav '^ i^'Og/a? '^JzuOM-Sdov ylvisJdj 7S7Z3,aMai 

 ro^yo^ai; ;)i^a^v. Homer did not make this flip thro' Ignorance of the 

 true Hijiory, but for the Beauty of his Poem. So that tho' he calls them 

 Men Pygmies, yet he may mean no more by it , than that they were like 

 Men. As to his Purpofe, 'twill ferve altogether as well, whether this 

 bloody Battle be fought between the Cranes and Pygmean Men, or the 

 Cranes and Apes, which from their Stature he calls Pygmies, and from 

 their (hape Mm 5 provided that when the Cranes go to engage , they 

 make a mighty terrible noife, and clang enough to fright thefe little 

 Wights their mortal Enemies. To have called them only Apes, had been 



(b) HmKYt Ilias Latino CarmfiK nddita ab Hdk Ecbm Hejfo. (c) Strabo Olograph, lib. 1. p.m. 2 5. 

 (d) Strabo ibid, ]p. m. ^o. 



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