TheTYG MIES of the Ancients. 



agmine ad ffiare defcendere , ©" Ova^ FttUofqne eanim Alitum conftimere 

 That in the Spring-time the whole drove of the Fygmks go down to the 

 Sea fide, to devour the Cranes Eggs and their young Ones. So likewife 



Onejtcntus (i) , Yi^c, ^ th; rpiamS-a/uag 'TixAif^ ^ to?; Ti^voit; (Jv ;^ 



TO. fiJa, Kj ip9si^&lJ'' OK&i ^ (^oloZ&V TO? Ti^VHC,' ^O-m^ f/JAhtf/>U fm^ cad wqJ.- 



tnti&ajj TiQ^voev^ fjwif Sv yjorffa* i. e.. That there is a fight betvpeen the Pygmies 

 and the Cranes (as Homer relates) and the Partridges, which are as big 

 as Geefe 5 for thefe Pygmies gather tip their Eggs , and deflroy them 5 the 

 Cranes laying their Eggs there-j and neither their Eggs^nor their Nejis^ being to 

 be found any where elfe. 'Tis plain therefore from them, that the Quarrel 

 is not out of any Antipathy the Pygmies have to the Cranes , but out of 

 love to their own Bellies. But the Cranes finding their Nefts to be robb'd , 

 and their young Ones prey'd on by thefe Invaders, no wonder that they 

 ihould fo fiiarply engage them 5 and the leafl they could do, was to 

 fight to the utmoft fo mortal an Enemy. Hence , no doubt, many a 

 bloody Battle happens, with various fucccfs to the Combatants 5 fome- 

 times with great flaughter of the long-necked Squadron 5 fomctimes with 

 great effufion of Pygmean blood. And this may well enough, in a Poet's 

 phancy, be magnified, and reprefented as a dreadful War ; and no doubt 

 of it, were one a Spebator of it, 'twould be diverting enough. 



-Si videos hoc 



Gentibus in nojtris, rift quatiere : fed il/ic, 

 ^tanqnam eadem ajjzdui fpe^antur Pralia, ridet 

 Nemo, nbi tot a cohors pede non esi altior nno (k). 



This Account therefore of thefe Campaigns renewed every year on 

 this Provocation between the Cranes and the Pygmies^ contains nothing but 

 what a cautious Man may believe^and Homers Simile in likening the great 

 (bouts of thtTrojans to theNoife of the Cranes^ and the Silence of the 

 Greeks to that otthtPygmies^ is very admirable and delightful. For A- 

 rijiotle (I) tells us. That the Cranes, to avoid the hardftiips of the Win- 

 ter, take a Flight out of Scythia to the Lak^s about the Nile , where the 

 Pygmies live, and where 'tis very likely the Cranes may lay their Eggs 

 and breed, before they return. But thefe rude Pygmies making too bold 

 with them, what could the Cranes do lefs for preserving their OfF-fpring 

 than fight them 5 or at leaft by their mighty Ncife, make a fliew as if 

 they would. This is but what we may obferve in all other Birds. And 

 thus far I think our Geranomachia or Pygm^omachia looks like a true 

 Story 5 and there is nothing in Homer about it, but what is credible. He 

 only exprefles himfelf, as a Poet ihould do 5 and if Readers will miflake 

 his meaning, 'tis not his fault. 



( i ) Strah. Geograph. lib. I s. pag. 48^, (k) Juvinal. Satyr, 13, verf. 1 70. (I) Ariflotk. Hifl. 

 'Animal, lib. 8. cap. 1 5. Edit. Scalig. 



B2 Tis 



'^i. 



