1 6 A Thilologkal EJJay concerning 



Tranllation of it, he leaves out indeed the Cranes fighting with the 'Pyg- 

 mks^ytt makes them Me»,which Arjftoile do's not ; and by anti-placing, 

 nt amnt^ he renders Arijiotles Aflertion more dubious ^ Neqm mint (faith 

 he in the TranOation) id eB fahula^ 'fed revera, nt amnt. Genus ibi par- 

 vimi eli tarn Homimim qmm ^quorum. Jidim defar Scaliger in tranfla- 

 ting this Text of Arfjiotle, omits both thefe Interpretations o^Gaza i, but 

 on the other hand, is no lefs to be blamed in not tranflating at all the 

 moft remarkable paflage, and where the Ph/lofopher feems to be fo much 

 in earneft ; as, a 5S i'^-t tStd fjuuQ©^-, a?A' i'g'i K^la, tlw aAwBeJaf, this he 

 leaves wholly out, without giving us his reafon for it, if he had any : 

 And Scaliger s (%) infinuation in his Comment , viz. Negat ejfe fabulant 

 de hk (7c. Pygmeis) Herodotus, at Philofophusfemper moderate & pru- 

 dens etiam addidit^ ccesn^ hiytlojj, is not to be allowed. Nor can I af- 

 fent to Sir Thomas Brown's (a) remark upon this place j Where indeed 

 ( faith he ) Ariftotle plays the Ariftotle ; that ^, thevparyand evading Jf- 

 fertor 5 for tho -with non eft fabula he feems atfirfl to confirm it, yet at lajl 

 he claps in, ficut aiunt, andflmkes the belief he placed before upon it. And 

 therefore Scaliger (faith he) hath not tranjlated the firfi^ perhaps ftppofing 

 it furreptjtiom, or unworthy fo great an Afiertor. But had Scaliger known 

 it to be furreptitious, no doubt but he would have remarked it; and 

 then there had been fome Colour for the Glofs. But 'tis unworthy to 

 be believed of Ariftotle^ who was fo wary and cautious, that he fhouldin 

 fo (hort a paflage, contradift himfelf 5 and after he had fo pofitively af- 

 firmed the Truth of it, prefently doubt it. His wots^ ?\.iyJajj therefore 

 muft have a Reference to what follows, Fufillum genus ^ut aiunt, ipfiatque 

 etiam Equi, as Scaliger himfelf tranflates it. 



I do not here find Ariftotle aflerting or confirming any thing of the fa- 

 bulous Narrations that had been made about the P^^/Af/ex. He does not 

 fay that they were a^^ps?, or avSr^oo'Tm /mx^i, or /AsAai/s? ; he only calls 

 them 'TTuyf^uiToi. And difcourfing-of the Pygmies in a place, where he is 

 only treating about Brutes, 'tis reafonable to think, that he looked upon 

 them only as fuch. This is the place where the Pygmies are-^ this is no 

 fible^ faith Ariftotle, as 'tis that they are a Dwarfifh Race of Men, that 

 they fpeak the Indian Language 5 that they are excellent Archers , that 

 they are' very Juft ; and abundance of other Things that are fabuloufly 

 reported of them ; and becaufe he thought them Fables, he does not 

 take the lea ft notice of them , but only faith,T/j/5- is no Fable,but a Truth , 

 that about the Lah§s <7/Ni]e fuch Anin/als, as are called Pygmies, do live. 

 And, as if he had forefeen , that the abundance of Fables that Ctefas 

 (whom he faith is not to be believed) and the T?tdian Hiftorians had in- 

 vented about thera, would make the whole Story to appear as a Figment, 

 and render it doubtful, whether there were ever fuch Creatures as Pyg- 



(z) Scaliger. Comment, in Arift. Mjl. Animal, lib.S.p. m .914. (b) Sir Thomas Broxpii's Pfeudodoxia 

 or, En^Hiries into Vulgar Errors, lib. 4. cap. 11. ■ ' 



mies 



