The'PrG MlESofthe Ancient s7~~ 21 



De Fygm£Js fubulofa qnidem ejfe omnia^ qtt£ de ik narrdri fohnt , aUquan- 

 do exijiimavi. Verur/i cum vrdeam non umtm vel alterum^ fed complnres 

 Clajjicos & probatos Autores de his Homimcnlis mult a in eandemfere Senten- 

 tiam tradidijje 5 el adducor nt Fygniaos fnijje infidari non mifim. He next 

 brings in Jo. TaUntomm^ to whom he is fomuch beholden, and quotes 

 his Opinion, which is fall and home, Conflare arbitror (faith Talmtomus) 

 (r) debere concedi, Pj/gm<eos non folitm oUmfmJJe^ fed nunc etiam ejfe^ ©■ 

 homines effe, nee parvitatem ilik impedimento ejfe qtto minns jint (^ ho^ifines 

 fint. But were there fuch Men Pygmies now in being, no doubt h\i\ we 

 mufl: have heard of them , fome or other of our Saylors, in their 

 Voyages, would have lighted on them. Tho' Arifcotle is here quoted , 

 yet he does not make them Men ; So neither docs Anania : And I mufl: 

 own, tho' Takntomm be of this Opinion , yet he takes notice of ihe 

 faulty Tranflation of this Text of J?7i?(7?/e by G^z,^ .- and tho* the par- 

 vity or lownefs of Stature, be no Impediment , becaufe we have fre- 

 quently feen fu(!h Dwarf-Men, yet we did never fee a Nation of them : 

 For then there would be no need of that Talmndical Precept which Job. 

 Ludolphus (j) mentions. Nanus ne ducat Nanam , ne forte oriatur ex iis 

 Digitalis (in Bechor.fol.^^. ) » 



I had almoft forgotten 0/aus Magnus, whom Bartholine mentions in 

 the clofe of this Chapter, but lays no great fl:refs upon his Authority, be- 

 caufe he tells us, he is fabulous in a great many other Relations, and he 

 writes but by hear-fay, that the Greenlanders fight the Cranes ; Tandem 

 (faith Bartholine') 7teque idea PjigmiCifint, JifortS fagittis d^ haflis, jicnt 

 ali'j homines^ Grues conficiunt & occidunt. This I think is great Partia- 

 lity : For Ctejias, an Author whom upon all turns Bartholine makes ufe 

 of as an Evidence, is very pofitive, that the Pygmies were excellent Ar- 

 chers : fo that he himfelf owns, that their being fuch, illufl:rates very 

 much that Text in Ezekiel , on which he fpends good part of the next 

 Chapter, whofe Title is, Pygmaorum Gens ex Ezel^iele , atque rationibuf 

 probabilibus adflruitur ; which we will confider by and by. And tho* 

 Olaus Magnus may write fome things by hear-fay, yet he cannot be fo fa- 

 bulous as Cteffos, who (as Lucian tells us ) writes what he neither faw 

 himfelf, or heard from any Body elfe. Not that I think Olaus Magnus 

 his Greenlanders were real Pygmies, no more than Ctejias his Pygmies were 

 real Men ; tho' he vouches very notably for them. And if ail that have 

 copied this Fable from Ctejim, mufl: be look'd upon as the fame Evidence 

 with himfelf 5 the number of the Tejiimonies produced need not much 

 concern us, fince they mufl: all ftand or fall withhim. 



The probable Reafons that Bartholine gives in the fifth Chapter, are taken 

 from other Animals, as Sheep, Oxen, Horfes, Dogs, the Indian Formi- 

 ca, and Plants : For obferving in the fame Species fome exceffive large, 



(r) Jo.Talenton'm P'ariar. <^ recondit. Rerum Thefaurm, lib 3. cap. 2i.p.m.5i5. (s) Job iMdol- 

 phi comment, in Hijlorim ^hiofic, p. m. 71. 



Da md. 



