The TYG MIES of the Ancients, 25 



ly Writ : For Bartholine and others infift upon that Text in Ezekkl (Cap. 

 27. Ferf. ii.J where the Frtlgar Tranflation has it thus , FilJJ Arvad 

 cum ExercHu ttio fitpra Muros tuos per circmtnm , & Pygmai in Ttirribus 

 tuk fnertmt 5 ScHtafuafuj^enderuntfupra Mnros ttios per circuitttm. Now 

 Talentonim and Bartholine think that what Cte/ias relates of the Pygmies^ 

 as their being good Archers^ very well illuftrates this Text of Eze/{iel : 

 I fhall here tranfcribe what Sir Thomas Brown (c) remarks upon it ; and 

 if any one requires farther Satisfaftion, they may confult Job Ludolphus's 

 Comment on his lEthiopic Hijiory (d). 



Thefecond Tejiimony (faith Sir Thomas Brown) is deduced Jrom Holy 

 Scripture 5 thus rendered in the Vulgar Tranflation, Sed & Pygmai qui e- 

 rant in turribus tuis, pharetras fuas fufpenderunt in muris tuis per gyrum t 

 from whence notwithftanding we cannot infer this Ajfertion^for firSi the Tranf- 

 lators accord not^and the Hebrew -word Gammadim is very varioufly rendered. 

 Though Aquila, Vatablus and Lyra will have it Pygmsi , yet in the Sep- 

 tuagint, it is no more then Watchmen ; and fo in the Arabick and High- 

 Dutch. In the Chalde, Cappadocians, in Symmachus, Medes, atzd in 

 the French, thofe <?/Gamed. Theodotian of old ^ and Tremellius of late, 

 have retained the Textuary word 5 and fo have the Italian, Low Dutch • 

 tf«<^Engli{h Tranflators, that is, thelMen of Arvad were upon thy Walls-. 

 round about, and the Gamraadims were in thy Towers. 



Nor do Men only dijfent in the Tranflation of the word , hut in the Expo- 

 jition of the Senfe and Meaning thereof -^ for fome by Gammadims underfland ' 

 a People tf/" Syria, fo called fiom the City o/Gamala 5 fome hereby underfland: 

 ?^e Cappadocians, many f^e Medes : and hereof Forerius hath a pngnlar 

 Expofition, conceiving the Watchmen of Tyre, might well be called Pygmies, 

 the Towers of that City being fo high, that unto Men below, they appeared in- 

 a. Cubital Stature. Others expound it quite contrary to common Acception^ 

 that is not Men of the leaif, but of the large^flze 5 fo doth Cornelius con- 

 flrue Pygmsi, or Viri Cubitales, that is, not Men of a Cubit high, but of 

 the largefl Stature, whofe height lik^ that of Giants, is rather to he taken by 

 the Cubit than the Foot 3 in which phrafe we read the meafure of Goliah , 

 whofe height is faid to be flx Cubits and a jpan. Of affinity hereto is alfo the 

 Expojttion of Jerom ; not tah^ng Pygmies /i)r Tiwaifs, hut flout and vali'- 

 ant Champions 5 not taking the fenfe of •Tsvy/j.yi, which flgnifies the Cubit mea- 

 fure, but that which exprefleth Pugils ; that is. Men fit for Combat and the 

 Exercife of the Fifi. Thus can there be nofatisfying illation fiom this Text, 

 the diverfity, or rather contrariety ofExpofltions and Interpretations, diflra^i-^ 

 ing more than confirming the Truth of the Story. 



■in as 

 me 



But why Aldrovandus or Ca^ar Bartholine fhould bring in St. Avflh 

 a Favourer of this Opinion of Men Pygmies, I fee no Reafon. f o 



(c) Sir rhmncK Browifi Enquiries into Vulgar Errors, lib. 4. cap. 1 1. p. 242. (d) ^ eminent, in Hijf. 

 Mthiopc.^.JS- 



hs. 



