TheTYG MlESof the Ancients. 2^ 



Job Ludolphfff (I) in his Commentary on his JEthiopick Hijlory remarks, 

 That there was never known a Nation all of Dwarfs. Nam qitjppe (faith 

 Ludolphus) Nature quodam errors ex almjujid^jiaturts hommibus generan- 

 tttr. ^alis vera ea Gens Jit, ex qua ijla Natrtr<e Lrtdibriatant^ copia pro- 

 veniattt, Vojfiu?}z docere oportebat, quia Pumilidnes PumHes alios non gig- 

 nimt^fedplerHnqueflerilesfimt, experientiatefiet^ tit plane non opm habuc- 

 runt Dolores Talmiidici Nanorum matrin/onia prohibere, ne Digitales ex iis 

 nafcerentur. Ludolphus it may be is a little too ftrift with Fojjius for cal- 

 ling them Nani 5 he may only mean a fort of Men in that Country of 

 lefs Stature than ordinary. And £)<z;;/?er in hisHiftory of ^/V^, from 

 whom Vojfius takes this Account, defcribes fuch in the Kingdom of Mo- 

 l^kp, he calls Mimas, and tells us that they kill Elephants. But I fee no 

 reafon why Vojfiifs (hould take thefe Men for the Pygmies of the Ancients, 

 or think that they gave any occafion or ground for the inventing this Fa- 

 ble, if there was no other reafon, this was fufficient, becaufe they were 

 able to kill the Elephants. The Pygmies were fcarce a Match for the 

 Cranes j and for them to have encountred an Elephant^ were as vain an 

 Attempt, as the Pygmies were guilty of in Philoflratus (m)., ' who to re- 

 ' venge the Death ot Antaus, having found Hercules napping in Libya, 



* muftered up all their Forces againft him. One P/?^ A?«x (he tells us) af- 

 ' faulted his left hand; but againft his right hand, that being the ftron- 

 ' ger, two Phalanges were appointed. The Archers and Slingers befieg- 



* ed his feetadmiring the hu^enei's of his Thighs : But againft his Head, 

 ' as the Affenal, they railed Batteries, the King himfelf taking his Poft 

 ' there. They fet fire to his Hair, put Reaping-hooks in hig Eyes , and 

 ' that he might not breath , clapp d Doors to his Mouth and Noftrils 5 

 ' but all the Execution that they could do, was only to awake him, 

 ' which when done,deriding their folly,he gather 'd them all up into his 



* Lion's Skin, and carried them (Philoflratus thinks) to Eurifihenes. This 

 Ant£us was as remarkable for his height, as the Pygmies were for their 

 lownefs of Stature : For Plutarch (n) tells us, that ^ Sertorita not being 

 willing to truft Common Fame, when he came to Tingis (^now Tangier J 

 he caufed Antaus'% Sepulchre to be opened , and found his Corps full 

 threefcore Cubits long. But Sertorius knew well enough how to impofe 

 upon the Credulity of the People, as is evident from the Story of his 

 TPphite 7f7»ii, which Plutarch likewife relates. 



But to return to our Pygmies 5 tho' nioft of the great and learned Men 

 would f;em to decry this Story as a Fiftion and meer Fable, yet there is 

 fomething of Truth, they think, muft have given the firft rife to it,and 

 that it was rot wholly the produft of Phancy, but had feme real foun- 

 dation, tho' difguifed, according to the different Imagination znd Genius 



(I) Job LudolphM in Comment, in Htfioriam Mthioytcam, p. m.7r. ( m ) Philojlratm, Icon. lib, 2, 

 p. m. 817. {n) Flut^rch, in nnta fii Sertori}^ 



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