Had _Albertus_ only asserted, that the _Pygmies_ were a sort of _Apes_, his Opinion possibly might have obtained with less difficulty, unless he could have produced some Body that had heard them talk. But _Ulysses Aldrovandus_[A] is so far from believing his _Ape Pygmies_ ever spoke, that he utterly denies, that there were ever any such Creatures in being, as the _Pygmies_, at all; or that they ever fought the _Cranes_. _Cum itaque Pygmæos_ (saith he) _dari negemus, Grues etiam cum iis Bellum gerere, ut fabulantur, negabimus, & tam pertinaciter id negabimus, ut ne jurantibus credemus._ [Footnote A: _Ulys. Aldrovandi Ornitholog._ lib. 20. p.m. 344.] I find a great many very Learned Men are of this Opinion: And in the first place, _Strabo_[A] is very positive; [Greek: Heorakos men gar oudeis exaegeitai ton pisteos axion andron;] i.e. _No Man worthy of belief did ever see them_. And upon all occasions he declares the same. So _Julius Cæsar Scaliger_[B] makes them to be only a Fiction of the Ancients, _At hæc omnia_ (saith he) _Antiquorum figmenta & meræ Nugæ, si exstarent, reperirentur. At cum universus Orbis nunc nobis cognitus sit, nullibi hæc Naturæ Excrementa reperiri certissimum est._ And _Isaac Casaubon_[C] ridicules such as pretend to justifie them: _Sic nostra ætate_ (saith he) _non desunt, qui eandem de Pygmæis lepidam fabellam renovent; ut qui etiam è Sacris Literis, si Deo placet, fidem illis conentur astruere. Legi etiam Bergei cujusdam Galli Scripta, qui se vidisse diceret. At non ego credulus illi, illi inquam Omnium Bipedum mendacissimo._ I shall add one Authority more, and that is of _Adrian Spigelius,_ who produces a Witness that had examined the very place, where the _Pygmies_ were said to be; yet upon a diligent enquiry, he could neither find them, nor hear any tidings of them.[D] _Spigelius_ therefore tells us, _Hoc loco de Pygmæis dicendum erat, qui [Greek: para pygonos] dicti à statura, quæ ulnam non excedunt. Verùm ego Poetarum fabulas esse crediderim, pro quibus tamen_ Aristoteles _minimè haberi vult, sed veram esse Historiam._ 8. Hist. Animal. 12. _asseverat. Ego quo minùs hoc statuam, tum Authoritate primùm Doctissimi_ Strabonis I. Geograph. _coactus sum, tum potissimùm nunc moveor, quod nostro tempore, quo nulla Mundi pars est, quam Nautarum Industria non perlustrarit, nihil tamen, unquam simile aut visum est, aut auditum. Accedit quod_ Franciscus Alvarez _Lusitanus, qui ea ipsa loca peragravit, circa quæ Aristoteles Pygmæos esse scribit, nullibi tamen tam parvam Gentem à se conspectam tradidit, sed Populum esse Mediocris staturæ, &_ Æthiopes _tradit._ [Footnote A: _Strabo Geograph._ lib. 17. p.m. 565.] [Footnote B: _Jul. Cæs. Scaliger. Comment. in Arist. Hist. Animal._ lib. 8. § 126. p.m. 914.] [Footnote C: _Isaac Causabon Notæ & Castigat. in_ lib. 1. _Strabonis Geograph._ p.m. 38.] [Footnote D: _Adrian. Spigelij de Corporis Humani fabrica_, lib. 1. cap. 7. p.m. 15.]