A Philological Essay Concerning the Pygmies of the AncientsTyson, Edward
History
A Philological Essay Concerning the Pygmies of the Ancients
Tyson, Edward
Dwarfs (Persons); Fairies; Pygmies
We may here observe how positive the _Philosopher_ is, that there are
_Pygmies_; he tells us where they dwell, and that 'tis no Fable, but a
Truth. But _Theodorus Gaza_ has been unjust in translating him, by
foisting in, _Quo in loco pugnare cum Pygmæis dicuntur_, whereas there is
nothing in the Text that warrants it: As likewise, where he expresses the
little Stature of the _Pygmies_ and the Horses, there _Gaza_ has rendered
it, _Sed certè Genus tum Hominum, tum etiam Equorum pusillum_. _Aristotle_
only saith, [Greek: Genos mikron men hosper legetai, kai autoi, kai hoi
hippoi]. He neither makes his _Pygmies Men_, nor saith any thing of their
fighting the _Cranes_; tho' here he had a fair occasion, discoursing of
the Migration of the _Cranes_ out of _Scythia_ to the _Lakes_ above
_Ægypt_, where he tells us the _Pygmies_ are. Cardan[A] therefore must
certainly be out in his guess, that _Aristotle_ only asserted the
_Pygmies_ out of Complement to his friend _Homer_; for surely then he
would not have forgot their fight with the _Cranes_; upon which occasion
only _Homer_ mentions them.[B] I should rather think that _Aristotle_,
being sensible of the many Fables that had been raised on this occasion,
studiously avoided the mentioning this fight, that he might not give
countenance to the Extravagant Relations that had been made of it.
[Footnote A: _Cardan de Rerum varietate_, lib. 8. cap. 40. p.m. 153.]
[Footnote B: _Apparet ergo_ (saith _Cardan_) Pygmæorum Historiam esse
fabulosam, quod &_ Strabo _sentit & nosira ætas, cum omnia nunc fermè
orbis mirabilia innotuerint, declarat. Sed quod tantum Philosophum
decepit, fuit Homeri Auctoritas non apud illium levis.]
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