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Tyson, Edward, 1650-1708

"A Philological Essay Concerning the Pygmies of the Ancients"

] i.e.
_Quae simul ac fugere Imbres, Hyememque Nivalem
Cum magno Oceani clangore ferantur ad undas
Pygmaeis pugnamque Viris, caedesque ferentes._
[Footnote A: _Homer. Iliad_. lib. 3. ver. 4.]
Or as _Helius Eobanus Hessus_ paraphrases the whole.[A]
_Postquam sub Ducibus digesta per agmina stabant
Quaeque fuis, Equitum turmae, Peditumque Cohortes,
Obvia torquentes Danais vestigia Troes
Ibant, sublato Campum clamore replentes:
Non secus ac cuneata Gruum sublime volantum
Agmina, dum fugiunt Imbres, ac frigora Brumae,
Per Coelum matutino clangore feruntur,
Oceanumque petunt, mortem exitiumque cruentum
Irrita Pigmaeis moturis arma ferentes._
[Footnote A: _Homeri Ilias Latino Carmine reddita ab Helio Eobano Hesso_.]
By [Greek: andrasi pygmaioisi] therefore, which is the Passage upon which
they have grounded all their fabulous Relations of the _Pygmies_, why may
not _Homer_ mean only _Pygmies_ or _Apes_ like _Men_. Such an Expression
is very allowable in a _Poet_, and is elegant and significant, especially
since there is so good a Foundation in Nature for him to use it, as we
have already seen, in the _Anatomy of the Orang-Outang_.


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