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Tyson, Edward, 1650-1708

"A Philological Essay Concerning the Pygmies of the Ancients"

This
is the place, whereabout the _Pygmies_ dwell: For this is no _Fable_, but
a _Truth_. Both they and the Horses, as 'tis said, are a small kind. They
are _Troglodytes_, or live in Caves.'
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 Pygmaeis 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 certe 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
_AEgypt_, where he tells us the _Pygmies_ are.


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