I think my self therefore here obliged to make out, that there were such Creatures as Pygmies, before I determine what they were, since the very being of them is called in question, and utterly denied by so great Men, and by others too that might be here produced. Now in the doing this, Aristotle's Assertion of them is so very positive, that I think there needs not a greater or better Proof; and it is so remarkable a one, that I find the very Enemies to this Opinion at a loss, how to shift it off. To lessen it's Authority they have interpolated the Text, by foisting into the Translation what is not in the Original; or by not translating at all the most material passage, that makes against them; or by miserably glossing it, to make him speak what he never intended: Such unfair dealings plainly argue, that at any rate they are willing to get rid of a Proof, that otherwise they can neither deny, or answer.
Aristotle's Text is this, which I shall give with Theodorus Gaza's Translation: for discoursing of the Migration of Birds, according to the Season of the Year, from one Country to another, he saith:[A]
[Footnote A: Aristotel. Hist. Animal. lib. 8. cap. 12.]
[Greek: Meta men taen phthinoporinaen Isaemerian, ek tou Pontou kaiton psychron pheugonta ton epionta cheimona; meta de taen earinaen, ek ton therinon, eis tous topous tous psychrous, phoboumena ta kaumata; ta men, kai ek ton engus topon poioumena tas metabolas, ta de, kai ek ton eschaton hos eipein, hoion hai geranoi poiousi. Metaballousi gar ek ton Skythikon eis ta helae ta ano taes Aigyptou, othen ho Neilos rhei. Esti de ho topos outos peri on hoi pigmaioi katoikousin; ou gar esti touto mythos, all' esti kata taen alaetheian. Genos mikron men, hosper legetai, kai autoi kai hoi hippoi; Troglodytai d' eisi ton bion.]
Tam ab Autumnali Æquinoctio ex Ponto, Locisque frigidis fugiunt Hyemem futuram. A Verno autem ex tepida Regione ad frigidam sese conferunt, æstus metu futuri: & alia de locis vicinis discedunt, alia de ultimis, prope dixerim, ut Grues faciunt, quæ ex Scythicis Campis ad Paludes Ægypto superiores, unde Nilus profluit, veniunt, quo in loco pugnare cum Pygmæis dicuntur. Non enim id fabula est, sed certe, genus tum hominum, tum etiam Equorum pusillum (ut dicitur) est, deguntque in Cavernis, unde Nomen Troglodytæ a subeundis Cavernis accepere.
In English 'tis thus: 'At the Autumnal Æquinox they go out of Pontus and the cold Countreys to avoid the Winter that is coming on. At the Vernal Æquinox they pass from hot Countreys into cold ones, for fear of the ensuing heat; some making their Migrations from nearer places; others from the most remote (as I may say) as the Cranes do: for they come out of Scythia to the Lakes above Ægypt, whence the Nile do's flow. 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 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.]
But I wonder that neither Casaubon nor Duvall in their Editions of Aristotle's Works, should have taken notice of these Mistakes of Gaza, and corrected them. And Gesner, and Aldrovandus, and several other Learned Men, in quoting this place of Aristotle, do make use of this faulty Translation, which must necessarily lead them into Mistakes. Sam. Bochartus[A] tho' he gives Aristotle's Text in Greek, and adds a new Translation of it, he leaves out indeed the Cranes fighting with the Pygmies, yet makes them Men, which Aristotle do's not; and by anti-placing, ut aiunt, he renders Aristotle's Assertion more dubious; Neque enim (saith he in the Translation) id est fabula, sed reverâ, ut aiunt, Genus ibi parvum est tam Hominum quàm Equorum. Julius Cæsar Scaliger in translating this Text of Aristotle, omits both these Interpretations of Gaza; but on the other hand is no less to be blamed in not translating at all the most remarkable passage, and where the Philosopher seems to be so much in earnest; as, [Greek: ou gar esti touto mythos, all' esti kata taen alaetheian], this he leaves wholly out, without giving us his reason for it, if he had any: And Scaliger's[B] insinuation in his Comment, viz. Negat esse fabulam de his (sc. Pygmeis) Herodotus, at Philosophus semper moderatus & prudens etiam addidit, [Greek: hosper legetai], is not to be allowed. Nor can I assent to Sir Thomas Brown's[C] remark upon this place; Where indeed (saith he) Aristotle plays the Aristotle; that is, the wary and evading asserter; for tho' with non est fabula he seems at first to confirm it, yet at last he claps in, sicut aiunt, and shakes the belief he placed before upon it. And therefore Scaliger (saith he) hath not translated the first, perhaps supposing it surreptitious, or unworthy so great an Assertor. But had Scaliger known it to be surreptitious, no doubt but he would have remarked it; and then there had been some Colour for the Gloss. But 'tis unworthy to be believed of Aristotle, who was so wary and cautious, that he should in so short a passage, contradict himself: and after he had so positively affirmed the Truth of it, presently doubt it. His [Greek: hosper legetai] therefore must have a Reference to what follows, Pusillum genus, ut aiunt, ipsi atque etiam Equi, as Scaliger himself translates it.