[Footnote A: Isaac Vossius ibid.]
Job Ludolphus[A] in his Commentary on his Æthiopick History remarks, That there was never known a Nation all of Dwarfs. Nani quippe (saith Ludolphus) Naturæ quodam errore ex aliis justæ staturæ hominibus generantur. Qualis verô ea Gens sit, ex qua ista Naturæ Ludibria tantâ copiâ proveniant, Vossium docere oportelat, quia Pumiliones Pumiles alios non gignunt, sed plerunque steriles sunt, experientia teste; ut planè non opus habuerunt Doctores Talmudici Nanorum matrimonia prohibere, ne Digitales ex iis nascerentur. Ludolphus it may be is a little too strict with Vossius for calling them Nani; he may only mean a sort of Men in that Country of less Stature than ordinary. And Dapper in his History of Africa, from whom Vossius takes this Account, describes such in the Kingdom of Mokoko, he calls Mimos, and tells us that they kill Elephants. But I see no reason why Vossius should take these Men for the Pygmies of the Ancients, or think that they gave any occasion or ground for the inventing this Fable, is there was no other reason, this was sufficient, because they were able to kill the Elephants. The Pygmies were scarce a Match for the Cranes; and for them to have encountered an Elephant, were as vain an Attempt, as the Pygmies were guilty of in Philostratus[B] 'who to revenge the Death of Antæus, having found Hercules napping in Libya, mustered up all their Forces against him. One Phalanx (he tells us) assaulted his left hand; but against his right hand, that being the stronger, two Phalanges were appointed. The Archers and Slingers besieged his feet, admiring the hugeness of his Thighs: But against his Head, as the Arsenal, they raised Batteries, the King himself taking his Post there. They set fire to his Hair, put Reaping-hooks in his Eyes; and that he might not breath, clapp'd Doors to his Mouth and Nostrils; but all the Execution that they could do, was only to awake him, which when done, deriding their folly, he gather'd them all up in his Lion's Skin, and carried them (Philostratus thinks) to Euristhenes.' This Antæus was as remarkable for his height, as the Pygmies were for their lowness of Stature: For Plutarch[C] tells us, that Q. Sterorius not being willing to trust Common Fame, when he came to Tingis (now Tangier) he caused Antæus's Sepulchre to be opened, and found his Corps full threescore Cubits long. But Sterorius knew well enough how to impose upon the Credulity of the People, as is evident from the Story of his white Hind, which Plutarch likewise relates.
[Footnote A: Job Ludolphus in Comment, in Historiam Æthiopicam, p.m. 71.]
[Footnote B: Philostratus. Icon. lib. 2. p.m. 817.]
[Footnote C: Plutarch. in vita Q. Sertorij.]
But to return to our Pygmies; tho' most of the great and learned Men would seem to decry this Story as a Fiction and mere Fable, yet there is something of Truth, they think, must have given the first rise to it, and that it was not wholly the product of Phancy, but had some real foundation, tho' disguised, according to the different Imagination and Genius of the Relator: 'Tis this that has incited them to give their several Conjectures about it. Job Ludolphus finding what has been offered at in Relation to the Pygmies, not to satisfie, he thinks he can better account for this Story, by leaving out the Cranes, and placing in their stead, another sort of Bird he calls the Condor. I will give you his own words: Sed ad Pygmæos (saith [A] Ludolphus) revertamur; fabula de Geranomachia Pygmæorum seu pugna cum Gruibus etiam aliquid de vero trahere videtur, si pro Gruibus Condoras intelligas, Aves in interiore Africa maximas, ut fidem penè excedat; aiunt enim quod Ales ista vitulum Elephanti in Aerem extollere possit; ut infra docebimus. Cum his Pygmæos pugnare, ne pecora sua rapiant, incredibile non est. Error ex eo natus videtur, quod primus Relator, alio vocabulo destitutus, Grues pro Condoris nominârit, sicuti Plautus Picos pro Gryphilus, & Romani Boves lucas pro Elephantis dixere.
[Footnote A: Job Ludolphus Comment, in Historiam suam Æthiopic. p. 73.]
'Tis true, if what Juvenal only in ridicule mentions, was to be admitted as a thing really done, that the Cranes could fly away with a Pygmie, as our Kites can with a Chicken, there might be some pretence for Ludovicus's Condor or Cunctor: For he mentions afterwards[A] out of P. Joh. dos Santos the Portuguese, that 'twas observed that one of these Condors once flew away with an Ape, Chain, Clog and all, about ten or twelve pounds weight, which he carried to a neighbouring Wood, and there devoured him. And Garcilasso de la Vega[B] relates that they will seize and fly away with a Child ten or twelve years old. But Juvenal[C] only mentions this in ridicule and merriment, where he saith,
Adsubitas Thracum volucres, nubemque sonoram
Pygmæos parvis currit Bellator in armis:
Mox impar hosti, raptusque per aera curvis
Unguibus à fævâ fertur Grue.
[Footnote A: Job Ludolphus ibid. pag. 164.]