A Philological Essay Concerning The Pygmies Of The Ancients Part 6

_Megasthenes_ methinks in _Pliny_ mounts the _Pygmies_ for this expedition much better, for he sets them not on a _Pegasus_ or _Partridges_, but on _Rams_ and _Goats_: _Fama est_ (saith _Pliny[A]) insedentes Arietum Caprarumque dorsis, armatis sagittis, veris tempore universo agmine ad mare descendere_. And _Onesicritus_ in Strabo tells us, That a _Crane_ has been often observed to fly from those parts with a bra.s.s Sword fixt in him, [Greek: pleistakis d' ekpiptein geranon chalkaen echousan akida apo ton ekeithen plaegmaton.][B] But whether the _Pygmies_ do wear Swords, may be doubted. 'Tis true, _Ctesias_ tells us,[C] That the _King_ of _India_ every fifth year sends fifty Thousand Swords, besides abundance of other Weapons, to the Nation of the _Cynocephali_, (a fort of _Monkeys_, as I shall shew) that live in those Countreys, but higher up in the Mountains: But he makes no mention of any such Presents to the poor _Pygmies_; tho'

he a.s.sures us, that no less than three Thousand of these _Pygmies_ are the _Kings_ constant Guards: But withal tells us, that they are excellent _Archers_, and so perhaps by dispatching their Enemies at a distance, they may have no need of such Weapons to lye dangling by their sides. I may therefore be mistaken in rendering [Greek: akida] a Sword; it may be any other sharp pointed Instrument or Weapon, and upon second Thoughts, shall suppose it a sort of Arrow these cunning _Archers_ use in these Engagements.

[Footnote A: _Plinij. Nat. Hist._ lib. 7. cap. 2. p. 13.]

[Footnote B: _Strabo Geograph._ lib. 15. p. 489.]

[Footnote C: _Vide Photij. Biblioth._]

These, and a hundred such ridiculous _Fables_, have the _Historians_ invented of the _Pygmies_, that I can't but be of _Strabo_'s mind,[A]

[Greek: Rhadion d' an tis Haesiodio, kai Homaeroi pisteuseien haeroologousi, kai tois tragikois poiaetais, hae Ktaesiai te kai Haerodotoi, kai h.e.l.lanikoi, kai allois toioutois;] i.e. _That one may sooner believe_ Hesiod, _and_ Homer, _and the_ Tragick Poets _speaking of their_ Hero's, _than_ Ctesias _and_ Herodotus _and_ h.e.l.lanicus _and such like_. So ill an Opinion had _Strabo_ of the _Indian Historians_ in general, that he censures them _all_ as fabulous;[B] [Greek: Hapantes men toinun hoi peri taes Indikaes grapsantes hos epi to poly pseudologoi gegonasi kath' hyperbolaen de Daeimachos; ta de deutera legei Megasthenaes, Onaesikritos te kai Nearchos, kai alloi toioutoi;] i.e. _All who have wrote of_ India _for the most part, are fabulous, but in the highest degree_ Daimachus; _then_ Megasthenes, Onesicritus, _and_ Nearchus, _and such like_. And as if it had been their greatest Ambition to excel herein, _Strabo_[C] brings in _Theopompus_, as bragging, [Greek: Hoti kai mythous en tais Historiais erei kreitton, ae hos Haerodotos, kai Ktaesias, kai h.e.l.lanikos, kai hoi ta Hindika syngrapsantes;] _That he could foist in Fables into History, better than_ Herodotus _and_ Ctesias _and_ h.e.l.lanicus, _and all that have wrote of_ India. The _Satyrist_ therefore had reason to say,

-----_Et quicquid Graecia mendax Audet in Historia._[D]

[Footnote A: _Strabo Geograph._ lib. 11. p.m. 350.]

[Footnote B: _Strabo ibid._ lib. 2. p.m. 48.]

[Footnote C: _Strabo ibid._ lib. 1 p.m. 29.]

[Footnote D: _Juvenal._ _Satyr._ X. _vers._ 174.]

_Aristotle_,[A] 'tis true, tells us, [Greek: Holos de ta men agria agriotera en tae Asia, andreiotera de panta ta en taei Europaei, polymorphotata de ta en taei libyaei; kai legetai de tis paroimia, hoti aei pherei ti libyae kainon;] i.e. _That generally the Beasts are wilder in_ Asia, _stronger in_ Europe, _and of greater variety of shapes in_ Africa; _for as the_ Proverb _saith_, Africa _always produces something new_. _Pliny_[B] indeed ascribes it to the Heat of the _Climate, Animalium, Hominumque effigies monstriferas, circa extremitates ejus gigni, minime mirum, artifici ad formanda Corpora, effigiesque caelandas mobilitate ignea_. But _Nature_ never formed a whole _Species_ of _Monsters_; and 'tis not the _heat_ of the Country, but the warm and fertile Imagination of these _Historians_, that has been more productive of them, than _Africa_ it self; as will farther appear by what I shall produce out of them, and particularly from the Relation that _Ctesias_ makes of the _Pygmies_.

[Footnote A: _Aristotle Hist. Animal_, lib. 8. cap. 28.]

[Footnote B: _Plin. Nat. Hist._ lib. 6. cap. 30. p.m. 741.]

I am the more willing to instance in _Ctesias_, because he tells his Story roundly; he no ways minces it; his Invention is strong and fruitful; and that you may not in the least mistrust him, he p.a.w.ns his word, that all that he writes, is certainly true: And so successful he has been, how Romantick soever his Stories may appear, that they have been handed down to us by a great many other Authors, and of Note too; tho' some at the same time have looked upon them as mere Fables. So that for the present, till I am better informed, and I am not over curious in it, I shall make _Ctesias_, and the other _Indian Historians_, the _Inventors_ of the extravagant Relations we at present have of the _Pygmies_, and not old _Homer_. He calls them, 'tis true, from something of Resemblance of their shape, [Greek: andres]: But these _Historians_ make them to speak the _Indian Language_; to use the same _Laws_; and to be so considerable a Nation, and so valiant, as that the _King_ of _India_ makes choice of them for his _Corps de Guards_; which utterly spoils _Homer's Simile_, in making them so little, as only to fight _Cranes_.

_Ctesias_'s Account therefore of the _Pygmies_ (as I find it in _Photius_'s _Bibliotheca_,[A] and at the latter end of some Editions of _Herodotus_) is this:

[Footnote A: _Photij. Bibliothec. Cod._ 72. p.m. 145.]

[Greek: Hoti en mesae tae Indikae anthropoi eisi melanes, kai kalountai pygmaioi, tois allois h.o.m.oglossoi Indois. mikroi de eisi lian; hoi makrotatoi auton paecheon duo, hoi de pleistoi, henos haemiseos paecheos, komaen de echousi makrotataen, mechri kai hepi ta gonata, kai eti katoteron, kai pogona megiston panton anthropon; epeidan oun ton pogona mega physosin, ouketi amphiennyntai ouden emation: alla tas trichas, tas men ek taes kephalaes, opisthen kathientai poly kato ton gonaton; tas de ek tou po gonos, emprosthen mechri podon elkomenas. Hepeita peripykasamenoi tas trichas peri apan to soma, zonnyntai, chromenoi autais anti himatiou, aidoion de mega echousin, hoste psauein ton sphyron auton, kai pachy. autoite simoi te kai aischroi. ta de probata auton, hos andres.

kai hai boes kai hoi onoi, schedon hoson krioi? kai hoi hippoi auton kai hoi aemionoi, kai ta alla panta zoa, ouden maezo krion; hepontai de toi basilei ton Indon, touton ton pygmaion andres trischilioi. sphodra gar eisi toxotai; dikaiotatoi de eisi kai nomoisi chrontai osper kai hoi Indoi. Dagoous te kai alopekas thaereuousin, ou tois kysin, alla koraxi kai iktisi kai koronais kai aetois.]

_Narrat praeter ista, in media India homines reperiri nigros, qui Pygmaei appellentur. Eadem hos, qua Inda reliqui, lingua uti, sed valde esse parvos, ut maximi duorum cubitorum, & plerique unius duntaxat cubiti c.u.m dimidio alt.i.tudinem non excedant. Comam alere longissimam, ad ipsa usque genua demissam, atque etiam infra, c.u.m barba longiore, quam, apud ullos hominum. Quae quidem ubi illis promissior esse caeperit, nulla deinceps veste uti: sed capillos mult infra genua a tergo demissos, barbamque praeter pectus ad pedes usque defluentem, per totum corpus in orbem constipare & cingere, atque ita pilos ipsis suos vestimenti loco esse.

Veretrum illis esse cra.s.sum ac longum, quod ad ipsos quoque pedum malleolos pertingat. Pygmeos hosce simis esse naribus, & deformes. Ipsorum item oves agnorem nostrotum instar esse; boves & asinos, arietum fere magnitudine, equos item multosque & caetera jumenta omnia nihilo esse nostris arietibus majora. Tria horum Pygmaeorum millia Indorum regem in suo comitatu habere, quod sagittarij sint peritissimi. Summos esse just.i.tiae cultores iisdemque quibus Indi reliqui, legibus parere. Venari quoque lepores vulpesque, non canibus, sed corvis, milvis, cornicibus, aquilis adhibitis._

In the middle of _India_ (saith _Ctesias_) there are black Men, they are call'd _Pygmies_, using the same Language, as the other _Indians_; they are very little, the tallest of them being but two Cubits, and most of them but a Cubit and a half high. They have very long hair, reaching down to their Knees and lower; and a Beard larger than any Man's. After their Beards are grown long, they wear no Cloaths, but the Hair of their Head falls behind a great deal below their Hams; and that of their Beards before comes down to their Feet: then laying their Hair thick all about their Body, they afterwards gird themselves, making use of their Hair for Cloaths. They have a _p.e.n.i.s_ so long, that it reaches to the Ancle, and the thickness is proportionable. They are flat nosed and ill favoured.

Their Sheep are like Lambs; and their Oxen and a.s.ses scarce as big as Rams; and their Horses and Mules, and all their other Cattle not bigger. Three thousand Men of these _Pygmies_ do attend the _King_ of _India_. They are good _Archers_; they are very just, and use the same _Laws_ as the _Indians_ do. They kill Hares and Foxes, not with Dogs, but with Ravens, Kites, Crows, and Eagles.'

Well, if they are so good Sports-men, as to kill Hares and Foxes with Ravens, Kites, Crows and Eagles, I can't see how I can bring off _Homer_, for making them fight the _Cranes_ themselves. Why did they not fly their _Eagles_ against them? these would make greater Slaughter and Execution, without hazarding themselves. The only excuse I have is, that _Homer_'s _Pygmies_ were real _Apes_ like _Men_; but those of _Ctesias_ were neither _Men_ nor _Pygmies_; only a Creature begot in his own Brain, and to be found no where else.

_Ctesias_ was Physician to _Artaxerxes Mnemon_ as _Diodorus Siculus_[A]

and _Strabo_[B] inform us. He was contemporary with _Xenophon_, a little later than _Herodotus_; and _Helvicus_ in his _Chronology_ places him three hundred eighty three years before _Christ_: He is an ancient Author, 'tis true, and it may be upon that score valued by some. We are beholden to him, not only for his Improvements on the Story of the _Pygmies_, but for his Remarks likewise on several other parts of _Natural History_; which for the most part are all of the same stamp, very wonderful and incredible; as his _Mantichora_, his _Gryphins_, the _horrible Indian Worm_, a Fountain of _Liquid Gold_, a Fountain of _Honey_, a Fountain whose Water will make a Man confess all that ever he did, a Root he calls [Greek: paraebon], that will attract Lambs and Birds, as the Loadstone does filings of Steel; and a great many other Wonders he tells us: all of which are copied from him by _aelian, Pliny, Solinus, Mela, Philostratus_, and others. And _Photius_ concludes _Ctesias_'s Account of _India_ with this pa.s.sage; [Greek: Tauta graphon kai mythologon Ktaesias. legei t'

alaethestata graphein; epagon hos ta men autos idon graphei, ta de par auton mathon ton eidoton. polla de touton kai alla thaumasiotera paralipein, dia to mae doxai tois mae tauta theasamenois apista syngraphein;] i.e. _These things_ (saith he) Ctesias _writes and feigns, but he himself says all he has wrote is very true. Adding, that some things which he describes, he had seen himself; and the others he had learn'd from those that had seen them: That he had omitted a great many other things more wonderful, because he would not seem to those that have not seen them, to write incredibilities_. But notwithstanding all this, _Lucian_[C] will not believe a word he saith; for he tells us that _Ctesias_ has wrote of _India_, [Greek: A maete autos eide, maete allou eipontos aekousen], _What he neither saw himself, nor ever heard from any Body else._ And _Aristotle_ tells us plainly, he is not fit to be believed: [Greek: En de taei Indikaei hos phaesi Ktaesias, ouk on axiopistos.][D]

And the same opinion _A. Gellius_[E] seems to have of him, as he had likewise of several other old _Greek Historians_ which happened to fall into his hands at _Brundusium_, in his return from _Greece_ into _Italy_; he gives this Character of them and their performance: _Erant autem isti omnes libri Graeci, miraculorum fabularumque pleni: res inauditae, incredulae, Scriptores veteres non parvae authoritatis_, Aristeas Proconnesius, & Isagonus, & Nicaeensis, & Ctesias, & Onesicritus, & Polystepha.n.u.s, & Hegesias. Not that I think all that _Ctesias_ has wrote is fabulous; For tho' I cannot believe his _speaking Pygmies_, yet what he writes of the _Bird_ he calls [Greek: Bittakos], that it would speak _Greek_ and the _Indian Language_, no doubt is very true; and as _H.

Stephens_[F] observes in his Apology for _Ctesias_, such a Relation would seem very surprising to one, that had never seen nor heard of a _Parrot_.

[Footnote A: _Diodor. Siculi Bibliothec_. lib. 2. p.m. 118.]

[Footnote B: _Strabo Geograph_. lib. 14. p. 451.]

[Footnote C: _Lucian_ lib 1. _verae Histor_. p.m. 373.]

[Footnote D: _Arist. Hist. Animal._ lib. 8. cap. 28.]

[Footnote E: _A. Gellij. Noctes. Attic._ lib. 9. cap. 4.]

[Footnote F: _Henr. Stephani de Ctesia Historico antiquissimo disquisitio, ad finem Herodoti._]

But this Story of _Ctesias_'s _speaking Pygmies_, seems to be confirm'd by the Account that _Nonnosus_, the Emperour _Justinian_'s Amba.s.sador into _aethiopia_, gives of his Travels. I will transcribe the Pa.s.sage, as I find it in _Photius_,[A] and 'tis as follows:

[Footnote A: _Photij. Bibliothec._ cod. 3. p.m. 7.]

[Greek: Hoti apo taes pharsan pleonti toi Nonnosoi, epi taen eschataen ton naeson kataentaekoti toion de ti synebae, thauma kai akousai. enetuche gar tisi morphaen men kai idean echousin anthropinaen, brachytatois de to megethos, kai melasi taen chroan. hypo de trichon dedasysmenois dia pantos tou somatos. heiponto de tois andrasi kai gynaikes paraplaesiai kai paidaria eti brachytera, ton par autois andron. gymnoi de aesan hapantes; plaen dermati tini mikroi taen aido periekalyp.r.o.n, hoi probebaekotes h.o.m.oios andres te kai gynaikes. agrion de ouden eped eiknynto oude anaemeron; alla kai phonaen eichon men anthropinaen, agnoston de pantapasi taen dialekton tois te perioikois hapasi, kai polloi pleon tois peri taen Nonnoson, diezon de ek thalattion ostreion, kai ichthyon, ton apo taes thala.s.saes eis taen naeson aporrhiptomenon; tharsos de eichon ouden. alla kai horontes tous kath' haemas anthropous hypeptaesan, hosper haemeis ta meiso ton thaerion.]

_Naviganti a Pharsa Nonoso, & ad extremam usque insularum delato, tale quid occurrit, vel ipso auditu admirandum. Incidit enim in quosdam forma quidem & figura humana, sed brevissimos, & cutem nigros, totumque pilosos corpus. Sequebantur viros aequales foeminae, & pueri adhuc breviores. Nudi omnes agunt, pelle tantum brevi adultiores verenda tecti, viri pariter ac foeminae: agreste nihil, neque efferum quid prae se ferentes. Quin & vox illis humana, sed omnibus, etiam accolis, prorsus ignota lingua, multoque amplius Nonosi sociis. Vivunt marinis ostreis, & piscibus e mari ad insulam projectis. Audaces minime sunt, ut nostris conspectis hominibus, quemadmodum nos visa ingenti fera, metu perculsi fuerint._

'That _Nonnosus_ sailing from _Pharsa_, when he came to the farthermost of the Islands, a thing, very strange to be heard of, happened to him; for he lighted on some (_Animals_) in shape and appearance like _Men_, but little of stature, and of a black colour, and thick covered with hair all over their Bodies. The Women, who were of the same stature, followed the Men: They were all naked, only the Elder of them, both Men and Women, covered their Privy Parts with a small Skin. They seemed not at all fierce or wild; they had a Humane Voice, but their _Dialect_ was altogether unknown to every Body that lived about them; much more to those that were with _Nonnosus_. They liv'd upon Sea Oysters, and Fish that were cast out of the Sea, upon the Island. They had no Courage; for seeing our Men, they were frighted, as we are at the sight of the greatest wild Beast.'

[Greek: _phonaen eichon men anthropinaen_] I render here, _they had a Humane Voice_, not _Speech_: for had they spoke any Language, tho' their _Dialect_ might be somewhat different, yet no doubt but some of the Neighbourhood would have understood something of it, and not have been such utter Strangers to it. Now 'twas observed of the _Orang-Outang_, that it's _Voice_ was like the Humane, and it would make a Noise like a Child, but never was observed to speak, tho' it had the _Organs_ of _Speech_ exactly formed as they are in _Man_; and no Account that ever has been given of this Animal do's pretend that ever it did. I should rather agree to what _Pliny_[A] mentions, _Quibusdam pro Sermone nutus motusque Membrorum est_; and that they had no more a Speech than _Ctesias_ his _Cynocephali_ which could only bark, as the same _Pliny_[B] remarks; where he saith, _In multis autem Montibus Genus Hominum Capitibus Caninis, ferarum pellibus velari, pro voce latratum edere, unguibus armatum venatu & Aucupio vesci, horum supra Centum viginti Millia fuisse prodente se Ctesias scribit._ But in _Photius_ I find, that _Ctesias's Cynocephali_ did speak the _Indian Language_ as well as the _Pygmies_. Those therefore in _Nonnosus_ since they did not speak the _Indian_, I doubt, spoke no _Language_ at all; or at least, no more than other _Brutes_ do.

[Footnote A: _Plinij Nat. Hist._ lib. 6. cap. 30. p.m. 741.]

[Footnote B: _Plinij. Nat. Hist._ lib. 7. cap. 2. p.m. 11.]

_Ctesias_ I find is the only Author that ever understood what Language 'twas that the _Pygmies_ spake: For _Herodotus_[A] owns that they use a sort of Tongue like to no other, but screech like _Bats_. He saith, [Greek: Hoi Garamantes outoi tous troglodytas Aithiopas thaereuousi toisi tetrippoisi. Hoi gar Troglodytai aithiopes podas tachistoi anthropon panton eisi, ton hymeis peri logous apopheromenous akouomen. Siteontai de hoi Troglodytai ophis, kai Saurous, kai ta toiauta ton Herpeton. Glossan de oudemiaei allaei paromoiaen nenomikasi, alla tetrygasi kathaper hai nukterides;] i.e. _These_ Garamantes _hunt the_ Troglodyte aethiopians _in Chariots with four Horses. The_ Troglodyte aethiopians _are the swiftest of foot of all Men that ever he heard of by any Report. The_ Troglodytes _eat Serpents and Lizards, and such sort of Reptiles. They use a Language like to no other Tongue, but screech like Bats._

[Footnote A: _Herodot. in Melpomene._ pag. 283.]

Now that the _Pygmies_ are _Troglodytes_, or do live in Caves, is plain from _Aristotle_,[A] who saith, [Greek: Troglodytai de' eisi ton bion].

And so _Philostratus_,[B] [Greek: Tous de pygmaious oikein men hypogeious]. And methinks _Le Compte_'s Relation concerning the _wild_ or _savage Man_ in _Borneo_, agrees so well with this, that I shall transcribe it: for he tells us,[C] _That in_ Borneo _this_ wild _or_ savage Man _is indued with extraordinary strength; and not withstanding he walks but upon two Legs, yet he is so swift of foot, that they have much ado to outrun him. People of Quality course him, as we do Stags here: and this sort of hunting is the King's usual divertis.e.m.e.nt._ And _Ga.s.sendus_ in the Life of _Peiresky_, tells us they commonly hunt them too in _Angola_ in _Africa_, as I have already mentioned. So that very likely _Herodotus's Troglodyte aethiopians_ may be no other than our _Orang-Outang_ or _wild Man_. And the rather, because I fancy their Language is much the same: for an _Ape_ will chatter, and make a noise like a _Bat_, as his _Troglodytes_ did: And they undergo to this day the same Fate of being hunted, as formerly the _Troglodytes_ used to be by the _Garamantes_.

[Footnote A: _Arist. Hist. Animal._, lib. 8. cap. 15. p.m. 913.]

[Footnote B: _Philostrat. in vita Appollon. Tyanaei_, lib. 3. cap. 14. p.m.

152.]

[Footnote C: _Lewis le Compte_ Memoirs and Observations on _China_, p.m.

510.]

Whether those [Greek: andras mikrous metrion ela.s.sonas andron] which the _Nasamones_ met with (as _Herodotus_[A] relates) in their Travels to discover _Libya_, were the _Pygmies_; I will not determine: It seems that _Nasamones_ neither understood their Language, nor they that of the _Nasamones_. However, they were so kind to the _Nasamones_ as to be their Guides along the Lakes, and afterwards brought them to a City, [Greek: en taei pantas einai toisi agousi to megethos isous, chroma de melanas], i.e.

_in which all were of the same stature with the Guides, and black_. Now since they were all _little black Men_, and their Language could not be understood, I do suspect they may be a Colony of the _Pygmies_: And that they were no farther Guides to the _Nasamones_, than that being frighted at the sight of them, they ran home, and the _Nasamones_ followed them.

[Footnote A: _Herodotus in Euterpe_ seu lib. 2. p.m. 102.]