“Scarcely were they eclipsed, when I saw a long train of pygmies entering by an opposite door. These little men were not two cubits high, but in recompense they had very sharp teeth and very long nails. They divided into several bands, and fell on the bustos. Some endeavour’d to scratch the basso relievos, and the floor was strewed with the broken pieces of their nails. Others, with greater insolence, mounted on one another’s shoulders, to the height of the heads, and gave them raps with their fists. But what diverted me much, was that these raps, instead of reaching the nose of the bust, rebounded on that of the pygmy; in consequence of which, upon a close inspection, I found most of them to be flat-nosed.

“ ‘You see,’ says my guide, ‘the impudence and chastisements of these myrmidons. This war has lasted a long while, and always to their disadvantage. I use them with less severity than the black gowns. The incense of the latter might possibly disfigure the bustos; but the efforts of the former generally end in augmenting their beauty. But as you have not above an hour or two to remain here, I advise you to pass to other objects.’