VICO AND NOT MUCH ELSE

Still reading a bit of Vico's Scienza Nuova ogni giorno. Greeted by the promising title Del diluvio universale e de' giganti, and it delivers: Vico describes the devolution of the descendants of Cam, Giafet and Sem (i.e. Ham, Japheth and Shem) into "uno stato affatto bestiale e ferino" (a state truly bestial and wild). Basically, Vico says that after Noah's death his sons renounced the "vera religione del loro comun padre Noè" and reverted to a sort of primal state, roaming the "gran selva della terra" which -- and this is Vico in a nutshell -- grew so abundantly after the Flood that man's progeny "crescere vigorosamente robusti, e sì provenire giganti" (they grew vigorous and robust, and became giants) because of their rough-and-tumbles lives in a jungle "che per lo fresco diluvio doveva esser foltissima." He also mentions Caesar and Tacitus' comments on Germanic gigantism, before finally embarking on an extended discussion of Greek and Latin philology that apparently support the existence of these post-diluvian man-giants.

That's Vico for you.

I'd also like to know where the "great forest of the earth" motif first appeared.