7. The consideration of these natural circumstances and traditions obliges us to suppose that the races which were looked on as the ancient inhabitants of Peloponnesus (the Pelasgians in the east and north, and the Leleges in the south and west) were the first who brought the land to that state of cultivation in which it afterwards remained in this and other parts of Greece. And perhaps it was these two nations alone to whom the care of husbandry, cattle, and everything connected with the products of the soil, belonged through all times and changes. For, in the first place, the numbers of the invading Achæans, Ionians, and afterwards of the Dorians, were very inconsiderable, as compared with the whole population of Peloponnesus; and, secondly, these races conquered the _people_ as well as the _country_, and enjoyed an independent and easy life by retaining both in their possession: so that, whatever tribe might obtain the sovereign power, the former nations always constituted the mass of the population. By means of these usurpations agriculture was kept in a constant state of dependence and obscurity, so that we seldom hear of the improvement of the country, which is a necessary part of the husbandman’s business. Agriculture was, however, always followed with great energy and success. For in the time of the Peloponnesian war, when the population of Peloponnesus must have been very great, it produced more corn than it consumed, and there was a constant export from Laconia and Arcadia downwards to the coast of Corinth.(277)
8. It is not with a view of founding any calculation upon them, but merely of giving a general idea of the numerical force of a Greek tribe (which many would suppose to be a large nation), that I offer the following remarks. At the flourishing period of the Doric power, about the time of the Persian war, Sparta, which had then conquered Messenia, contained 8000 families, Argos above 6000; while in Sicyon, Corinth, Phlius, Epidaurus, and Ægina, the Dorians were not so numerous, the constitution being even more oligarchical in those states. Although in the colonies, where they were less confined by want of sufficient space, and by the severity of the laws, the inhabitants multiplied very rapidly, yet the number of original colonists, as many of them as were Dorians, was very small. Now since in the states of Peloponnesus, even after they had been firmly established, the number of inhabitants, particularly of Dorians, never, from several causes, much increased,(278) it seems probable that at the time of their first irruption the whole number of their males was not above 20,000.(279) Nor were the earlier settlements of Achæans and Ionians more considerable. For the Ionians, as is evident from their traditions, appear as a military race in Attica, and probably formed, though perhaps together with many families of a different origin, one, and certainly the least, of four tribes (the ὅπλητες(280)). The arrival of the Achæans is represented in ancient traditions in the following simple manner: “Archander and Architeles, the sons of Achæus, having been driven from Phthiotis, came to Argos and Lacedæmon.”(281) Their names signify “the ruler,” and “the chief governor.” Certainly the Achæans did not come to till the ground; as is also evident from the fact that, when dislodged by the Dorians, and driven to the northern coast, they took possession of Patræ, dwelt only in the town, and did not disperse themselves into the smaller villages.(282)