Aim of extending cultivation 127 



decision as their overlord, but would best serve their own interests. 

 Their city would gain strength by increasing the number of citizens, 

 and they would not have their territory disgracefully 1 lying waste (/cal 

 rrjv Xtopav pi] uo-Trep vvv atV%/3&>9 %e/><ret/e(r&u). He went on to refer 

 to the advantageous results of such incorporations elsewhere : citing 

 in particular the experience of Rome, whose growth and colonial ex- 

 pansion were the fruits of a franchise-policy so generous as to grant 

 citizenship even to manumitted slaves. He called upon the Larisaeans 

 to face the question without aristocratic prejudice (a</>iX<m/ua>?). And 

 the Larisaeans again complied. 



Now here we have a glimpse of agricultural decline in one of the 

 most fertile parts of Greece. The stress laid upon it by Philip shews 

 that to him it seemed a very serious matter. He saw trouble coming, 

 and wished to keep his dependent allies strong. That his difficulty lay 

 in controlling the aristocratic families, who still retained much of their 

 former power, is clear. After his defeat in 197 the Romans restored 2 

 the aristocratic governments in Thessalian cities ; indeed all through 

 the wars of this period in Greece the popular parties inclined to 

 Macedon, while the propertied classes favoured Rome. In Thessaly 

 the private estates of the nobles were cultivated by serfs. How would 

 an incorporation of more citizens tend to promote a fuller cultivation 

 of the land ? I think we may take it for granted that the new citizens 

 were not expected to till the soil in person. That they were to have 

 unemployed serfs assigned to them, and so to enter the ranks of culti- 

 vating landlords, is a bold assumption : for we do not know that there 

 were any unemployed serfs or that any distribution of land was con- 

 templated. I can only suggest that the effect of receiving citizenship 

 would be to acquire the right of holding real estate. Then, if we 

 suppose that there were at the time landed estates left vacant by the 

 war-casualties to which the king refers, and that each of these carried 

 with it a right to a certain supply of serf labour, we do get some sort 

 of answer to the question. But so far as I know this is nothing but 

 guesswork. More owners interested in the profits of farming would 

 tend, if labour were available, to employ more labour on the farms. In 

 short, we have evidence of the decay of agriculture in a particular 

 district and period, but as to the exact causes of this decay, and the 

 exact nature of the means proposed for checking it, we are sadly in 

 the dark. 



The garden or orchard had always been a favourite institution in 



1 That this neglect was not a new thing seems shewn by the saying of Alexander that 

 the Thessalians deserved no consideration, on rfy aplvryv KCKT^^VOI ov yewpyovfft. Plut 

 apophth Alex 22. 



2 Livy xxxiv 51 4-6. 



