68 THE EMIGRATION. 



In such countries as the Grecian States, where the 

 area is small, the community flourishing, and the 

 frontier inexorably defined, the Law of Population 

 operates with unusual force. The mountain walls of 

 the Greek cantons, like the deserts which surrounded 

 Egypt, not only kept out the enemy, but also kept in 

 the natives : they were not only fortresses but prisons. 

 In order to exist, the Greeks were obliged to cultivate 

 every inch of soil. But when this had been done- the 

 population still continued to increase ; and now the 

 land could no longer be increased. In those early days 

 they had no manufactures, mines, or foreign commerce 

 by means of which they could supply themselves, as we 

 do, with food from other lands. In such an emergency, 

 the Government, if it acts at all, has only two methods 

 to pursue. It must either strangle or bleed the popu- 

 lation : it must organise infanticide or emigration. 



The first method was practised to some extent, but, 

 happily, the last was now within their power. The 

 Trojan war had made them acquainted with the 

 Asiatic coast, and overcrowded states began to send 

 forth colonies by .public act. The emigrants consisted 

 chiefly, as may be supposed, of the poor, the dangerous, 

 and the discontented classes. They took with them 

 no women ; they went forth, like the buccaneers, sword 

 in hand. They swooped down on the Ionian coast ; 

 there was at that time no power in Asia Minor which 

 was able to resist them. They obtained wives, some- 

 times by force, sometimes by peaceable arrangement 

 with the natives. In course of time the coast of Asia 

 Minor was lined with rich and flourishing towns. The 

 mother country continued to pour forth colonies, and 

 colonies also founded colonies. The Greeks sailed and 

 settled in every direction. They braved the dark 



