Depopulation of Greece
As I blame those who assign fortune and destiny as the
Limits to the belief of the direct interference of Providence in human affairs. |
moving causes in common events and catastrophes, I wish now to enter as minutely on
the discussion of this subject as the nature of
an historical work will admit. Those things of
which it is impossible or difficult for a mere
man to ascertain the causes, such as a continuous fall of rains
and unseasonable wet, or, on the contrary, droughts and frosts,
one may reasonably impute to God and Fortune, in default of
any other explanation; and from them come destruction of
fruits, as well as long-continued epidemics, and other similar
things, of which it is not easy to find the cause. On such
matters then, we, in default of a better, follow the prevailing
opinions of the multitude, attempting by supplications and
sacrifices to appease the wrath of heaven, and sending to
ask the gods by what words or actions on our part a change
for the better may be brought about, and a respite be obtained for the evils which are afflicting us. But those things,
of which it is possible to find the origin and cause of their
occurrence, I do not think we should refer to the gods. I
mean such a thing as the following. In our time all Greece
was visited by a dearth of children and generally a decay of
population, owing to which the cities were denuded of inhabitants, and a failure of productiveness resulted, though
there were no long-continued wars or serious pestilences
among us. If, then, any one had advised our sending to ask the
gods in regard to this, what we were to do or say in order to
become more numerous and better fill our cities,—would he
not have seemed a futile person, when the cause was manifest
and the cure in our own hands? For this evil grew upon us
rapidly, and without attracting attention, by our men becoming
perverted to a passion for show and money and the pleasures
of an idle life, and accordingly either not marrying at all, or, if
they did marry, refusing to rear the children that were born, or
at most one or two out of a great number, for the sake of
leaving them well off or bringing them up in extravagant
luxury. For when there are only one or two sons, it is evident that, if war or pestilence carries off one, the houses must
be left heirless: and, like swarms of bees, little by little the
cities become sparsely inhabited and weak. On this subject
there is no need to ask the gods how we are to be relieved
from such a curse: for any one in the world will tell you that
it is by the men themselves if possible changing their objects
of ambition; or, if that cannot be done, by passing laws for the
preservation of infants. On this subject there is no need of
seers or prodigies. And the same holds good of all similar
things. But in regard to events of which the causes are impossible or difficult to discover, it is reasonable to feel a
difficulty. And in this class may be reckoned the course of
Macedonian history. For the Macedonians had enjoyed
many important favours at the hands of the Romans, having
been as a nation liberated from arbitrary government and
imports, and having obtained undisputed freedom in the place
of slavery; and having been individually relieved to a great
extent from intestine factions and civil bloodshed.
1 . . .
The inexplicable conduct of the Macedonians. |
They
had been worsted by the Romans formerly
when fighting on the side of Demetrius
2 and
again on that of Perseus; yet when engaged on
the side of a man of odious character,
3 and in support of his
claims to the throne, they displayed great courage and conquered a Roman army. These facts may well seem a puzzle
to us, for it is difficult to discover their cause. And accordingly one would be inclined to say in such matters that what
had happened was a heaven-sent infatuation, and that the
wrath of God had fallen upon the Macedonians. And this
will be rendered evident from what remains to be told. . . .