CHAP. IV

Summary

The geography and early inhabitants of the Peloponnese.

1. So wonderful is the physical organization of Greece, that each of its parts has received its peculiar destination and a distinct character; it is like a body whose members are different in form, but between which a mutual connection and dependance necessarily exists. The northern districts as far as Thessaly are the nutritive organs, which from time to time introduced fresh and vigorous supplies; as we approach the south, its structure assumes a more marked and decided form, and is impressed with more peculiar features. Attica and the islands may be considered as extremities, which, as it were, served as the active instruments for the body of Greece, and by which it was kept in constant connection with others; while the Peloponnese, on the other hand, seems formed for a state of life, included in itself, occupied more with its own than external concerns, and whose interests and feelings centred in itself. As it was the extremity of Greece, there also appeared to be an end set by nature to all change of place and habitation; and hence the character of the Peloponnesians was firm, steady, and exclusive. With good reason therefore was the region where these principles predominated considered by the Greeks as the centre and acropolis of their countries; and those who possessed it were universally acknowledged to rank as first in Greece.