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Keeping the Balance: Ancient Greek Philosophical Concerns with Population and Environment
Author(s): Richard Harrow Feen
Source: Population and Environment, Vol. 17, No. 6 (Jul., 1996), pp. 447-458
Published by: Springer
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Keeping the Balance: Ancient
Concerns with Population
Richard
Harrow
Greek Philosophical
and Environment
Feen
Hayek Freedom Foundation
Not until the rise of the Greek city-States do we see a civilization more than pas
sively concerned with the delicate balance between food supply and population.
Ancient Athens was especially troubled by demographic pressures. Thus the an
cient
Greek
philosophers,
particularly
to the relationship between
size
for
for a city-state
their writings.
of
their
Plato
population
day.
Cold
and Aristotle,
were
and resources when
reality,
not metaphysics,
more
sensitive
than
the ideal
postulating
was
the
inspiration
to popular opinion,
the concern over "overpopulation"
(be
Contrary
as
a
state
in
move
resources
defined
into
dis
which
and
ing
population
is not a new one. Ancient
societies were also aware of the
equilibrium)
Malthusian
dilemma
of population
the limited agri
expanding
beyond
cultural means of the community.
The early Babylonian
(1700 B.C.), the forerunner of
epic of Atrahasis
the Noah story of Genesis,
the
effort on
presents
great flood as a conscious
the gods' part to control the growth of the human population
as "the land
was bellowing
like a bull" under the stress of mankind. The epic concludes
with
the observation
that barrenness,
part of the cosmic order to balance
Please
address
correspondence
20007.
D.C
to Dr.
stillbirth and natural disasters were all
numbers with the land's
humankind's
2500
Wisconsin
A Journal of Interdisciplinary
and Environment:
Population
Volume
17, Number
6, July 1996
?
1996 Human
447
Sciences
Press, Inc.
Studies
Washington,
Feen,
Avenue,
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#632,
N.W.,
448
POPULATIONAND ENVIRONMENT
poem
later, in the Homeric
(Kilmer, 1972). Nearly a millennium
bounty
so
on
load
"the
of
War
to
the
have
Zeus
is
said
Trojan
brought
Cypria,
death might empty the world," and thus "relieve all nurturing earth."
had some real
indicate that ancient communities
While
such myths
ization that there was a limit to the carrying capacity of the land on which
they lived, not until the rise of the Greek city-states do we see a civilization
food
between
balance
with
the delicate
than passively
concerned
Plato
The
ancient
Greek
and
especially
philosophers,
population.
supply
their readers of the dangers posed by overpop
and Aristotle, often warned
of the stationary state?one
committed
ulation and were strong advocates
so
was
with the
In
taken
Malthus
to zero population
Robert
fact,
growth.
that he devoted an entire chapter to the Hellenic world
Greek experience
in his classic study, An Essay on the Principle of Population
(1872, Seventh
more
Edition).
some scholars have come to question
that
the assumption
Recently,
were caught
in a Malthusian
the Athenians,
the ancient Greeks, mainly
dilemma.
argues that the pro
Garnsey
Breaking with traditional wisdom,
ductive capacity of Attica has been persistently
underrated, while Mulhern
or political
rather than economic
holds that metaphysical,
factors, dictated
bounded
for a small, autonomous,
the philosopher's
distinctly
preference
state
1975).
(Garnsey, 1988; Mulhern,
Did Athens
truly "suffer" from what we define today as overpopula
to the relationship
be
sensitive
the Greek philosophers
tion? And were
the ideal size for a city
tween population
and resources when postulating
state
(polis) of their day?
it is necessary
Before we can answer these questions,
of ancient Greece
and societal conditions
the demographic
ning of the classical period.
to first turn to
at the begin
POPULATION EXPLOSION: GREECE ENTERSTHE
CLASSICAL AGE
Dark Ages?
scholars agree that by the end of the preclassical
B.C.?the
Mediterranean
underwent
significant demographic
change. Although we have no definite statistics for Greece, we know that
1000 and 400 B.C. the population
between
of Europe doubled,
increasing
to
10
20 million, while
for the same period the population of Greece
from
increase of Greece during
1978). The population
tripled (Jones & McEvedy,
two to three percent per annum.
this period may have approached
In the eighth century we witness
the first great waves of Greek coloni
we see a dramatic
rise
zation to Africa, Asia and Europe. Correspondingly,
Most
eighth
century
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449
RICHARDHARROW FEEN
in the number of recorded settlements within Greece
itself. Land which
or never settled came under the plow. Incorporating
had been abandoned
new techniques,
and crop species,
technologies
agricultural productivity
triad
of cereals, vines and olives took hold
and
the
radically
improved,
across the Greek world as the main staples of existence. Cattle, sheep and
lost pasture to cultivated
land (Hanson, 1995, pp. 36-43).
goats gradually
The switch in diet from from one of meat to one based on cereals
is
in the literature of the day. As French points out, "the sacri
best reflected
fices of cattle in the Homeric
poems are on a lavish scale, scarcely con
in fifth-century Athens. On the other hand, neither
ceivable
lentils nor
to the peasant of Aristophanes'
are even
comedies,
peas, familiar enough
mentioned
in Homer"
(1956, p.12).
After centuries of strict agrarian control, the old estates of the aristoc
and social pressures. By the seventh
racy broke up under new economic
and sixth century, we therefore see a far greater dispersion of landed prop
small land
erty among the Greek populace. The growth of an independent,
class of farmers did not come without major political
owning
upheaval.
for Athens and Sparta, wise
Fortunately
leadership prevailed and a peace
was reached between
ful compromise
the people
(demos) and ruling land
owners
of
of debt and the redistribution
(oligarchy) over the canceling
land.
so called
fifth century
opens?the
"golden
age" of
is fairly well populated.
mainland
As a result of increased
and the international grain trade, there are few recorded cases
productivity
of famine and food shortages. By the mid-fifth century demographic
pres
sures began to take their toll on the stability of the city-states as the Greek
some 60%
contained
and archipelago
peninsula
nearly 3 million people,
of the Balkan total of 5 million
If there was a problem
(Jones & McEvedy).
with the city-states
it now had more to do with the
feeding themselves,
to
of
the
land
and
less
its unequal distribution.
do with
carrying capacity
Is it any wonder
then, that in the political writings of one of Greece's
most famous philosophers,
a heightened
concern
Plato, one encounters
with
the
and
and
balance
between
self-sufficiency
territory?
population
While Mulhern
"has
argues that Plato's best known work the Republic,
to
do
with
little
food
numbers
and
comparatively
supply" (1975, p. 280),
this is not entirely true.
When
the
Greece?the
PLATO'S REPUBLICAND LAWS: SEEKINGA BALANCE
In the first part of the Republic, where
the dialogue
focuses on the
ideal commonwealth,
to the nexus
Plato immediately
turns his attention
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450
POPULATIONAND ENVIRONMENT
to
and state growth. Men come
between
dynamics
together
population
on
a
of
create a self-sufficient
he
the
division
based
notes,
society,
society
and the work more easily done."
labor as "more things will be produced
When
all the occupations
for a self-sufficient
society are created and all the
are
men
"will
needs
live
met,
pleasantly
together and a pru
physiological
dent fear of poverty or war will keep them from begetting children beyond
their means"
(2.375). But as most men rebel against living in such a simple
"primitive" society and want to have fine furnishings to lay on and meat to
as it "must be
eat, the community
says Plato, will have to be enlarged
swollen up with a whole multitude"
of people catering to the creation of
luxuries. "The country will now be too small," he adds, and "if we are to
have enough pasture and plow land, we shall have to cut off a slice of our
territory ... so we shall be at war" (2.372-75).
neighbor's
this part of the dialogue
Although
simply supports Plato's favorite ethi
cal doctrine,
that all conflict originates
from "desires untempered
by rea
maxim
increases?
that
son," there is the additional
political
population
if they include "unproductive"
of society?clearly
members
especially
or
with
them
In
either
war."
societies
short,
wary of "beget
bring
"poverty
their
means"
while
avoid
those societies
conflict,
ting offspring beyond
bent on expanding
to
their population without
added
their
burden,
regard
invite violence
into their lives.
and chaos
To guarantee
that the actions of the state and its people
remain in the
"realm of temperance,"
Plato calls for the creation of a special ruling class,
are to hold mates
the Guardians?who
in common?and
and property
instructs them to put limits on the population
and territory of the state.
to grow only so far as it can increase in size
"The state should be allowed
a loss of unity . . . [and that] it shall be a self-sufficient
without
state and
one" (4.422). Thus Plato gives his principle of optimum
size; implying as it
does
comes with the bal
that societal harmony, unity, and self-sufficiency
ancing of resources to people.
By putting limits on growth, Plato obviously
seeks to avoid
the terrible class and interstate warfare which
haunted
Greek communities
for hundreds of years.
In a later and less known political work,
the Laws, Plato again con
cerns himself with the relationship between population
and resources. This
treatise takes the form of a discussion
one of whom
between
statesmen,
has been drafted by his countrymen
to write legislation for the founding of
a new colony,
a colony which
is the direct result of demographic
pres
sures. As one of the characters poses the question:
"Tell me this, will the
settlers comprise
all that wish to go from any part of Crete, supposing
that
there has grown up in every city a surplus population
too great for the
country's food supply?" (4. 707).
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451
RICHARDHARROW FEEN
to be feared as it leads to civil unrest.
To Plato, famine was something
As he notes, "owing to a scarcity of food, people are inwant, and display a
to follow
in an attack on the property of the
readiness
their leaders
In
a
case
statesman will act like a
such
says Plato, the wise
wealthy."
a
and
the
of
physician
"purge"
"body politic"
"plague" of rebellious, hun
title of
gry people by shipping them abroad and giving "the euphemistic
to
their
evacuation"
(5. 735).
emigration
was actually used as a means to balance population
That colonization
with food supply we need turn only to Herodotus'
narrative on the coloni
of Cyrene from the island of Thera during the sixth century. Facing a
major famine as a result of a series of droughts, the people passed a degree
"to send brother from brother, chosen by lot" (Histories 4. 150). According
to an inscription discovered
in Cyrene,
the terms of settlement were quite
harsh as the decree called for compulsory
severe limitations on
enlistment,
the right to return, and strong threats against defaulters.
This fear of poverty and the accompanying
unrest leads Plato to advo
cate the creation of a stationary state. Thus he would
have his colony's
families and territory locked together
in a formalized,
rigid, land tenure
one
or
where
the
division
of
landed
is strictly for
system;
property
selling
bidden and only one son can inherit the family estate (5. 737-739).
Plato
even goes so far as to firmly set the number of households
at 5,040. Why
zation
as taxes,
it is a number easily divisible,
Perhaps because
are to be divided equally.1 Assuming
is
that each household
a
made up of some ten people?mother,
few
and
relatives
father,
children,
slaves?the
colony's population could reach 50,000; an average mid-sized
Greek city-state of the classical period.
As "the number of households
must remain unchanged,"
Plato men
tions the use of adoption
to equalize male heirs. But, he admits, stronger
measures may be necessary.
"In case we are in absolute desperation"
and
are "faced with a superabundance
of citizens, owing to the mutual affec
tion of those married which drives us to despair, there still remains ... the
sending forth of colonies." Or, if the state be "attacked" by disease or war,
Plato recommends?but
of for
naturalization
only under protest?the
this number?
property, etc.
eigners
(5. 740).
in his Laws? Perhaps because
it has the greatest
'Why did Plato suggest 5,040 households
number of divisors
for convenient
(59) including all the digits from one to ten thereby making
subdivisions.
because
is 12, this would
the main divisor
serve to provide
the state
Moreover,
with
state council
twelve
etc. Plato by adopting
the duodecimal
tribes, twelve
committees,
from the Athenian
was
Athens
had
system was departing
tradition, which
largely decimal.
ten tribes and ten divisions
of the council,
each acting
for one-tenth
of the year; this, of
conflicted
with
the division of the year into 12 months.
course,
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452
POPULATIONAND ENVIRONMENT
There can be no doubt when
reviewing the Laws, that Plato was more
aware
the pro
than
of the Malthusian
dilemma of population
outstripping
indeed a limit to how
ductive capacity of the land. In short, that there was
could support until famine and/or civil un
the environment
many people
its
rest reared
for a stationary
head. Thus Plato's preference
state; one
are
in
order to
and territory
balanced
where
carefully
people
together
a
achieve
well-ordered,
stable, prosperous
society. To Plato, overpopula
is to be feared most by the wise statesman.
tion, not foreign invasion,
as
to
Plato was directly
influenced by the
The issue remains
whether
and economic
of fifth and fourth century
conditions
social,
political
or political
There are some scholars who believe
that philosophy
Greece.
can
be reached
reference to
independently
by the thinker without
theory
"is not
"The history of ideas," says Mulhern,
specific, prevailing conditions.
a history of ages and their particular products"
(1975, p. 278). No one,
on population
vacuum.
in a complete
Plato's emphasis
however, writes
is
was
what
all
result
of
the
around him,
"control"
undoubtedly
happening
in his home town of Athens.
especially
CLASSICAL ATHENS: CARRYING CAPACITY AND
DEMOGRAPHIC PRESSURES
there is a lack of precise and detailed
information relating to
Although
the population
size of Athens during the classical
period?Attica
being
some 2,400
scholars agree that from the time of the
square km?most
invasion
Persian
War
(480) to the start of the Peloponnesian
(431), the
was
as
a
result
transformed
trends.
of
country
totally
During
demographic
this fifty year period,
says Garnsey, Attica's population
density doubled,
from around 50 persons per square km to 105 (1988, p. 90). As to the size
of the general population,
estimates
range from around 120,000-150,000
a
in
to
of
to 315,000
480,
persons
250,000
just before the great
high point
war (Garnsey; Gomme,
1933).
Generally
speaking, Athens was one of the most densely
populated
cities of the western world during this period. Being the hub of Hellenic
commerce
and culture, people
flocked to her for employment
and other
activities.
The question
that arises
how
did
We
herself?
feed
Athens
is,
know the soil and climate was more than suitable for olives and vines, but
what
of cereals?
The debate over the carrying capacity of Attica has yet to be resolved.
On the one hand, Carry believes
that the soil was
ill-suited for the intense
of grain and that only one-third
cultivation
to one-quarter
of the Athenian
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453
RICHARDHARROW FEEN
in cereal production were home grown (1949, pp. 74-75).
requirements
on
the
that the productive
other hand, believes
capacity of Attica
Garnsey,
has been vastly underrated and suggests that Athens generally never had to
find grain from outside Attica for more than one-half of its resident popula
on foreign grains, and
tion. As he concludes,
"Athens was
less dependent
in particular on distant sources of grain, than is generally assumed"
(1988,
p. 105).
The
typical Athenian grain farmer, however, could spare little to sell in
the marketplace.
The size of the average peasant farm in classical Greece
was between 4 to 6 hectares, with subsistence
from 3
requiring anywhere
to 4 hectares of cultivated
land (GaWant, 1991 pp. 82-86). The size of the
farm that an ordinary Athenian might have worked
during this period has
to be
at around 2 to 4 hectares,
been estimated
just barely big enough
to Gallant's
in the
calculations,
(Garnsey, 1988, p. 46). According
a
4
life
the
estate
have
Greek
failed
of
hectare
would
farm,
24-year
cycle
to meet
its production
goals in 4 out of 12 years (33%), and in 7 out of the
last 18 (39%). "With alarming
the Greek
Gallant,
regularity," concludes
"would
have
found
themselves
short
of
food"
(1991, p.
peasantry
running
in the Greek comedies?especially
those
110). That the farmers portrayed
of Aristophanes
in life
lot
of
their
and Menander?should
complain bitterly
should come as no surprise.
Even if the average farmer was able to supplement
his food supply in a
viable
of ways?including
hunting and fishing, gathering wild flora, and
turning to kinsmen and patrons for assistance?the
bigger the population,
to
the less able was the individual farmer to turn to these other means
support himself and his family.
It should be noted that as more of Attica came under the plow, so too
did deforestation
and
and soil erosion. The loss of trees to both commerce
came with ecological
In comparing
cultivation
costs.
of
the environment
his day to the past, Plato lamented, "What is left now is like the skeleton of
a body wasted
by disease; the rich soil has been carried off and only the
variety
bare framework of the district is left" (Critias 111). Is it any wonder
then,
that the heavens
of the blessed?the
Elysian Fields?were
thought of as
lush, green meadows?
the strain created by a growing citizen and equally
Overall,
large for
eign resident population?which
only added pressure on food stuffs and
affected Athens'
standard of living.
employment
opportunities?gravely
in agriculture and commerce were simply absorbed by popula
Advances
tion increases.
"When one compares
however
stan
roughly the material
dards of sixth and fifth century Athens," says French, "one is struck by the
lack of positive evidence
for any real advance
in creature comforts" (1964,
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454
POPULATIONAND ENVIRONMENT
p. 162). Fortunately, Athens' mighty
fleet, large silver reserves, great port
and stable markets made
it easy for her to get the food supplies
she
from domestic or international sources.
needed, whether
As to the other Greek city-states, most
likely they faced similar demo
Other
than Athens
and Sparta?which
commanded
problems.
graphic
some two-fifths of the Peloponnesus?most
states on the Greek mainland
had to survive on less than 1000 square km, being hemmed
in by both
and geographic
factors. Thus Thebes, Corinth,
and others relied
political
on trade and commerce
to feed their rather large, growing populations.
At
least when
the great war broke out between
the Athenian
and Spartan
in 431, there was plenty of manpower
around for the nearly thirty
empires
of fighting.
worth
years'
To be expected,
the Peloponnesian
War did have a direct effect upon
the population
of Athens. Besides the combat casualties,
in 425
the plague
carried off a large number of citizens, many of whom
came within
the city
walls
for protection. While
Athens' overall population
did recover by the
fourth century,
its ability to close the gap between
home production
and
of cereals, unfortunately,
did not. Due to the loss of its fleet,
consumption
now gaining a stranglehold
on
other states?especially
Macedonia?were
the Athenian
time
the
in
the
Aristotle
settled
grain supply. By
philosopher
in the mid-fourth
was
es
Athens
it
some
of
the
century,
already showing
sential features of the typical Greek city of the Hellenistic
period, "above
to food crises" (Garnsey, 1988, p. 163).
all, a chronic tendency
ARISTOTLE: LINKING OVERPOPULATION WITH CIVIL UNREST
concern with
The Greek
the balance
between
and re
population
sources therefore did not end with Plato. His student, Aristotle,
also be
came an advocate of the stationary state. In his Politics, Aristotle especially
warns his readers of the civil unrest that can occur "if the number of off
spring exceeds what
In his discussion
the amount of property will support."
of Plato's Laws, Aristotle even criticizes
Plato for not
to
a
from
certain
level." As
enough
"prevent
doing
reproduction
exceeding
he notes, "If no restriction is imposed on the rate of reproduction,
and this
is the case in most of our existing states, poverty
is the inevitable
result;
and poverty
in its turn, civic dissension
and wrongdoing"
produces
(2.6.12). Any land equalization
scheme, concludes
Aristotle,
"ought to be
the
of
the
in
of
number
children
the
accompanied
by
regulation
family," as
"it is a sorry thing that a large number of persons should be reduced from
that of comfort to penury" (2.7.5).
On whether
any actual state or statesmen
had a conscious
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policy
of
455
RICHARDHARROW FEEN
from expanding
beyond
regulating fertility so as to prevent the population
the means of subsistence, Aristotle gives the example of Crete. The legisla
tor there, he explains,
for the segregation of women
"included a provision
to prevent them from having too many children;
he
for which
purposes
also instituted homosexual
relations" (2.10.9).
concern with overpopulation
Aristotle's
is more than tied to his con
cern with poverty and the resulting political conflict.
Ifa state be as big as
or
the
whole
it
how
could
have, he asks, a "true
Babylon
Peloponnesus,
constitution"
"A
(i.e., a democratic
legislative body)?
great state," he notes,
"is not the same as a populous
state" (7.4.6). "Who can give it orders,
unless he have the voice of fifty men?" And how can the citizens
judge
in the courts and elect the best candidates
if they do not "know one
wisely
another's characters?"
(7.4. 7-14).
With
these political considerations
in mind, Aristotle concludes
that
the "optimum standard of population
the greatest survey
is, in a sentence,
a life of self-sufficiency."
able number
he
What
required for achieving
means by "surveyable"
is that the number of citizens be easily compre
able to gather together in one spot to pursue political
hended, definable,
and social activities. As Aristotle no doubt noticed, the city and territory of
Athens was so big that gathering all the citizens en mass to debate and vote
on legislation
in the Assembly was nearly an impossible task. "Athens is so
of people
Isoc
large and the multitude
living here so great," complained
rates in the mid-fourth
century, "that the city does not present to the mind
an imagine easily grasped or sharply defined"
(Antidosis 171).
As to how Aristotle would
limit family size, he recommends
abortion
over the use of exposure,
of infants. There should be
i.e., the abandonment
a law, he suggests,
"in all states where
the system of social habits is op
increase, to prevent the exposure of children to death
posed to unrestricted
in order to keep the population
down." The proper thing to do, he
merely
says, "is to limit the size of each family, and if children are then conceived
in excess of the limit so fixed, to have miscarriage
induced before sense
and life have begun in the embryo" (7.16.18).
Aristotle's
of exposure as a way to limit family size is a
condemnation
first for ancient Greece,
as exposure was the standard method of getting rid
of unwanted
children and was sanctioned
law and religion
by both Greek
of
1983a). Scholars are still debating whether
exposure,
especially
an impact on the size of the Athenian population.
had
to
girls,
According
was
the
of
children
to
"of
exposure
Engels,
negligible
importance," while
as
10%
were
at
of
Golden,
nearly
birth, exposure played a
girls
exposed
in
role
significant
pressures
managing
population
(Engels, 1980; Golden,
(Feen,
1981).
In regard
to abortion
in ancient
Greece,
all available
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evidence
indi
456
POPULATIONAND ENVIRONMENT
cates that techniques
were well advanced
for inducing a miscarriage
by
Aristotle's day. But whether
abortion was resorted to primarily for medical
or family planning
is unclear
purposes
(Feen, 1983a). As for the Hippo
cratic Oath and its famous pledge forbidding
to assist in an
the physician
seems
a
to
it
in
be
late
the
of
medical
ethics
abortion,
development
history
assume
some
at
While
Aristotle
did
in
that
the
(Feen, 1983b).
point
the fetus, if not actually human life, was worthy of respect
mother's womb,
and should not be aborted, he did not believe
in the sanctity of human life.
After all, he notes, "there should certainly be a law to prevent the rearing
of deformed
children"
(7.16.18).
That Aristotle
a risky
should go so far as to endorse
abortion?still
in
a
the
means
fourth
of
procedure
century?as
family planning,
clearly
demonstrates
how desperate
he is to retain the delicate balance between
the "property will support." Like Plato before him,
"offspring" and what
fears what overpopulation
Aristotle
would
do to the unity and self-suffi
state.
of
the
he
As
when
cency
earlier,
explained
people exceed
carrying
civil unrest is the direct result. To Aristotle
then, the "good life"
capacity,
can be achieved
in the polity only if population
and resources are in har
mony.
It is ironic
that as Aristotle was
lecturing in the Lyceum, one of his
was
students, Alexander,
busy replacing the city-state with vast em
in
the
East.
Once
the
fertile
and spacious
lands of Asia Minor and
pires
to
became
came
in large numbers,
the
Greeks
open
settlement,
Egypt
Hellas
as
was now con
much
of
the
land
forever, especially
abandoning
in the hands of the wealthy
centrated
few. The ideal of the small, unified,
self-sufficient
in the quest for conquest
and
city-state was soon forgotten
earlier
empire.
CONCLUSION
As we have seen, the ancient Greeks were the first to be overtly con
cerned with the balance between
and carrying capacity. Their
population
Plato and Aristotle,
often warned
their readers of
philosophers,
especially
the dangers
it would
of how
affect
posed by overpopulation;
adversely
life by creating poverty and rebellion. Thus both Plato's and
community
Aristotle's
obsession
with the creation of a stationary state: one governed
by zero population
growth.
As for the Greek city-states
there can be no doubt that
themselves,
dilemma of popula
many of them, especially Athens, faced the Malthusian
tion outstripping
the productive
the
of
land.
in the classi
Athens
capacity
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457
RICHARDHARROW FEEN
on her given
cal period simply could not support a growing population
even
not
to
half her
territorial base. Attica was
fertile
feed
just
enough
people.
on population
Both Plato and Aristotle's
is no
"control"
emphasis
too
doubt the result of what they saw happening
in Athens and elsewhere;
on
too
a
mass.
not
and
small
land
Cold
many people
reality,
unproductive
was the inspiration for their writings.
The only answer for
metaphysics,
survival then, was either war, export and commerce,
or population
control.
As war and commerce
to the philosophers
did not provide
for a life of
be
and aggressive
tendencies
"virtue," the only way to avoid expansionist
tween people and states they held, was to limit the size of the population
to fit the productive
few statesmen
capacity of the land. Unfortunately,
heeded Plato' s and Aristotle' s advice.
That most
nations today ignore the ancient Greek warnings
that civic
on
come
resources
size
and
should
happiness depends
balancing population
as no surprise. After all, modern
to
is
ancient
the
society
basically geared
Roman maxim
that a great state is a large populous
state. As the early
Italian statesman and political
Botero summed up the
theorist Giovanni
situation back in 1588, in his book, The Causes of the Greatness of Cities:
If the World would
be governed
by Reason, and every man
rest content with that, which
to him,
willingly
justly belongs
then would,
the
of
the
ancient
lawmakers
assuredly,
judgment
to be embraced.
be worthy
But experience,
which
sheweth us,
that by the Corruption
of Humane
Force prevaileth
Nature,
. . . teacheth us also that the
above Reason
judgment of the
Romans deserves
to be preferred before the opinions of the Gre
cians (Hutchinson,
1975, p. 377).
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