In Homer there is a disputed reference to malaria, but it is not possible to ascertain whether the disease was present during the rise of Greek civilisation, and there are no references to this disease in the literature from 700 B.C. to 550 B.C. [58] From this date references to malaria gradually become more frequent, and Hippocrates stated that "those who live in low, moist, hot districts, and drink the stagnant water, of necessity suffer from enlarged spleen. They are stunted and ill-shaped, fleshy and dark, bilious rather than phlegmatic. Their nature is to be cowardly and adverse from hardship; but good discipline can improve their character in this respect." [59] After an exhaustive study of the literature, Mr. Jones concludes "that malaria was endemic throughout the greater part of the Greek world by 400 B.C." Concerning the causes of a malarial epidemic, Sir Ronald Ross writes: [60] "Suppose that the Anophelines have been present from the first, but that the number of infected immigrants has been few. Then, possibly, some of these people have happened to take up their abode in places where the mosquitoes are rare; others may have recovered quickly; others may not have chanced to possess parasites in suitable stages when they have been bitten. Thus, the probability of their spreading infection would be very small. Or, supposing even that some few new infections have been caused, yet, by our rough calculations in section 12, _unless the mosquitoes are sufficiently numerous_ in the locality, the little epidemic may die out after a while--for instance, during the cool season." The italics are mine, because some writers have suggested that the decline of Greece was _due_ to malaria, whereas I submit, as the more logical interpretation of the facts, that a moral catastrophe led to the neglect of agriculture, whereby the area of marshy land became more extensive, mosquitoes more numerous, and the fever more prevalent. In view of the foregoing facts, the following Malthusian statement, although groundless, is nevertheless an amusing example of the errors that arise from lack of a little knowledge: "The difficulty of providing for a high birth-rate in a settled community was appreciated by the ancient Greeks, notably by Plato and Aristotle; but their conclusions were swept aside by the warlike spirit of Rome, and the sentimentality of Christianity, so that only a few isolated thinkers showed any appreciation of them." [61] [Footnote 51: Quoted in _The Law of Births and Deaths_, by Charles Edward Pell, 1921, chap. xii.] [Footnote 52: _The Law of Births and Deaths_, 1921.] [Footnote 53: Ibid., p. 40.] [Footnote 54: _The Law of Births and Deaths_, 1921, p. 41.] [Footnote 55: Ibid., p. 40.] [Footnote 56: Dr. John Brownlee, _The Declining Birth-rate_, p. 156.] [Footnote 57: _Malaria and Greek History_, 1909, pp. 102 et seq.] [Footnote 58: Ibid., p. 26.] [Footnote 59: Ibid., p. 85.]