At the time of its restoration, Messene was not at once made so large a state as it originally was, and as it subsequently became again through the mediation of Macedonia. We still have an accidental statement in Scylax of Caryanda respecting the extent of Messene during this intermediate period between the Boeotian restoration and the later extension under Philip of Macedonia, which we know from Strabo and Pausanias. The influence of Epaminondas was brief, he established only the town of Messene itself, with which were connected the western coast and the valley of the Pamisus, but not quite as far as the sea. The towns, however, which had been built by the Spartans, as Asine, Methone, and others, were still in the hands of the Spartans, and inhabited by Dryopians, ancient subjects of Argos, who had declared themselves in favour of Sparta. Afterwards, when the boundaries of Messenia were extended, these towns also became Messenian, standing, however, not in a relation of dependence but in that of isopolity. The Messenian people during the Macedonian period, therefore, was quite a different nation from what it had been before. Some descendants of the ancient Messenians were perhaps still living in the interior; they may have returned from Naupactus, and from other parts of the world over which they had been scattered. On the sea-coast, there were a few Boeotian and Argive colonies, and also some Laconian perioeci and a number of helots, who had emigrated from Laconia and established themselves there. It was natural enough for the Messenians to represent themselves in a different light; they took into consideration only the pure germs of their origin, and to them they referred the story of Aristomenes; but ethnographers ought not to have imitated them, for the Messenians were a new people. The PAMISUS, the river of Messenia, is only a few miles in length, but carries a great mass of water, being probably fed by subterraneous tributaries from Arcadia.