"This account appears not only inconsistent with the former, but contradictory to it. There, the inhabitants of Mycenæ are expelled, and added to the strength of other cities; here, the special reason of the dispute is to secure more citizens for Argos, and to increase and consolidate its power. Any one who considers the conditions of the question for one moment will not hesitate to prefer this latter--a sound political view--to the sentimental story about Argive jealousy. The συνοικισμός of the Argive territory was like that of Thebes, of Athens, and of Megalopolis; and there can be no doubt that the importance of Argos in Greek history was wholly due to its early success in this most difficult and unpopular revolution. [Sidenote: DATE OF THE CAPTURE OF MYCENÆ.] "But is it possible that it took place _after_ the Persian Wars? I think not. In the face of the patriotic conduct of Tiryns and Mycenæ, and at the moment of Argos' greatest national unpopularity, any such attempt to destroy free Greek cities would have brought down the vengeance of all Greece. Moreover, early historians are silent about it. Herodotus and Thucydides never allude to it. What is still more remarkable, the contemporary Æschylus, though composing plays which ought to have had their scene laid at Mycenæ, never once mentions Mycenæ, and transfers the palace of Agamemnon to Argos.[405] If the more ancient city, whose inhabitants had fought with him in the great Persian struggle, had only lost its independence in his mature age, is such a curious ignorance on his part conceivable? I think, then, that the συνοικισμός of the Argive territory must have taken place long before, and that Pausanias was misled by the monuments of the Persian War to transfer it to an impossible period. "If we look back into earlier history, and consider at what time Argos was daily expecting an attack from Sparta, and found it necessary to strengthen its power, I think the most natural period will be not immediately after the Persian, but immediately after the Messenian Wars, that is, the second Messenian War, which was concluded in Ol. 29. According to our revised chronology, the development of Phidon's power at Argos must be placed close to this time, and it was probably the twenty-eighth Ol. which he celebrated with the Pisatans at Olympia to the exclusion of the Eleans. Of course the Spartans were bound to interfere, but the Messenian War must have greatly hampered their vigour. When this war was over, and Sparta had acquired new territory and prestige, the Argives must have expected that they would be the first to suffer. Hence I attribute to Phidon, and to his policy, the consolidation of all the smaller towns in Argos, and perhaps this may have been the secret of his greatness.