5. We will now proceed to inquire what was the extent of territory gained by the Illyrians in the west of Greece. Great part of Epirus had in early times been inhabited by Pelasgians,(22) to which race the inhabitants of Dodona are likewise affirmed by the best authorities to have belonged, as well as the whole nation of Thesprotians;(23) also the Chaonians at the foot of the Acroceraunian mountains,(24) and the Chones, Œnotrians, and Peucetians on the opposite coast of Italy, are said to have been of this race.(25) The ancient buildings, institutions, and religious worship of the Epirots, are also manifestly of Pelasgic origin. We suppose always that the Pelasgians were Greeks, and spoke the Grecian language: an opinion in support of which we will on this occasion only adduce a few arguments. It must then be borne in mind, that all the races whose migrations took place at a late period, such as the Achæans, Ionians, Dorians, were not (the last in particular) sufficiently powerful or numerous to effect a complete change in the customs of a barbarous population;(26) that many districts, Arcadia and Perrhæbia, for instance, remained entirely Pelasgic, without being inhabited by any nation not of Grecian origin; that the most ancient names, either of Grecian places or mentioned in their traditions, belonged indeed to a different era of the dialect, but not to another language; that finally, the great similarity between the Latin and Greek can only be explained by supposing the Pelasgic language to have formed the connecting link. Now the nations of Epirus were almost reduced to a complete state of barbarism by the operation of causes, which could only have had their origin in Illyria;(27) and in the historic age, the Ambracian bay was the boundary of Greece. In later times, more than half of Ætolia ceased to be Grecian, and without doubt adopted the manners and language of the Illyrians;(28) from which point the Athamanes, an Epirot and Illyrian nation, pressed into the south of Thessaly.(29) Migrations and predatory expeditions, such as the Encheleans had undertaken in the fabulous times, continued without intermission to repress and keep down the genuine population of Greece.