But in other states, the πόλις was opposed to the δῆμος, as the ruling aristocratical power.(285) Thus Theognis the Megarian says of his native town, with aristocratical feelings— Πατρίδα κοσμήσω, λιπαρὴν ΠΟΛΙΝ, οὔτ᾽ ἐπὶ ΔΗΜΟΝ τρέψας οὔτ᾽ ἀδίκοις ἀνδράσι πειθόμενος.(286) Hence, also, states not under a democratical government used the word πόλις in their public documents, to signify the sovereign power; for instance, the Cretan towns, so late as the second century after Christ.(287) The Spartan community, however, deviating from this usage of the word, calls itself δᾶμος in ancient laws;(288) because it never thought of opposing itself as a body to the Periœci. Democracies then were frequently formed by collecting the inhabitants of the country into the city (when the δῆμος and πόλις coincided), by the union of single villages, and by the admission of the Periœci to the rights of citizenship. At Athens, in order to give the democracy the highest possible antiquity, this change was dated as far back as the mythical age of Theseus. In Peloponnesus, the first movements tending to it had perhaps begun before the time of the tyrants; these very persons, however, though they had in most cases risen from demagogues, still, for the purpose of securing a more tranquil dominion, sought again to remove the common people from the city, and to bind them down to the country. Instead of the town-costume, they forced them to resume their former dress of sheep’s skins, as has been remarked above of the tyrants of Sicyon;(289) for this purpose likewise they very prudently encouraged agriculture in all its branches.(290) Trade and commerce, by collecting men together in large towns, promoted the principles of democracy. It was in the wealthy and populous cities of the Greeks in the Ionian territory that a popular government was first established. Where, on the other hand, the courts of justice were at a distance, and there was no other inducement to mechanical industry and internal commerce, the ancient habits of life continued much longer in existence; as for example, among the shepherds of Mænalia and Parrhasia: these, as late as the founding of Megalopolis, lived in villages, amongst which particular boroughs (as Basilis) were distinguished as the abodes of sovereign families; such a state was altogether suited to the interests of the aristocracy or oligarchy. In oligarchical states, as in Elis, the people in later times remained almost constantly in the country; and it frequently happened that grandfathers and grandchildren had never seen the town: there were also country courts of justice, and other regulations, intended to make up for the advantages of a city life.(291) But even in the democratic states, as at Athens, there was among the people a constant struggle of feeling between the turbulent working of the democracy, and the peaceful inclination to their ancient country life. Chapter V.