13. The expansion of empires negated the arguments of Plato and Aristotle
Both Plato and his student Aristotle believed overburdening the state’s resources inevitably led to disaster. The state would be forced to engage in international commerce to survive, creating rivalries. Or it would be forced to engage in war to obtain additional resources (which brought with them an additional population). In either case, the continued growth of the population would create additional pressures on resources, and the cycle would continue. The only solution which was compatible with their views on virtue was restricting the size of the population to what existing resources could support.
Alexander’s conquests made large areas of land available for settlement, and Greeks from the city-states found new regions to occupy. The expansion gave more room for the population to expand into, and it did, many abandoning Greece. The lands of the city-states remained concentrated largely in the hands of the rich. Expanding empire replaced the small city-states and ended the argument, for a time, overpopulation control. The Romans later followed a similar model, after first engaging in similar arguments over the population within their lands.