they sent out a colony to an island in the Aegean Sea, Melos,

曾在爱琴海上的岛屿米洛斯殖民
and then they stopped and

然后他们的殖民活动戛然而止
never sent out another colony.

并从未再开始
Finally, Thebes,

最后底比斯
the greatest city in Boeotia, also does not colonize.

皮奥夏地区最伟大的城市也未殖民
So what can we speculate is the meaning of that?

那么我们可以从这里推测出什么呢
What we find is that the states who are doing most of the colonizing

我们发现殖民行为最多的地区
are located where most of the trade was going on at this point in history,

地处当时贸易最频繁的区域
and also most of the manufacturing.

同时那里也是制造业最发达的地方
When I say manufacturing, you understand everything is done by hand,

你应明白我所说的制造业是指手工业
but you see things like shops

但也包括
that contain a number of slaves working for a master.

若干奴隶为主人工作的作坊