Passage 4.1.3
πρὸ δὲ τῆς μάχης, ἣν Θηβαῖοι πρὸς Λακεδαιμονίους ἐμαχέσαντο ἐν Λεύκτροις, καὶ τοῦ οἰκισμοῦ Μεσσήνης τῆς ἐφʼ ἡμῶν ὑπὸ τῇ Ἰθώμῃ, πόλιν οὐδεμίαν πω κληθῆναι πρότερον δοκῶ Μεσσήνην· εἰκάζω δὲ οὐχ ἥκιστα Ὁμήρου τοῖς ἔπεσιν. ἐν μὲν γὰρ καταλόγῳ τῶν ἐς Ἴλιον ἀφικομένων Πύλον καὶ Ἀρήνην καὶ ἄλλας καταλέγων οὐδεμίαν πόλιν Μεσσήνην ἐκάλεσεν· ἐν Ὀδυσσείᾳ δὲ δηλοῖ μὲν καὶ ἐν τῷδε ἔθνος καὶ οὐ πόλιν τοὺς Μεσσηνίους ὄντας, μῆλα γὰρ ἐξ Ἰθάκης Μεσσήνιοι ἄνδρες ἄειραν, Hom. Od. 21.18
Before the battle which the Thebans fought against the Lacedaemonians at Leuctra, and before the founding in our time of Messene under Mount Ithome, I do not think any city had previously been called Messene. I base my opinion especially on the verses of Homer. For, whereas in the Catalogue of those who came to Ilium he mentions Pylos, Arene, and other places, he nowhere calls any city by the name of Messene. Further, in the Odyssey he clearly shows Messenians as a tribe but not a city, saying: "Messenians carried off sheep from Ithaca." (Hom. Od. 21.18)