diff --git a/src/borg/archiver.py b/src/borg/archiver.py
index 66a2e62d5..31b1f59dd 100644
--- a/src/borg/archiver.py
+++ b/src/borg/archiver.py
@@ -2616,9 +2616,9 @@ class Archiver:
 
         group = filters_group.add_mutually_exclusive_group()
         group.add_argument('--first', dest='first', metavar='N', default=0, type=int,
-                           help='consider first N archives after other filter args were applied')
+                           help='consider first N archives after other filters were applied')
         group.add_argument('--last', dest='last', metavar='N', default=0, type=int,
-                           help='consider last N archives after other filter args were applied')
+                           help='consider last N archives after other filters were applied')
 
     def get_args(self, argv, cmd):
         """usually, just returns argv, except if we deal with a ssh forced command for borg serve."""
@@ -2687,10 +2687,6 @@ class Archiver:
             raise Error('The options --first, --last and --prefix can only be used on repository targets.')
 
         archives = manifest.archives.list(prefix=args.prefix)
-        if not archives:
-            logger.critical('There are no archives.')
-            self.exit_code = self.exit_code or EXIT_WARNING
-            return []
 
         for sortkey in reversed(args.sort_by.split(',')):
             archives.sort(key=attrgetter(sortkey))
diff --git a/src/borg/helpers.py b/src/borg/helpers.py
index 541c832eb..4c6b939cf 100644
--- a/src/borg/helpers.py
+++ b/src/borg/helpers.py
@@ -143,8 +143,9 @@ class Archives(abc.MutableMapping):
         del self._archives[name]
 
     def list(self, sort_by=None, reverse=False, prefix=''):
-        """ Inexpensive Archive.list_archives replacement if we just need .name, .id, .ts
-            Returns list of borg.helpers.ArchiveInfo instances
+        """
+        Inexpensive Archive.list_archives replacement if we just need .name, .id, .ts
+        Returns list of borg.helpers.ArchiveInfo instances
         """
         archives = [x for x in self.values() if x.name.startswith(prefix)]
         if sort_by is not None:
diff --git a/src/borg/testsuite/archiver.py b/src/borg/testsuite/archiver.py
index 68e9e7b72..cb79d6b24 100644
--- a/src/borg/testsuite/archiver.py
+++ b/src/borg/testsuite/archiver.py
@@ -1826,7 +1826,6 @@ class ArchiverTestCase(ArchiverTestCaseBase):
         self.cmd('create', self.repository_location + '::test', 'input')
         self.cmd('delete', '--first', '1', '--last', '1', self.repository_location, fork=True, exit_code=2)
 
-
     def test_key_export_keyfile(self):
         export_file = self.output_path + '/exported'
         self.cmd('init', self.repository_location, '--encryption', 'keyfile')