The Spartan Position in the War of Athens

Thucydides tells us he had to at times summarize what was said and compile these speeches from multiple sources or to take liberties, but that what he reports is overall in the spirit of what Pericles said. Now, even though Sparta has ravaged Attica, the Spartan position at this point in the war is deceptively weak. The Athenians with their naval power were able to effectively blockade the Peloponnesian Peninsula and stop any foreign trade from coming to Sparta. During the winter, the Spartans therefore had to return to harvest their grains, or else the entirety of their lands would starve. Thus, owing to how they'd prepared themselves before the war, the land