 The treatment of the Peloponnesian War stresses the contrast between Sparta and Athens, with the obligatory quote from the Funeral Oration and a long passage from Thucydides' reflections of the moral damage done by the war.He emphasizes the nature of the Polis and developments in art and literature as political power waned in the fourth century.John E. Stambaugh stated "[t]he book is full of interesting digressions