Sparta also employed another tactic to protect herself – the Peloponnesean League, which was built up in the mid to late sixth century B.C. Using the armies of allies to leverage her own offered to act as a safety value to lower the pressure of the Helots.
But it wasn’t always a case of diplomacy, because we can see Sparta avoiding war too. One suspects there was more to the late arrival at Marathon and the unwillingness to command the forces of libration in 479 B.C, than merely missed appointments. Ultimately, this kind of equivocation would embolden Athens and lead to the Peloponnesean War.