This principle operates in two ways

This principle operates in two ways. First, it requires of the author greater subtlety in the development of the account, forcing him to load every detail with meaning in order for his judgment to be understood. But it also widens, to the same extent, the field of possibilities: he may express in his own voice opinions or isolated theories, but not an infinite number of them; once those opinions and theories procced from the facts themselves, however, their number is no longer limited; they can intertwine, merge, combine, as far as the author stretches his thinking and his interest in detail. The account of the Sicilian expedition is undoubtedly one of those where this elaboration has been pushed the furthest: book 8. on the other hand, is one of those with the least elaboration; while those events may seem more obscure than they do elsewhere, the personal commentaries are also more numerous. But elaboration makes commentary superfluous.