Thucydides' normal confidence in th

Thucydides' normal confidence in the assessment of motives and strategies, moreover, gives way to a more meditative approach. In the earlier books Thucydides was "determined to do all the work himself and to present only the finished product to the public, as the artist does. Wren showed St. Paul's Cathedral to the world, not his plans for it; so does the painter his picture; so did Pheidias his sculpture." But now he seems to think out loud and invite the reader to analyze alternative explanations with him, often labeling his conclusions as one man's opinion. We are invited into Thucydides' study and allowed to watch him making up his mind. In chapter 87 for example, he deals with the question of why Tissaphernes, when he had at his disposal 147 Phoenician ships, in addition to other forces, refused to engage the Athenian navy. Elsewhere in the work we might have found a simple statement of Thucydides' conclusion, presented as fact. Here we witness the weighing of the evidence: