Of course, the event described is a particular one, but its significance tends to become general. Similarly, a line might depict a mathematical formula, have a universal value, and be necessary in all its points, without ever ceasing to be a given design, or even to define the shape of a given object.Thucydides proceeds to do the opposite: he sketches an object and reduces it to its essence so well that his draft seems more like a blueprint; Thibaudet (1990) has expressed this repeatedly. This important truth is both truth and clarity: it is what Thucydides calls to ooxpés.23."Clarity" here is the fruit of an active and discerning intellect. Yet Cardinal de Retz also treated historical facts in an intelligent way; Tacitus as well. Thucydides' way was entirely different; for him it was less one of intelligence than one of reasoning