If there were other accounts writte

If there were other accounts written by contemporary historians, it would be instructive to compare them with Thucydides’ reporting, but, since these events have been recorded only by historian for whom Thucydides is the principal source, the usefulness of such comparisons is quite limited. What is clear, however, is that this episode, so fraught with consequence, merited the author’s full attention. The narrative that he makes of them may therefore show such distinctive characteristics as to provide all by itself a particularly clear and complete idea of his methodology. In this case, it can show how Thucydides selects and expresses certain facts that he wishes to retain, as well as how he organizes his narrative of them, in one particular in preference to any other.