This need not in itself be surprising if the speeches of Thucydides are, as many believe, fairly free compositions, but it is difficult to explain the immediate irrelevances of [P] in particular on any view of
, if this is what Thucydides is claiming to give us (1. 22. 1). As the effect of the foregoing analysis is to suggest that the generalization forms an important part of Thucydides’ ‘historical’ technique, it would be interesting to pursue the extent to which the emphasis should in 1. 22. 1 be placed on
, if these can possibly be ‘generalizations’ as opposed to the usual translation as ‘particular occasions’.