I was able to narrow this question down to options B and D, dismissing the others as follows: A) Nothing is being DEFENDED here, the author opinion is conspicuously absent C) THEORETICAL POINTS OF DISAGREEMENT are not explored, and the introduction of GOALS is not mentioned in the text; additionally...

I'm not clear why A wouldn't strengthen, as it seems to reinforce the historians' point that "little documentation... survives from the time of his reign." I took that to emphasize that a greater percentage of the documentation shaping our perception of Caligula's rule was handed down to u...