§1.4.1διόπερ ἡμεῖς ὁρῶντες ταύτην τὴν ὑπόθεσιν χρησιμωτάτην μὲν οὖσαν, πολλοῦ δὲ πόνου καὶ χρόνου προσδεομένην, τριάκοντα μὲν ἔτη περὶ αὐτὴν ἐπραγματεύθημεν, μετὰ δὲ πολλῆς κακοπαθείας καὶ κινδύνων ἐπήλθομεν πολλὴν τῆς τε Ἀσίας καὶ τῆς Εὐρώπης, ἵνα τῶν ἀναγκαιοτάτων καὶ πλείστων μερῶν αὐτόπται γενηθῶμεν· πολλὰ γὰρ παρὰ τὰς ἀγνοίας τῶν τόπων διήμαρτον οὐχ οἱ τυχόντες τῶν συγγραφέων, ἀλλά τινες καὶ τῶν τῇ δόξῃ πεπρωτευκότων.
Therefore, we, seeing that this undertaking was most useful, but required much labor and time, occupied ourselves with it for thirty years, and with much hardship and danger, we traveled over much of both Asia and Europe, in order that we might become eyewitnesses of the most necessary and numerous parts; for because of ignorance of the places, not only ordinary writers, but even some of those who held the first rank in reputation, made many errors.
§1.4.2ἀφορμῇ δὲ πρὸς τὴν ἐπιβολὴν ταύτην ἐχρησάμεθα μάλιστα μὲν τῇ πρὸς τὴν πραγματείαν ἐπιθυμίᾳ, διʼ ἣν πᾶσιν ἀνθρώποις τὸ δοκοῦν ἄπορον εἶναι τυγχάνει συντελείας, ἔπειτα καὶ τῇ ἐν Ῥώμῃ χορηγίᾳ τῶν πρὸς τὴν ὑποκειμένην ὑπόθεσιν ἀνηκόντων.
And as resources for this undertaking we used especially our desire for the treatise, through which that which seems to be impossible to all men happens to achieve completion, and next also the abundant supply in Rome of things belonging to the proposed subject.
§1.4.3ἡ γὰρ ταύτης τῆς πόλεως ὑπεροχή, διατείνουσα τῇ δυνάμει πρὸς τὰ πέρατα τῆς οἰκουμένης, ἑτοιμοτάτας καὶ πλείστας ἡμῖν ἀφορμὰς παρέσχετο παρεπιδημήσασιν ἐν αὐτῇ πλείω χρόνον.
For the preeminence of this city, extending in power to the limits of the inhabited world, provided us, who resided in it for a longer time, with the readiest and most numerous resources.
§1.4.4ἡμεῖς γὰρ ἐξ Ἀγυρίου τῆς Σικελίας ὄντες, καὶ διὰ τὴν ἐπιμιξίαν τοῖς ἐν τῇ νήσῳ πολλὴν ἐμπειρίαν τῆς Ῥωμαίων διαλέκτου περιπεποιμένοι, πάσας τὰς τῆς ἡγεμονίας ταύτης πράξεις ἀκριβῶς ἀνελάβομεν ἐκ τῶν παρʼ ἐκείνοις ὑπομνημάτων ἐκ πολλῶν χρόνων τετηρημένων.
For we, being from Agyrium of Sicily, and having acquired a great experience of the Roman dialect through our intercourse with those on the island, accurately took up all the deeds of this empire from the records preserved among them for many years.
§1.4.5πεποιήμεθα δὲ τὴν ἀρχὴν τῆς ἱστορίας ἀπὸ τῶν μυθολογουμένων παρʼ Ἕλλησί τε καὶ βαρβάροις, ἐξετάσαντες τὰ παρʼ ἑκάστοις ἱστορούμενα κατὰ τοὺς ἀρχαίους χρόνους, ἐφʼ ὅσον ἡμῖν δύναμις.
And we have made the beginning of the history from the myths told among both Greeks and barbarians, having examined the things recorded among each down to the ancient times, as far as lay in our power.
§1.4.6ἐπεὶ δʼ ἡ μὲν ὑπόθεσις ἔχει τέλος, αἱ βίβλοι δὲ μέχρι τοῦ νῦν ἀνέκδοτοι τυγχάνουσιν οὖσαι, βούλομαι βραχέα προδιορίσαι περὶ ὅλης τῆς πραγματείας.
But since the undertaking has an end, while the books happen to be unpublished until now, I wish to define briefly beforehand concerning the whole treatise.
τῶν γὰρ βίβλων ἡμῖν ἓξ μὲν αἱ πρῶται περιέχουσι τὰς πρὸ τῶν Τρωικῶν πράξεις καὶ μυθολογίας, καὶ τούτων αἱ μὲν προηγούμεναι τρεῖς τὰς βαρβαρικάς, αἱ δʼ ἑξῆς σχεδὸν τὰς τῶν Ἑλλήνων ἀρχαιολογίας· ἐν δὲ ταῖς μετὰ ταύτας ἕνδεκα τὰς ἀπὸ τῶν Τρωικῶν κοινὰς πράξεις ἀναγεγράφαμεν ἕως τῆς Ἀλεξάνδρου τελευτῆς· §1.4.7ἐν δὲ ταῖς ἑξῆς εἴκοσι καὶ τρισὶ βίβλοις τὰς λοιπὰς ἁπάσας κατετάξαμεν μέχρι τῆς ἀρχῆς τοῦ συστάντος πολέμου Ῥωμαίοις πρὸς Κελτούς, καθʼ ὃν ἡγούμενος Γάιος Ἰούλιος Καῖσαρ ὁ διὰ τὰς πράξεις προσαγορευθεὶς θεὸς κατεπολέμησε μὲν τὰ πλεῖστα καὶ μαχιμώτατα τῶν Κελτῶν ἔθνη, προεβίβασε δὲ τὴν ἡγεμονίαν τῆς Ῥώμης μέχρι τῶν Βρεττανικῶν νήσων· τούτου δʼ αἱ πρῶται πράξεις ἐπετελέσθησαν ὀλυμπιάδος τῆς ἑκατοστῆς καὶ ὀγδοηκοστῆς κατὰ τὸ πρῶτον ἔτος ἐπʼ ἄρχοντος Ἀθήνησιν Ἡρώδου.
For of our books, the first six contain the deeds and myths before the Trojan War, and of these, the preceding three contain the barbarian history, and the next three almost the antiquities of the Greeks; and in the eleven books after these, we have recorded the common deeds from the Trojan War down to the death of Alexander; and in the next twenty-three books, we have arranged all the remaining deeds down to the beginning of the war that arose between the Romans and the Celts, in which Gaius Julius Caesar, who was leader and was called a god because of his deeds, subdued most of the most warlike nations of the Celts, and advanced the empire of Rome as far as the British Isles; and his first deeds were performed in the first year of the hundred and eightieth Olympiad, when Herodes was archon in Athens.