§1.5.1τῶν δὲ χρόνων τούτων περιειλημμένων ἐν ταύτῃ τῇ πραγματείᾳ τοὺς μὲν πρὸ τῶν Τρωικῶν οὐ διοριζόμεθα βεβαίως διὰ τὸ μηδὲν παράπηγμα παρειληφέναι περὶ τούτων πιστευόμενον, ἀπὸ δὲ τῶν Τρωικῶν ἀκολούθως Ἀπολλοδώρῳ τῷ Ἀθηναίῳ τίθεμεν ὀγδοήκοντʼ ἔτη πρὸς τὴν κάθοδον τῶν Ἡρακλειδῶν, ἀπὸ δὲ ταύτης ἐπὶ τὴν πρώτην ὀλυμπιάδα δυσὶ λείποντα τῶν τριακοσίων καὶ τριάκοντα, συλλογιζόμενοι τοὺς χρόνους ἀπὸ τῶν ἐν Λακεδαίμονι βασιλευσάντων, ἀπὸ δὲ τῆς πρώτης ὀλυμπιάδος εἰς τὴν ἀρχὴν τοῦ Κελτικοῦ πολέμου, ἣν τελευτὴν πεπονήμεθα τῆς ἱστορίας, ἑπτακόσια καὶ τριάκοντα· ὥστε τὴν ὅλην πραγματείαν ἡμῶν τετταράκοντα βίβλων οὖσαν περιέχειν ἔτη δυσὶ λείποντα τῶν χιλίων ἑκατὸν τετταράκοντα χωρὶς τῶν χρόνων τῶν περιεχόντων τὰς πρὸ τῶν Τρωικῶν πράξεις.
Of these times embraced in this treatise, those before the Trojan war we do not determine with certainty, because we have received no credible chronological table concerning them, but from the Trojan war, following Apollodorus the Athenian, we place eighty years to the return of the Heracleidae, and from this to the first Olympiad, three hundred and twenty-eight years (lacking two of three hundred and thirty), calculating the times from those who reigned in Lacedaemon, and from the first Olympiad to the beginning of the Celtic war, which we have made the end of our history, seven hundred and thirty years; so that our whole treatise, being of forty books, embraces one thousand one hundred and thirty-eight years (lacking two of one thousand one hundred and forty), apart from the times containing the deeds before the Trojan war.
§1.5.2ταῦτα μὲν οὖν ἀκριβῶς προδιωρισάμεθα, βουλόμενοι τοὺς μὲν ἀναγινώσκοντας εἰς ἔννοιαν ἀγαγεῖν τῆς ὅλης προθέσεως, τοὺς δὲ διασκευάζειν εἰωθότας τὰς βίβλους ἀποτρέψαι τοῦ λυμαίνεσθαι τὰς ἀλλοτρίας πραγματείας.
These things, then, we have precisely defined beforehand, wishing on the one hand to bring the readers to a conception of the whole purpose, and on the other hand to deter those who are accustomed to alter books from spoiling the treatises of others.
ἡμῖν δὲ παρʼ ὅλην τὴν ἱστορίαν τὰ μὲν γραφέντα καλῶς μὴ μετεχέτω φθόνου, τὰ δὲ ἀγνοηθέντα τυγχανέτω διορθώσεως ὑπὸ τῶν δυνατωτέρων.
And for us, throughout the whole history, let what is well written not share in envy, and let what has been overlooked meet with correction by more capable men.
§1.5.3διεληλυθότες δὲ ὑπὲρ ὧν προῃρούμεθα, τὴν ἐπαγγελίαν τῆς γραφῆς βεβαιοῦν ἐγχειρήσομεν.
And having gone through those things which we purposed, we shall attempt to make good the promise of our writing.
περὶ μὲν οὖν θεῶν τίνας ἐννοίας ἔσχον οἱ πρῶτοι
Now, concerning the gods, what conceptions the first men held...