§1.7.1ἀποδεδωκὼς δὲ τὸν ὑπὲρ τῆς προαιρέσεως λόγον ἔτι βούλομαι καὶ περὶ τῶν ἀφορμῶν εἰπεῖν, αἷς ἐχρησάμην ὅτʼ ἔμελλον ἐπιχειρεῖν τῇ γραφῇ·
Having rendered the account concerning my choice, I still wish also to speak about the resources which I used when I was about to undertake the writing.
ἴσως γὰρ οἱ προανεγνωκότες Ἱερώνυμον ἢ Τίμαιον ἢ Πολύβιον ἢ τῶν ἄλλων τινὰ συγγραφέων, ὑπὲρ ὧν ἐποιησάμην λόγον ὀλίγῳ πρότερον ὡς ἐπισεσυρκότων τὴν γραφήν, πολλὰ τῶν ὑπʼ ἐμοῦ γραφομένων οὐχ εὑρηκότες παρʼ ἐκείνοις κείμενα σχεδιάζειν υπολήψονταί με καὶ πόθεν ἡ τούτων γνῶσις εἰς ἐμὲ παραγέγονεν ἀξιώσουσι μαθεῖν.
For perhaps those who have previously read Hieronymus, or Timaeus, or Polybius, or any of the other historians concerning whom I made mention a little earlier as having treated their writing cursorily, not finding many of the things written by me set down in their works, will suppose that I am inventing, and will demand to learn from what source the knowledge of these things has come to me.
ἵνα δὴ μὴ τοιαύτη δόξα παραστῇ τισι περὶ ἐμοῦ, βέλτιον ἀφʼ ὧν ὡρμήθην λόγων τε καὶ §1.7.2ὑπομνηματισμῶν προειπεῖν.
In order, then, that no such opinion may present itself to any concerning me, it is better to state beforehand from what accounts and records I started.
ἐγὼ καταπλεύσας εἰς Ἰταλίαν ἅμα τῷ καταλυθῆναι τὸν ἐμφύλιον πόλεμον ὑπὸ τοῦ Σεβαστοῦ Καίσαρος ἑβδόμης καὶ ὀγδοηκοστῆς καὶ ἑκατοστῆς ὀλυμπιάδος μεσούσης, καὶ τὸν ἐξ ἐκείνου χρόνον ἐτῶν δύο καὶ εἴκοσι μέχρι τοῦ παρόντος γενόμενον ἐν Ῥώμῃ διατρίψας, διάλεκτόν τε τὴν Ῥωμαϊκὴν ἐκμαθὼν καὶ γραμμάτων τῶν ἐπιχωρίων λαβὼν ἐπιστήμην, ἐν παντὶ τούτῳ τῷ χρόνῳ τὰ συντείνοντα πρὸς τὴν ὑπόθεσιν ταύτην διετέλουν πραγματευόμενος.
I, having sailed down to Italy at the time when the civil war was brought to an end by Augustus Caesar, in the middle of the hundred and eighty-seventh Olympiad, and having spent the time from then until the present, which has become twenty-two years, in Rome, both having thoroughly learned the Roman language and having acquired knowledge of the local writings, during all this time I continued busy with matters tending towards this subject.
§1.7.3καὶ τὰ μὲν παρὰ τῶν λογιωτάτων ἀνδρῶν, οἷς εἰς ὁμιλίαν ἦλθον, διδαχῇ παραλαβὼν, τὰ δʼ ἐκ τῶν ἱστοριῶν ἀναλεξάμενος, ἃς οἱ πρὸς αὐτῶν ἐπαινούμενοι Ῥωμαίων συνέγραψαν Πόρκιός τε Κάτων καὶ Φάβιος Μάξιμος καὶ Οὐαλέριος ὁ Ἀντιεὺς καὶ Λικίνιος Μάκερ Αἴλιοί τε καὶ Γέλλιοι καὶ Καλπούρνιοι καὶ ἕτεροι συχνοὶ πρὸς τούτοις ἄνδρες οὐκ ἀφανεῖς, ἀπʼ ἐκείνων ὁρμώμενος τῶν πραγματειῶν ʽεἰσὶ δὲ ταῖς Ἑλληνικαῖς χρονογραφίαις ἐοικυῖαἰ, τότε ἐπεχείρησα τῇ γραφῇ.
And receiving some things by instruction from the most learned men, with whom I came into conversation, and gathering other things from the histories which those Romans who are praised by themselves wrote—Porcius Cato, Fabius Maximus, Valerius Antias, Licinius Macer, the Aelii, the Gellii, the Calpurnii, and many other distinguished men besides these—starting from those works (which are similar to the Greek chronographies), I then undertook the writing.
§1.7.4ταῦτα μὲν οὖν ὑπὲρ ἐμαυτοῦ διείλεγμαι.
These things, then, I have discussed concerning myself.
λοιπὸν ἔτι δέ μοι καὶ περὶ τῆς ἱστορίας αὐτῆς προειπεῖν, τίσι τε αὐτὴν περιλαμβάνω χρόνοις καὶ περὶ τίνων ποιοῦμαι πραγμάτων τὴν διήγησιν καὶ ποταπὸν ἀποδίδωμι τὸ σχῆμα τῇ πραγματείᾳ.
It remains for me yet to speak beforehand also concerning the history itself, within what times I include it, and concerning what matters I make the narrative, and what form I give to the work.