§5.31.1μεθα τὴν ἐξήγησιν, καὶ πρῶτον ἐπιχειρήσομεν δηλοῦν κατὰ τὴν ἐξ ἀρχῆς πρόθεσιν τὸν ὑπὲρ Κοίλης Συρίας Ἀντιόχῳ καὶ Πτολεμαίῳ συστάντα πόλεμον, §5.31.2σαφῶς μὲν γινώσκοντες ὅτι κατὰ τὸν καιρὸν τοῦτον, εἰς ὃν ἐλήξαμεν τῶν Ἑλληνικῶν, ὅσον οὔπω κρίνεσθαι συνέβαινε καὶ πέρας λαμβάνειν αὐτόν, αἱρούμενοι δὲ τὴν τοιαύτην ἐπίστασιν καὶ διαίρεσιν τῆς ἐνεστώσης διηγήσεως.
...[we shall make] our account, and we shall first endeavor to make clear, in accordance with our original plan, the war that arose between Antiochus and Ptolemy for the possession of Coele-Syria, fully aware that at this very period, where we left off our Greek history, this war was on the point of being decided and brought to a conclusion, yet preferring such a pause and division in our present narrative.
§5.31.3τοῦ μὲν γὰρ μὴ τῆς τῶν κατὰ μέρος καιρῶν ἀκριβείας διαμαρτάνειν τοὺς ἀκούοντας ἱκανὴν τοῖς φιλομαθοῦσι πεπείσμεθα παρασκευάζειν ἐμπειρίαν ἐκ τοῦ τὰς ἑκάστων ἀρχὰς καὶ συντελείας παρυπομιμνήσκειν, καθʼ ὁποίους ἐγίνοντο καιροὺς τῆς ὑποκειμένης ὀλυμπιάδος καὶ τῶν Ἑλληνικῶν πράξεων·
For we are convinced that, to prevent our readers from losing the accuracy of the dates of particular events, we shall provide a sufficient understanding for those who are eager to learn by reminding them of the beginning and end of each transaction, and at what particular dates in the Olympiad under discussion and in the course of Greek affairs they occurred.
§5.31.4τὸ δʼ εὐπαρακολούθητον καὶ σαφῆ γίνεσθαι τὴν διήγησιν οὐδὲν ἀναγκαιότερον ἐπὶ ταύτης τῆς ὀλυμπιάδος ἡγούμεθʼ εἶναι τοῦ μὴ συμπλέκειν ἀλλήλαις τὰς πράξεις, ἀλλὰ χωρίζειν καὶ διαιρεῖν αὐτὰς καθʼ ὅσον ἐστὶ δυνατόν, §5.31.5μέχρις ἂν ἐπὶ τὰς ἑξῆς ὀλυμπιάδας ἐλθόντες κατʼ ἔτος ἀρξώμεθα γράφειν τὰς κατάλληλα γενομένας πράξεις.
But for this Olympiad, to make the narrative easy to follow and clear, we think nothing is more necessary than not to interlace the events with one another, but to separate and divide them as far as possible, until we reach the succeeding Olympiads and begin to write year by year the events that happened contemporaneously.
ἐπεὶ γὰρ οὐ τινά, §5.31.6τὰ δὲ παρὰ πᾶσι γεγονότα γράφειν προῃρήμεθα, καὶ σχεδὸν ὡς εἰπεῖν μεγίστῃ τῶν προγεγονότων ἐπιβολῇ κεχρήμεθα τῆς ἱστορίας, καθάπερ καὶ πρότερόν που δεδηλώκαμεν, §5.31.7δέον ἂν εἴη μεγίστην ἡμᾶς ποιεῖσθαι πρόνοιαν καὶ τοῦ χειρισμοῦ καὶ τῆς οἰκονομίας, ἵνα καὶ κατὰ μέρος καὶ καθόλου σαφὲς τὸ σύνταγμα γίνηται τῆς πραγματείας.
For since we have chosen to write not about some, but about the events that have occurred among all nations, and have embarked on what is, so to speak, almost the grandest undertaking in historical writing, as we have already declared elsewhere, it would be our duty to take the greatest care of both the treatment and the arrangement, so that the structure of the work may be clear both in detail and as a whole.
§5.31.8διὸ καὶ νῦν βραχὺ προσαναδραμόντες περὶ τῆς Ἀντιόχου καὶ Πτολεμαίου βασιλείας πειρασόμεθα λαμβάνειν ἀρχὰς ὁμολογουμένας καὶ γνωριζομένας περὶ τῶν λέγεσθαι μελλόντων, ὅπερ ἐστὶ πάντων ἀναγκαιό
Therefore, now also, retracing our steps a little into the reigns of Antiochus and Ptolemy, we shall endeavor to find an agreed and well-known starting point for what we are about to relate, which is the most necessary of all...