§5.32.1τατον.
-t.
οἱ μὲν γὰρ ἀρχαῖοι τὴν ἀρχὴν ἥμισυ τοῦ παντὸς εἶναι φάσκοντες μεγίστην παρῄνουν ποιεῖσθαι σπουδὴν ἐν ἑκάστοις ὑπὲρ τοῦ καλῶς ἄρξασθαι· §5.32.2δοκοῦντες δὴ λέγειν ὑπερβολικῶς ἐλλιπέστερόν μοι φαίνονται τῆς ἀληθείας εἰρηκέναι.
For the ancients, asserting that the beginning is half of the whole, exhorted us to take the greatest care in every matter to make a good beginning. Indeed, while they seem to speak hyperbolically, they appear to me to have fallen short of the truth.
θαρρῶν γὰρ ἄν τις εἴπειεν οὐχ ἥμισυ τὴν ἀρχὴν εἶναι τοῦ παντός, ἀλλὰ καὶ πρὸς τὸ τέλος διατείνειν. §5.32.3πῶς γὰρ ἄρξασθαί τινος καλῶς οἷόν τε μὴ προπεριλαβόντα τῷ νῷ τὴν συντέλειαν τῆς ἐπιβολῆς μηδὲ γινώσκοντα ποῦ καὶ πρὸς τί καὶ τίνος χάριν ἐπιβάλλεται τοῦτο ποιεῖν; §5.32.4πῶς δὲ πάλιν οἷόν τε συγκεφαλαιώσασθαι πράγματα δεόντως μὴ συναναφέροντα τὴν ἀρχὴν πόθεν ἢ πῶς ἢ διὰ τί πρὸς τὰς ἐνεστώσας ἀφῖκται πράξεις; §5.32.5διόπερ οὐχ ἕως τοῦ μέσου νομίζοντας διατείνειν τὰς ἀρχάς, ἀλλʼ ἕως τοῦ τέλους, πλείστην περὶ ταύτας ποιητέον σπουδὴν καὶ τοὺς λέγοντας καὶ τοὺς ἀκούοντας περὶ τῶν ὅλων.
For one might confidently assert that the beginning is not merely half of the whole, but that it reaches even to the end. For how is it possible to make a good beginning of anything without having first grasped in the mind the completion of the undertaking, and without knowing where, to what, and for what purpose one is setting about to do this? And on the other hand, how is it possible to summarize events properly without referring them back to the beginning, showing from what source, how, or why they have arrived at the present situation? Therefore, in the belief that beginnings extend not merely to the middle but to the very end, both those who write and those who read general history must pay the greatest attention to them.
ὃ δὴ καὶ νῦν ἡμεῖς πειρασόμεθα ποιεῖν.
This is precisely what we shall now endeavor to do.