20. and further the wars against Antiochus Epiphanes, and Eupator his son,
21. and the manifestations that came from heaven to those that vied with one another in manful deeds for the religion of the Jews; so that, being but a few, they rescued the whole country, and chased the barbarous multitudes,
22. and recovered again the temple renowned all the world over, and freed the city, and restored the laws which were like to be overthrown, seeing the Lord became gracious to them with all forbearance:
23. these things, I say, which have been declared by Jason of Cyrene in five books, we will assay to abridge in one work.
24. For having in view the confused mass of the numbers, and the difficulty which awaits them that would enter into the narratives of the history, by reason of the abundance of the matter,
25. we were careful that they who choose to read may be attracted, and that they who wish well to our cause may find it easy to recall what we have written, and that all readers may have profit.
26. And although to us, who have taken upon us the painful labor of the abridgement, the task is not easy, but a matter of sweat and watching
27. (even as it is no light thing to him that prepares a banquet, and seeks the benefit of others); yet for the sake of the gratitude of the many we will gladly endure the painful labor,
28. leaving to the historian the exact handling of every particular, and again having no strength to fill in the outlines of our abridgement.
29. For as the masterbuilder of a new house must care for the whole structure, and again he that undertakes to decorate and paint it must seek out the things fit for the adorning thereof; even so I think it is also with us.
30. To occupy the ground, and to indulge in long discussions, and to be curious in particulars, becomes the first author of the history:
31. but to strive after brevity of expression, and to avoid a laboured fulness in the treatment, is to be granted to him that would bring a writing into a new form.