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.