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The commission with which you charged us, O holy man of God,
Theodore, we have executed in the five foregoing books; in which to
the best of our ability, we have comprised the history of the Church
from the time of Constantine. Notice, however, that we have been by
no means studious of style; for we considered that had we showed too
great fastidiousness about elegance of expression we might have defeated
the object in view. But even supposing our purpose could still have
been accomplished, we were wholly precluded from the exercise of that
discretionary power of which ancient historians seem to have so largely
availed themselves, whereby any one of them imagined himself quite at
liberty to amplify or curtail matters of fact. Moreover, refined
composition would by no means be edifying to the masses and illiterate
men, who are intent merely on knowing the facts, and not on admiring
beauty of diction. In order therefore not to render my production
unprofitable to both classes of readers,--to the learned on the one
hand, because no elaboration of language could satisfy them to rank it
with the magniloquence of the writers of antiquity, and to the
unlearned on the other, because they could not understand the facts,
should they be clouded by a parade of words,--we have purposely
adopted a style, divested indeed of all affectation of sublimity, but
at the same time clear and perspicuous.
As we begin, however, our sixth book, we must premise this, that in
undertaking to detail the events of our own age, we are apprehensive of
advancing such things as may be unpalatable to many: either because,
according to the proverb, 'Truth is bitter;' on account of our not
mentioning with encomium the names of those whom some may love; or from
our not magnifying their actions. The zealots of our churches will
condemn us for not calling the bishops 'Most dear to God,' 'Most
holy,' and such like. Others will be litigious because we do not
bestow the appellations 'Most divine,' and 'Lords' on the
emperors, nor apply to them such other epithets as they are commonly
assigned. But since I could easily prove from the testimony of
ancient authors, that among them the servant was accustomed to address
his master simply by name, without reference to his dignity or titles,
on account of the pressure of business, I shall in like manner obey
the laws of history, which demand a simple and faithful narration,
unobscured by a veil of any kind. I shall proceed to record accurately
what I have either myself seen, or have been able to ascertain from
actual observers; having tested the truth by the unanimity of the
witnesses that spoke of the same affairs, and by every means I could
possibly command. The process of ascertaining the truth was indeed
laborious, inasmuch as many and different persons gave different
accounts and some claimed to be eyewitnesses, while others professed to
be more intimately acquainted with these things than any others.
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