Outcomes come by reason, law, fate, or chance
Proem. The issues of affairs — births and destructions, alterations and healings — come by reason, or by law, or by fate, or by chance. It is good to know each of these, gathering from them all a varied profit that bears fruit: a cure for suffering, or a hidden history, or the beauty of speech. These things, in what has gone before and in what follows, have been achieved, as I think, according to my own modest measure.
Greek
<Προοίμιον> Κατὰ λόγον ἢ νόμον ἢ εἱμαρμένην ἢ τύχην αἱ τῶν πραγμάτων ἐκβάσεις, ἐπιγοναὶ καὶ φθοραί, ἀλλοιώσεις καὶ ἰάματ<α>· ὧν ἕκαστον καλὸν εἰδέναι, συναγαγόντας ἐκ πάντων ὠφέλειαν ποικίλην καρπουμένην, θεραπείαν παθῶν ἢ ἱστορίαν ἀπόρρητον ἢ λόγου κάλλος· ἅπερ ἔν τε τοῖς φθάνουσι καὶ τοῖς ἑπομένοις, ὥς γε οἶμαι, κατὰ τὸ ἐμαυτοῦ μέτριον κατώρθωται.