have always been certain that it was brought to completion only by
the power of God alone, and through those men whom he willed.
Likewise, the story undoubtedly was written down by whatever men,
even if uneducated, God willed. I am unable to doubt that He who
guided their steps through so many difficulties, who removed the many
military obstacles that lay before them, will implant within me, in
whatever manner he pleases, the truth about what happened, nor will
he deny to me the ability to choose the correct and fitting words. A
version of this same history, but woven out of excessively simple
words, often violating grammatical rules, exists, and it may often
bore the reader with the stale, flat quality of its language. It
works well enough for the less learned, who are not interested in the
quality of the diction, but only in the novelty of the story, nor is
it the case that the author should have spoken in a way that they do
not understand. Those, moreover, who think that honesty nourishes
eloquence, when they see that the words have been chosen less
carefully than the narrative demands, and that the story is told
briefly where the elaborate variety of mollifying[44] eloquence was
appropriate, when they see the narration proceed bare-footed, then,
as the poet says, they will either sleep or laugh.[45] They hate a
badly performed speech, which they judge should have been recited in
a much different way. The style of writers should fit the status of
the events: martial deeds should be told with harsh words; what
pertains to divine matters must be brought along at more controlled
pace. In the course of this work, if my ability is equal to the task,
I should perform in both modes, so that haughty Gradivus[46] may
find that his lofty crimes have been represented in matching words,
and, when piety is the subject, gravity is never violated by
excessive cleverness.[47] Even if I have been unable to follow these
standards, nevertheless I have learned to admire or praise for the