The most instructive conclusions of the history of the Greek nation are nothing other than the selection and summary, which is the correction of events, which I have narrated more extensively in my five-volume history. The only purpose of this work is to justify the saying of Macaulay, that selecting and summarizing events is an art that requires much study. I have avoided innovations and idiosyncratic doctrines, because, as I pointed out in the preface to this work regarding our medieval history, all these things are sometimes very unreliable. In our ancestors of the medieval times, the name of the Byzantines is often attributed, but they themselves never called themselves Byzantines. It is true, indeed, that in the 5th century, according to Guido and Photius, Priscus wrote Byzantine History, and Malchus wrote Byzantina; but from the titles of these histories, it can be inferred that they were more about the city of Byzantium rather than the entire Byzantine state. It is certain, however, that we were first and only called Byzantines by the Westerners. [...]
(from the preface of the book)