Tristram Shandy tells us not just the story of his life, but the story of his conception and the events leading up to his birth as well. He wants to make it very clear that the circumstances of his life were predetermined and out of his control, and the only way he could do that is by telling the readers of what took place prior to his birth. Tristram acknowledges this early in Volume I when he says “For which cause, right glad I am, that I have begun the history of myself in the way I have done; and that I am able to go on tracing every thing in it, as Horace says, ab Ovo.” ( Vol I, Chapter IV, pg.8). After following the footnote, ab ovo was explained as “from the birth of Helen, from Leda’s egg”. It was also explained by the footnote that Horace was against the idea of telling a story ab ovo so it seemed like Tristram was mocking Horace. This helped me further understand the passage. Tristram wanted to tell his story from the very beginning and it did not really matter to him if there were people that were against that type of story telling. He goes so in depth that at one point in this chapter he tells the readers that aren’t interested in the events prior to his birth to skip over the rest of the chapter. “To such, however, as do not choose to go so far back into these things, I can give no better advice, than that they skip over the remaining parts of this chapter.” ( Vol I, Chapter IV, pg.8). It almost seems like a joke that he would tell his readers to skip this passage but this just further shows how much he cares about telling the full story of his life, ab ovo. He doesn’t care if some of the readers skip through that passage as long as the story of his birth and conception are fully detailed.