§8.60.1Μάρκιος μὲν δὴ τοιαύτης καταστροφῆς ἔτυχεν, ἀνὴρ καὶ τὰ πολέμια ἄριστος τῶν καθʼ ἡλικίαν καὶ πρὸς ἁπάσας τὰς ἡδονάς, ὅσαι ἄρχουσι νέων, ἐγκρατής, τά τε δίκαια οὐκ ἀπὸ νόμου μᾶλλον ἀνάγκης διὰ τιμωριῶν δέος ἀκούσιος ἀποδιδούς, ἀλλʼ ἑκών τε καὶ πεφυκὼς πρὸς αὐτὰ εὖ, καὶ οὐδʼ ἐν ἀρετῆς μοίρᾳ τὸ μηθὲν ἀδικεῖν τιθέμενος, οὐ μόνον τʼ αὐτὸς ἁγνεύειν ἀπὸ πάσης κακίας προθυμούμενος, ἀλλὰ καὶ τοὺς ἄλλους προσαναγκάζειν δικαιῶν·
Marcius, then, met with such an end, a man who was the best of his contemporaries in military affairs, and temperate against all the pleasures that rule over young men; rendering justice not reluctantly from the compulsion of law through fear of punishments, but both willingly and being naturally well-disposed toward it, and not even placing the doing of no injustice in the category of virtue, and not only desiring himself to keep pure from all vice, but also deeming it right to compel others to do so.
§8.60.2μεγαλόφρων τε καὶ δωρηματικὸς καὶ εἰς ἐπανόρθωσιν ὧν ἑκάστῳ δέοι τῶν φίλων, ὁπότε γνοίη, προχειρότατος, τά τε πολιτικὰ πράττειν οὐδενὸς χείρων τῶν ἀριστοκρατικῶν·
He was magnanimous and generous, and most ready for the relief of what each of his friends might need whenever he perceived it, and in conducting public affairs inferior to none of the aristocrats.
καὶ εἰ μὴ τὸ στασιάζον τῆς πόλεως ἐμποδὼν αὐτοῦ τοῖς πολιτεύμασιν ἐγένετο, μεγίστην ἂν ἡ Ῥωμαίων πόλις ἐπίδοσιν εἰς ἡγεμονίαν ἐκ τῶν ἐκείνου πολιτευμάτων ἔλαβεν.
And if the factional strife of the state had not stood in the way of his policies, the city of the Romans would have received the greatest advance toward hegemony from his policies.
ἀλλʼ οὐ γὰρ ἐν δυνατῷ ἦν ἅμα πάσας τὰς ἀρετὰς ἐν ἀνθρώπου γενέσθαι φύσει, οὐδὲ φύσεταί τις ἀπὸ θνητῶν καὶ ἐπικήρων σπερμάτων περὶ πάντʼ ἀγαθός.
But indeed it was not possible for all the virtues to exist at the same time in human nature, nor will anyone be born from mortal and perishable seeds who is good in all respects.