§18.1Moris etiam maiorum summus imitator fuit antiquitatisque amator, quam adeo diligenter habuit cognitam, ut eam totam in eo volumine exposuerit, quo magistratus ordinavit.
He was also a great imitator of ancestral custom and a lover of antiquity, which he had so diligently made himself master of that he set it all forth in that volume in which he arranged the magistracies.
§18.2nulla enim lex neque pax neque bellum neque res illustris est populi Romani, quae non in eo suo tempore sit notata, et, quod difficillimum fuit, sic familiarum originem subtexuit, ut ex eo clarorum virorum propagines possimus cognoscere.
For there is no law, nor peace, nor war, nor illustrious deed of the Roman people, which is not recorded in it at its proper time; and, what was most difficult, he so wove in the origin of families that from it we can learn the lineages of famous men.
§18.3fecit hoc idem separatim in aliis libris, ut M. Bruti rogatu Iuniam familiam a stirpe ad hanc aetatem ordine enumeraverit, notans, quis a quo ortus quos honores quibusque temporibus cepisset: §18.4pari modo Marcelli Claudii Marcellorum, Scipionis Cornelii et Fabii Maximi Fabiorum et Aemiliorum.
He did this same thing separately in other books, so that, at the request of Marcus Brutus, he enumerated the Junian family in order from its root to the present age, noting who was descended from whom, and what offices they had held and at what times; in like manner, [at the request] of Claudius Marcellus, [the family] of the Marcelli, [and at the request] of Cornelius Scipio and Fabius Maximus, [the families] of the Fabii and the Aemilii.
quibus libris nihil potest esse dulcius iis, qui aliquam cupiditatem habent notitiae clarorum virorum.
Than which books nothing can be more agreeable to those who have any desire for knowledge of famous men.
§18.5attigit poeticen quoque, credimus, ne eius expers esset suavitatis.
He also touched upon poetry, we believe, so that he might not be without its sweetness.
namque versibus de iis, qui honore rerumque gestarum amplitudine ceteros populi Romani praestiterunt, exposuit ita, ut sub singulorum imaginibus facta magistratusque eorum non amplius quaternis quinisve versibus descripserit: §18.6quod vix credendum sit tantas res tam breviter potuisse declarari.
For in verse he set forth [the praises] of those who surpassed the rest of the Roman people in honor and the greatness of their exploits, in such a way that under the portraits of each he described their deeds and offices in no more than four or five verses each; which is scarcely to be believed, that such great matters could have been declared so briefly.
est etiam unus liber Graece confectus, de consulatu Ciceronis.
There is also one book written in Greek, on the consulship of Cicero.