1He was also a great imitator of the custom of our ancestors and a lover of antiquity, which he knew so thoroughly that he set it out in full in the volume in which he arranged the magistrates in order. 2For there is no law or peace or war or notable event of the Roman people which is not recorded in it at its proper date, and, what was most difficult, he wove in the origins of families in such a way that from it we can learn the lineages of famous men. 3He did the same separately in other books, so that at the request of Marcus Brutus he listed in order the Junian family from its root to the present age, noting who was born of whom, what offices he had held and at what times: in the same way for Claudius Marcellus that of the Marcelli, and for Cornelius Scipio and Fabius Maximus that of the Fabii and the Aemilii.
4Nothing can be more delightful than these books to those who have some desire for knowledge of famous men. 5He also tried his hand at poetry, we believe, so as not to be without a taste of its charm. 5For in verse he gave an account of those who surpassed the rest of the Roman people in office and in the greatness of their deeds, in such a way that beneath the portraits of each he described their deeds and magistracies in no more than four or five lines: it is scarcely to be believed that such great matters could have been set out so briefly. 6There is also a single book composed in Greek, on Cicero's consulship.