Att. 18.1Mōris etiam maiōrum summus imitātor fuit antīquitātisque amātor, quam adeō dīligenter habuit cognitam, ut eam tōtam in eō volūmine exposuerit, quō magistrātūs ōrdināvit.He 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. Att. 18.2Nūlla enim lēx neque pāx neque bellum neque rēs illūstris est populī Rōmānī, quae nōn in eō suō tempore sit notāta, et, quod difficillimum fuit, sīc familiārum orīginem subtexuit, ut ex eō clārōrum virōrum prōpāginēs possīmus cognōscere.For 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. Att. 18.3Fēcit hoc idem sēparātim in aliīs librīs, ut M. Brūtī rogātū Iūniam familiam ā stirpe ad hanc aetātem ōrdine ēnumerāverit, notāns, quis ā quō ortus quōs honōrēs quibusque temporibus cēpisset: parī modō Mārcellī Claudiī Mārcellōrum, Scīpiōnis Cornēliī et Fabiī Maximī Fabiōrum et Aemiliōrum.He 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.
Att. 18.4Quibus librīs nihil potest esse dulcius iīs, quī aliquam cupiditātem habent nōtitiae clārōrum virōrum.Nothing can be more delightful than these books to those who have some desire for knowledge of famous men. Att. 18.5Attigit poēticēn quoque, crēdimus, nē eius expers esset suāvitātis.He also tried his hand at poetry, we believe, so as not to be without a taste of its charm. Att. 18.5Namque versibus dē iīs, quī honōre rērumque gestārum amplitūdine cēterōs populī Rōmānī praestitērunt, exposuit ita, ut sub singulōrum imāginibus facta magistrātūsque eōrum nōn amplius quaternīs quīnīsve versibus dēscrīpserit: quod vix crēdendum sit tantās rēs tam breviter potuisse dēclārārī.For 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. Att. 18.6Est etiam ūnus liber Graecē cōnfectus, dē cōnsulātū Cicerōnis.There is also a single book composed in Greek, on Cicero's consulship.