[5,18] Ἰούνιος μὲν δὴ Βροῦτος ὁ τὴν βασιλείαν ἐκβαλὼν καὶ πρῶτος ἀποδειχθεὶς ὕπατος, ὀψὲ μὲν εἰς ἐπιφάνειαν προελθών, ἀκαρῆ δὲ χρόνον ἀνθήσας ἐν αὐτῇ Ῥωμαίων ἁπάντων κράτιστος φανεὶς τοιαύτης τελευτῆς ἔτυχε, γενεὰν οὔτε ἄρρενα καταλιπὼν οὔτε θήλειαν, ὡς οἱ τὰ Ῥωμαίων σαφέστατα ἐξητακότες γράφουσι, τεκμήρια πολλὰ μὲν καὶ ἄλλα τούτου φέροντες, ὑπὲρ ἅπαντα δ´ ὃ δυσαντίλεκτόν ἐστιν, ὅτι τοῦ πατρικίων γένους ἐκεῖνος ἦν, οἱ δ´ ἀπ´ ἐκείνης αὑτοὺς λέγοντες εἶναι τῆς οἰκίας Ἰούνιοί τε καὶ Βροῦτοι πάντες ἦσαν πλήβειοι καὶ τὰς ἀρχὰς μετῄεσαν, ἃς τοῖς δημοτικοῖς μετιέναι νόμος, ἀγορανομίας τε καὶ δημαρχίας, ὑπατείαν δ´ οὐδείς, ἧς τοῖς πατρικίοις μετῆν. ὀψὲ δέ ποτε καὶ ταύτης ἔτυχον τῆς ἀρχῆς, ὅτε συνεχωρήθη καὶ τοῖς δημοτικοῖς αὐτὴν λαβεῖν. ἀλλ´ ὑπὲρ μὲν τούτων οἷς μέλει τε καὶ διαφέρει τὸ σαφὲς εἰδέναι παρίημι σκοπεῖν.

[5,18] Such, then, was the death of Junius Brutus, who overthrew the monarchy and was appointed the first consul. Though he attained late to a place of distinction and flourished in it but a brief moment, yet he was looked upon as the greatest of all the Romans. He left no issue, either sons or daughters, according to the writers who have investigated the history of the Romans most accurately; of this they offer many proofs, and this one in particular, which is not easily refuted, that he was of a patrician family, whereas those who have claimed to be descended from that family, as the Junii and Bruti, were all plebeians and were candidates for those magistracies only which were open by law to the plebeians, namely, the aedileship and tribuneship, but none of them stood for the consulship, to which the patricians only were eligible. Yet at a late period they obtained this magistracy also, when the plebeians too were allowed to hold it. But I leave the consideration of these matters to those whose business and interest it is to discover the precise facts.