Titus Livius on Marcus Manlius Capitolinus who after having defended the Capitol against the Gauls tried to overthrow the republic and was sentenced to death:

Hunc exitum habuit vir, nisi in libera civitate natus esset, memorabilis.
Such was the end of a man who, had he not been born in a free State, would have attained distinction.
Titus Livius, Ab urbe condita, book VI, chapter 20, line 14