M. Tullius Cicero, Pro S. Roscio Amerino, 16

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[16] As he had at all times been a favourer of the side of the nobility, so, too, in this last disturbance, when the dignity and safety of all the nobles was in danger, he, beyond all others in that neighbourhood, defended that party and that cause with all his might, and zeal, and influence. He thought it right, in truth, that he should fight in defence of their honour, on account of whom he himself was reckoned most honourable among his fellow-citizens. After the victory was declared, and we had given up arms, when men were being proscribed, and when they who were supposed to be enemies were being taken in every district, he was constantly at Rome , and in the Forum, and was daily in the sight of every one; so that he seemed rather to exult in the victory of the nobility, than to be afraid lest any disaster should result to him from it.

Pro S. Roscio Amerino. M. Tullius Cicero. London. 1903.

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Current edition Perseus

For Sextus Roscius of Ameria (English) (Cicero. The Orations of Marcus Tullius Cicero, Volume 1. Yonge, Charles Duke, translator. London: Bell, 1903.)

Editions (1)

Pro Sex. Roscio Amerino Perseus (Cicero. M. Tulli Ciceronis Orationes, Volume 1. Clark, Albert Curtis, editor. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1908.) — 16 focus

[16] hic¹ cum omni tempore nobilitatis fautor fuisset tum hoc tumultu proximo, cum omnium nobilium dignitas et salus in discrimen veniret, praeter ceteros in ea vicinitate eam partem causamque opera, studio, auctoritate defendit. etenim rectum putabat pro eorum honestate se pugnare propter quos ipse honestissimus inter suos numerabatur. postea quam victoria constituta est ab armisque recessimus, cum proscriberentur homines² atque ex omni regione caperentur ei qui adversarii fuisse putabantur, erat ille Romae frequens atque³ in foro et in ore omnium cotidie versabatur, magis ut exsultare victoria nobilitatis videretur quam timere ne quid ex ea calamitatis sibi accideret.

Commentary

Notes on Pro S. Roscio Amerino (Select Orations of Cicero (Allen and Greenough's Edition). Greenough, James Bradstreet; Kittredge, George Lyman, editors. Boston, London: Ginn & Company, 1897.) focus

antiqui , of the old stamp, i.e. plain, honest men.

ex sua natura , after their own nature.

ceteros , subj. of

esse understood, depending on

fingerent , imagined.

confirmaret , assured them .

re inorata , without having stated their case: the primary meaning of oro implies not entreaty, but statement or argument (cf. orator).

reverterunt : the active form of this verb is found only in the tenses of the perfect stem; otherwise it is deponent.

isti , i.e. Chrysogonus and Capito.

lentius , less energetically. (On account of the natural correlation of opposites, it is often convenient to translate adjectives and adverbs by the negative of their contraries.)

nihil agere , i.e. refrain from action.

deludere , [and thus] to make fools of the Amerians (by having rendered their whole embassy in effectual).

id quod , etc., as we may easily infer this point is an inference not, like the rest, an attested fact.

neque . and . . not, the negative qualifying

posse : and judge that they can no longer, etc. In English the negative is placed near the verb; in Latin it is attracted by the connective, and so often stands at the beginning of the clause.

domino incolumi (abl. abs.), so long as the owner was alive.

M. Tullius Cicero Pro S. Roscio Amerino 16

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