M. Tullius Cicero, Pro S. Roscio Amerino, 21

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[21] As at this time there was no mention of a proscription, and as even those who had been afraid of it before, were returning and thinking themselves now delivered from their dangers, the name of Sextus Roscius, a man most zealous for the nobility, is proscribed and his goods sold; Chrysogonus is the purchaser; three of his finest farms, are given to Capito for his own, and he possesses them to this day; all the rest of his property that fellow Titus Roscius seizes in the name of Chrysogonus, as he says himself. This property, worth six millions of sesterces, is bought for two thousand. I well know, O judges, that all this was done without the knowledge of Lucius Sulla;

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.) — 21 focus

[21] 8 ne diutius teneam¹, iudices, societas coitur. cum nulla iam proscriptionis mentio fieret², cum etiam qui³ antea metuerant redirent ac iam defunctos sese periculis arbitrarentur, nomen refertur in tabulas Sex. Rosci⁴, hominis studiosissimi nobilitatis; manceps fit Chrysogonus; tria praedia vel nobilissima Capitoni propria traduntur, quae hodie possidet; in reliquas omnis fortunas iste T. T itus Roscius nomine Chrysogoni, quem ad modum ipse dicit, impetum facit. haec⁵ omnia, iudices, imprudente L. L ucio Sulla facta esse certo⁶ scio.

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

ejus modi ,

quo uno maleficio , of such a kind, that in this one crime (rel. clause of result).

voltu , by a look.

postularet , . . .

cogebant , would compel it if the case required: see § 517 , b (308, b); cf. B. 304, 3; G. 597, R.3; H. 583, I (5

jura cogebant is equivalent to a verb of necessity, and hence the imperf. indic. in the apodosis appears with the imperf. subj. in the protasis.

auditum sit , a general condition; subj. because integral part of the result clause.

tu (emphatic), you, a professional prosecutor.

censes : the word used to express deliberate judgment, after discussion or the like.

mores , character, as resulting from habits of life;

naturam (next line), natural disposition.

tu : emphatic, as opposed to the general run of accusers. Cicero is here using the famous "argument from probability," a favorite with ancient orators and rhetoricians from the fifth century B.C. "For example, if a physically weak man be accused of an assault, he is to ask the jury, 'Is it probable that a weakling like me should have attacked anybody?' while if the accused is a strong man he is to claim that it is improbable that he should have committed an assault in a case where his strength was sure to be used as a presumption against him."

M. Tullius Cicero Pro S. Roscio Amerino 21

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