M. Tullius Cicero, Pro S. Roscio Amerino, 50

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[50] In truth, O Erucius, you would have been a ridiculous accuser, if you had been born in those times when men were sent for from the plough to be made consuls. Certainly you, who think it a crime to have superintended the cultivation of a farm, would consider that Atilius, whom those who were sent to him found sowing seed with his own hand, a most base and dishonourable man. But, forsooth, our ancestors judged very differently both of him and of all other such men. And therefore from a very small and powerless state they left us one very great and very prosperous. For they diligently cultivated their own lands, they did not graspingly desire those of others; by which conduct they enlarged the republic, and this dominion, and the name of the Roman people, with lands and conquered cities, and subjected nations.

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.) — 50 focus

[50] 18 ne tu, Eruci, accusator esses ridiculus, si illis temporibus natus esses¹ cum ab aratro arcessebantur qui consules fierent. etenim qui praeesse agro colendo flagitium putes, profecto illum Atilium quem sua manu spargentem semen qui missi erant convenerunt hominem turpissimum atque inhonestissimum iudicares. at hercule maiores nostri longe aliter et de illo et de ceteris talibus viris existimabant itaque ex minima tenuissimaque re publica² maximam et florentissimam nobis reliquerunt. suos enim agros studiose colebant, non alienos cupide appetebant; quibus rebus et agris et urbibus et nationibus rem publicam atque hoc imperium et populi Romani nomen auxerunt.

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

rem tuam , your interests .

quasi . . . nescias , as if you did not know: § 524 (312); B. 307, I and 2 ; G. 602 ; H. 584, 2 (513, ii and N.1) ; H.-B. 504, 3 and a.

spectatissima , most estimable; the friends of Roscius are purposely exalted, in order to influence the court.

cum , concessive.

cum esset , though she was, etc.

femina ,

mulier : observe the distinction between the words, the latter being always used in speaking of the tenderness of the feminine nature.

quanto : translate however much (though the Latin is definite) ; the usual correlative is supplied by

non minora , fully as great .

M. Tullius Cicero Pro S. Roscio Amerino 50

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