[13]
hostis
, i.e. by his acts he has virtually declared himself the open enemy of the state as if he were a foreign power making war on the rights of Roman citizens (hence
hostis rather than
inimicus).
non illi
: both words are emphatic,
it is not to this person (in particular)
but to, etc.,
that you were hostile.
quid enim attinuit
, etc., for
what did it have to do with the case that you should order, etc.: why should you have ordered, etc., unless by these gratuitous severities you wished to show your hatred of the very name of citizen?
fretum
, the
strait of Messina.
divisa
,
thus divided.
alumnum
,
foster-child, i.e. adopted citizen.
Observe the double climax:
facinus
,
scelus
,
parricidium
;
vincire
,
verberare
,
necare
. For the crucifixion of a citizen Cicero can find no word strong enough ; hence the summit of the climax is reached in quid dicam?
parricidium
: for the horror with which this crime was regarded by the Romans, see Rosc. Am., sects.
28
,
29
.
in comitio
: i.e. publicly in Rome and in the very centre of Roman freedom and Roman life. The
comitium was an open space north of the Forum, on higher ground (see Plan of Forum, top) ; it was used for the most ancient
comitia, the
curiata (in which the people were assembled by the thirty hereditary
curiae), for hearing lawsuits, and for
contiones. The
curia, or Senate-house, fronted toward the
comitium.
quod
, i.e.
that point which.
celebritate
, i.e. as being a crowded thoroughfare.
potuit
, sc.
fieri.
praetervectione
, etc.,
on the track of all who sail to and fro (by the Strait of Messina, the necessary route to Greece).
Commmentary on Crucifiction of a Roman Citizen. James Bradstreet Greenough. ed. James Bradstreet Greenough, ed. George Lyman Kittredge. Boston. 1897.
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