SEXTUS ROSCIUS was a rich and respected citizen of Ameria, an Umbrian town (municipium) about fifty miles north of Rome. He had a taste for city life, and spent most of his time at the capital, where he was on intimate terms with some of the highest families, especially the Metelli and Scipios. Meantime his son Sextus, who certainly lacked his father's cultivated tastes, and who was accused by his enemies of rudeness and clownishness, had charge of the extensive family estates at Ameria.

Sometime during the dictatorship of Sulla (probably in the autumn of 81 B.C.) the elder Roscius was murdered one evening as he was returning from a dinner party. The murder was no doubt procured, or at least connived at, by one Titus Roscius Magnus, his fellowtownsman and enemy. However that may be, the name of the murdered man was put upon the proscription-list by a freedman and favorite of Sulla, one Chrysogonus, who bought his confiscated estates at auction at a nominal price. Three of these estates (there were thirteen in all)

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he transferred to a certain Titus Roscius Capito, another townsman and enemy of the deceased, and a leading man at Ameria; the remainder he put in charge of Magnus as his agent. The younger Sextus, a man of forty, thus robbed of his patrimony, had recourse to his father's friends in Rome for protection and help. The three conspirators, fearing that they might be compelled to disgorge, resolved to secure themselves by accusing him of his father's murder. This they did through a professional prosecutor (accusator) named Erucius, who undertook the legal formalities of the prosecution.

The aristocratic friends of Roscius, not daring to brave the creature of the dictator, but unwilling to leave their guest-friend (hospes) undefended, prevailed upon Cicero, then young and ambitious, to undertake the case. To oppose Chrysogonus was an act that called for disinterested courage, and nothing in Cicero's career is more to his credit. By his successful conduct of the case he obtained the well-merited rank of a leader among the rising advocates of Rome. The Defence of Roscius was the first of Cicero's public orations or pleas; and it is criticised by the author himself in his Orator, ch. 30.

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Cicero's Apology for Appearing in the Defence.

REDO ego vos, judices, mirari quid sit quod, cum tot summi oratores hominesque nobilissimi sedeant, ego potissimum surrexerim, qui neque aetate neque ingenio neque auctoritate sim cum his, qui sedeant, comparandus. Omnes 5 hi, quos videtis adesse, in hac causa injuriam novo scelere conflatam putant oportere defendi, defendere ipsi propter iniquitatem temporum non audent; ita fit ut adsint propterea quod officium sequuntur, taceant autem idcirco quia periculum vitant.

2. Quid ergo? Audacissimus ego ex omnibus? Minime. At tanto officiosior quam ceteri? Ne istius quidem laudis ita sim cupidus, ut aliis eam praereptam velim. Quae me igitur res praeter ceteros impulit, ut causam Sex. Rosci reciperem? Quia, si quis horum dixisset, quos videtis 15 adesse, in quibus summa auctoritas est atque amplitudo, si verbum de re publica fecisset, id quod in hac causa fieri necesse est, multo plura dixisse quam dixisset puta-*

retur: 3. ego etiamsi omnia quae dicenda sunt libere dixero, nequaquam tamen similiter oratio mea exire atque in volgus emanare poterit. Deinde, quod ceterorum neque dictum obscurum potest esse, propter nobilitatem et amplitudinem, neque temere dicto concedi, propter aetatem et prudentiam: 5 ego si quid liberius dixero, vel occultum esse, propterea quod nondum ad rem publicam accessi, vel ignosci adulescentiae poterit, tametsi non modo ignoscendi ratio, verum etiam cognoscendi consuetudo jam de civitate sublata

est.

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4. Accedit illa quoque causa, quod a ceteris forsitan ita petitum sit ut dicerent, ut utrumvis salvo officio facere se posse arbitrarentur: a me autem ei contenderunt, qui apud me et amicitia et beneficiis et dignitate plurimum possunt, quorum ego nec benevolentiam erga me ignorare, nec auc- 15 toritatem aspernari, nec voluntatem neglegere debeam. His de causis ego huic causae patronus exstiti, non electus unus qui maximo ingenio, sed relictus ex omnibus qui minimo periculo possem dicere; neque uti satis firmo praesidio defensus Sex. Roscius, verum uti ne omnino desertus 20 esset.

Character of the Elder Roscius, the Murdered Man.

VI. 5. Sex. Roscius, pater hujusce, municeps Amerinus fuit, cum genere et nobilitate et pecunia non modo sui municipi verum etiam ejus vicinitatis facile primus, tum gratia atque hospitiis florens hominum nobilissimorum. 25 Nam cum Metellis, Serviliis, Scipionibus erat ei non modo hospitium, verum etiam domesticus usus et consuetudo; quas (ut aequum est) familias honestatis amplitudinisque gratia nomino. Itaque ex omnibus suis commodis hoc solum filio reliquit: nam patrimonium domestici praedones 30 vi ereptum possident, fama et vita innocentis ab hospitibus amicisque paternis defenditur. 6. Is cum omni tempore nobilitatis fautor fuisset, tum học 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 hones5 tissimus inter suos numerabatur. Posteaquam victoria constituta est, ab armisque recessimus, cum proscriberentur homines, atque ex omni regione caperentur ei qui adversarii fuisse putabantur, — erat ille Romae frequens; in foro et in ore omnium cotidie versabatur, magis ut exsultare victoria 10 nobilitatis videretur, quam timere ne quid ex ea calamitatis sibi accideret.

His Old Feud with the Titi Roscii.

7. Erant ei veteres inimicitiae cum duobus Rosciis Amerinis, quorum alterum sedere in accusatorum subselliis video, alterum tria hujusce praedia possidere audio. Quas inimi15 citias si tam cavere potuisset, quam metuere solebat, viveret. Neque enim, judices, injuria metuebat. Nam duo isti sunt T. Roscii, quorum alteri Capitoni cognomen est, iste qui adest Magnus vocatur, homines hujus modi: alter plurimarum palmarum vetus ac nobilis gladiator habetur, hic 20 autem nuper se ad eum lanistam contulit; quique ante hanc pugnam tiro esset, [quod sciam,] facile ipsum magistrum scelere audaciaque superavit.

The Murder.

VII. 8. Nam cum hic Sex. Roscius esset Ameriae, T. autem iste Roscius Romae, cum hic filius adsiduus in 25 praediis esset, cumque se voluntate patris rei familiari vitaeque rusticae dedisset, iste autem frequens Romae esset, occiditur ad balneas Palacinas rediens a cena Sex. Roscius. Spero ex hoc ipso non esse obscurum, ad quem suspicio malefici pertineat: verum id, quod adhuc est suspiciosum, 30 nisi perspicuum res ipsa fecerit, hunc adfinem culpae judi

catote,