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    Contents:
  • The speech of M. T. Cicero as the advocate of P. Quinctius.
  • THE ORATION FOR SEXTUS ROSCIUS OF AMERIA.
  • THE SPEECH FOR Q. ROSCIUS THE ACTOR
  • THE SPEECH AGAINST QUINTUS CAECILIUS.
    		•

    M. Tullius Cicero, Orations: for Quintius, Sextus Roscius, Quintus Roscius, against Quintus Caecilius, and against Verres (ed. C. D. Yonge)

    Editions and translations: Latin (ed. Albert Clark) | English (ed. C. D. Yonge)
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    text=Quinct.:section=8 text=Quinct.:section=20 text=Quinct.:section=33 text=Quinct.:section=45 text=Quinct.:section=57 text=Quinct. text=Quinct.:section=83 text=Quinct.:section=94 text=S. Rosc.:section=4 text=S. Rosc.:section=16 text=S. Rosc.:section=29 text=S. Rosc.:section=41 text=S. Rosc.:section=53 text=S. Rosc. text=S. Rosc.:section=78 text=S. Rosc.:section=90 text=S. Rosc.:section=102 text=S. Rosc. text=S. Rosc.:section=128 text=S. Rosc.:section=140 text=S. Rosc. text=Q. Rosc. text=Q. Rosc.:section=20 text=Q. Rosc.:section=32 text=Q. Rosc.:section=45 text=Div. Caec. text=Div. Caec. text=Div. Caec.:section=24 text=Div. Caec. text=Div. Caec.:section=50 text=Div. Caec.:section=62 text=Ver. text=Ver.:section=12 text=Ver.:section=24 text=Ver. text=Ver. text=Ver.:book=1:section=3 text=Ver.:book=1:section=15 text=Ver.:book=1:section=27 text=Ver.:book=1:section=39 text=Ver.:book=1 text=Ver.:book=1 text=Ver.:book=1 text=Ver.:book=1:section=87 text=Ver.:book=1:section=99 text=Ver.:book=1:section=112 text=Ver.:book=1:section=124 text=Ver.:book=1 text=Ver.:book=1 text=Ver.:book=2 text=Ver.:book=2:section=11 text=Ver.:book=2:section=24 text=Ver.:book=2:section=35 text=Ver.:book=2 text=Ver.:book=2:section=58 text=Ver.:book=2:section=70 text=Ver.:book=2 text=Ver.:book=2:section=94 text=Ver.:book=2:section=106 text=Ver.:book=2 text=Ver.:book=2 text=Ver.:book=2 text=Ver.:book=2 text=Ver.:book=2 text=Ver.:book=2:section=178 text=Ver.:book=2:section=189 text=Ver.:book=3:section=6 text=Ver.:book=3 text=Ver.:book=3:section=31 text=Ver.:book=3:section=43 text=Ver.:book=3 text=Ver.:book=3 text=Ver.:book=3 text=Ver.:book=3 text=Ver.:book=3 text=Ver.:book=3:section=113 text=Ver.:book=3:section=123 text=Ver.:book=3:section=135 text=Ver.:book=3:section=147 text=Ver.:book=3:section=159 text=Ver.:book=3 text=Ver.:book=3:section=182 text=Ver.:book=3 text=Ver.:book=3:section=206 text=Ver.:book=3:section=217 text=Ver.:book=4 text=Ver.:book=4:section=9 text=Ver.:book=4 text=Ver.:book=4:section=33 text=Ver.:book=4:section=44 text=Ver.:book=4:section=56 text=Ver.:book=4:section=68 text=Ver.:book=4:section=79 text=Ver.:book=4:section=90 text=Ver.:book=4 text=Ver.:book=4:section=113 text=Ver.:book=4:section=125 text=Ver.:book=4:section=137 text=Ver.:book=4:section=149 text=Ver.:book=5 text=Ver.:book=5:section=18 text=Ver.:book=5:section=31 text=Ver.:book=5:section=43 text=Ver.:book=5:section=55 text=Ver.:book=5:section=67 text=Ver.:book=5 text=Ver.:book=5:section=92 text=Ver.:book=5 text=Ver.:book=5:section=116 text=Ver.:book=5:section=129 text=Ver.:book=5:section=141 text=Ver.:book=5:section=153 text=Ver.:book=5 text=Ver.:book=5

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    THE ORATION FOR SEXTUS ROSCIUS OF AMERIA.

    THE ARGUMENT

    Cicero himself in this speech calls this trial the first public, that is criminal cause in which he was engaged; and many critics consider it an earlier speech than the preceding one for Quinctius. The case was this: The father of Sextus Roscius had been slain during the proscriptions of Sulla, and his estate, which was very large, had been sold for a very trifling sum to Lucius Cornelius Chrysogonus, a favourite slave to whom Sulla had given his freedom; and Chrysogonus, to secure possession of it, persuaded a man named Caius Erucius to accuse Roscius of having killed his father himself. Many lawyers refused to defend him, being afraid of Sulla, whose influence was openly used for his freedman. Roscius was acquitted. Cicero often refers with great complacency to his conduct in this suit, as a proof of his intrepidity, and of his resolute honesty in discharging the duties of an advocate without being dismayed at the opposition of the greatest men in Rome.

    I. I imagine that you, O judges, are marvelling why it is that when so many most eminent orators and most noble men are sitting still, I above all others should get up, who neither for age, nor for ability, nor for influence, am to be compared to those who are sitting still. For all these men whom you see present at this trial think that a man ought to be defended against all injury contrived against him by unrivalled wickedness; but through the sad state of the times they do not dare to defend him themselves. So it comes to pass that they are present here because they are attending to their business, but they are silent because they are afraid of danger. [2]  What then? Am I the boldest of all these men? By no means. Am I then so much more attentive to my duties than the rest? I am not so covetous of even that praise, as to wish to rob others of it. What is it then which has impelled me beyond all the rest to undertake the cause of Sextus Roscius? Because, if any one of those men, men of the greatest weight and dignity, whom you see present, had spoken, had said one word about public affairs, as must be done in this case, he would be thought to have said much more than he really had said. [3]  But if I should say all the things which must be said with ever so much freedom, yet my speech will never go forth or be diffused among the people in the same manner. Secondly, because anything said by the others cannot be obscure, because of their nobility and dignity, and cannot be excused as being spoken carelessly, on account of their age and prudence; but if I say anything with too much freedom, it may either be altogether concealed, because I have not yet mixed in public affairs, or pardoned on account of my youth; although not only the method of pardoning, but even the habit of examining into the truth is now eradicated from the State. [4]  There is this reason, also, that perhaps the request to undertake this cause was made to the others so that they thought they could comply or refuse without prejudice to their duty; but those men applied to me who have the greatest weight with me by reason of their friendship with me, of the kindnesses they have done me, and of their own dignity; whose kindness to me I could not be ignorant of whose authority I could not despise, whose desires I could not neglect.


    There are a total of 24 comments on and cross references to this page.

    Cross references from Allen and Greenough's New Latin Grammar for Schools and Colleges (eds. J. B. Greenough, G. L. Kittredge, A. A. Howard, Benj. L. D'Ooge):
    2, 540 [CAUSAL CLAUSES]: ita fit ut adsint proptereaquod officium sequuntur, taceant autem quia periculum vitant
    2, 319 [Omission of Subject or Verb]: quid ergo? audacissimus ego ex omnibus
    2, 329 [Negative Particles]: audacissimus ego ex omnibus? minime
    2, 523 [GENERAL CONDITIONS]: si quis horum dixisset ... si verbum de re publica fecisset ... multa plura dixisse quam dixisset putaretur
    3, 634 [Measures of Value, etc.]: sexagiens

    Cross references from J. B. Greenough, G. L. Kittredge, Select Orations of Cicero, Allen and Greenough's Edition.:
    S. Rosc. [Argument]
    S. Rosc., 19 [II. Narratio]
    S. Rosc., 26 [Recapitulation.]
    S. Rosc., 51 [V. Peroratio]
    S. Rosc. [Argument]
    S. Rosc., 12 [II. Narratio]

    Cross references from E. H. Donkin, Cicero Pro Roscio Amerino, Edited, after Karl Halm.:
    II, 7 [Pro.Rosc.donk]
    XVII, 49 [Pro.Rosc.donk]
    XXII [Pro.Rosc.donk]
    XXVII [Pro.Rosc.donk]
    XXVIII, 77 [Pro.Rosc.donk]
    1 [Pro.Rosc.donk]
    1 [Pro.Rosc.donk]
    XIX, 55 [Pro.Rosc.donk]
    L [Pro.Rosc.donk]
    1 [Pro.Rosc.donk]
    IV, 10 [Pro.Rosc.donk]
    VIII, 22 [Pro.Rosc.donk]
    XIX, 55 [Pro.Rosc.donk]

    Preferred URL for linking to this page: http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?lookup=Cic.+S.+Rosc.+1

    The National Endowment for the Humanities provided support for entering this text.

    This text is based on the following book(s):
    M. Tullius Cicero. The Orations of Marcus Tullius Cicero, literally translated by C. D. Yonge. London. George Bell & Sons. 1903.
    OCLC: 4709897


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