quid sit quod "what is the reason why" (indirect question); in the indicative would be quid est quod, where est is emphatic, not (as usual) enclitic.
2 summi oratores etc. The usual patroni, men of forensic (oratores) and political (nobilissimi) experience; second chiasmus in two lines.
sedeant The verb here means "not speak;" although eminent men sit with the defendant (cf. line 5) to show their support, they will not take part in arguing the case.
3 neque ... neque ... neque polysyndeton
aetate ... ingenio ... auctoritate Ablatives of specification, two of which are in the same category, and also true (aetate: he was twenty-six years old; auctoritate: he had none to speak of, no public career, no clients, no noble ancestors), and one of which (ingenio) fulfills the demands of modesty. The order of the words owes more to music (vel sim.) than to logic: each of the three is a syllable longer than the one preceding. As he continues the discussion of his suitability, he ignores the question of ingenium until the end (§5).
4 qui sedeant The relative clause replaces a noun; the repetition of the verb sedeant also repeats the message that the usual patroni are silent.
Omnes hi etc. Speaking of their good will is not unusual; of their cowardice is. The alternative, however, is to state that these worthy men are lacking in their duty to their cliens.
5 adesse in hac causa technical term: to lend moral support to the case, by their presence
iniuriam Killing Roscius maior and robbing the son of his inheritance
novo scelere Accusing Roscius of his father's murder
6 oportere defendi, defendere ipsi etc. Juxtaposition of passive and active infinitive of same verb effectively contrasts their feeling that something ought to be done (by somebody) but that they don't dare to do it.
7 iniquitatem temporum As Cicero explains in §11, this case is the first regularly constituted murder trial since the beginning of civil strife in Rome (whether he means during Sulla's first consulship or dating back to Marius' last consulship, he does not reveal).
propterea quod ... idcirco quia propterea and idcirco are redundant in English translation; their purpose in Latin is to signal the following quod/quia (lit. "for this reason, because"). Cf. propterea quod in §§3, 5, 65, 81, 111, 113, 116; idcirco quod in §§94, 112, 145 and idcirco ut in §§111, 137 (bis), 141, 153; ideo quod in §§36, 85; illa causa quod in §4 (cf. causa nulla cur in §146). Both clauses here have the indicative, which means that Cicero states the reasons as facts.
10 officiosior The word officiosus (devoted to officium) has a good connotation, unlike English "officious." Cicero refers to the others' obligation to their officium in §4 below.
11 istius (with laudis) The second person pronoun is attributed to the hearers' supposed question.
cupidus + (preceding) genitive
aliis dative (incommodi; separation) with praereptam
13 recipio L&S s.v. II.B.2.a = accept task assigned (opposed to voluntary undertaking)
istorum your peers; or, the same ones I was talking to you about
14 quos videtis adesse He uses the same short relative clause to describe these people as he had used in line 5 above
in quibus ... est fact (indicative verb), not characteristic
15 amplitudo a quality which senators possess (along with auctoritas); the relative clause in quibus ... amplitudo serves as a circumlocution for senators
de re publica etc. The political circumstances permitted the crime and subsequent accusation: see §3
16 multa ... putaretur Personal passive construction
19 quod causal
20 nobilitatem et amplitudinem Ex-magistrates and senators (again); contrasted in the next sentence with Cicero's lack of political experience (quod nondum ad rem publicam accessi: next page line 2) and consequent lack of any history as a supporter of one side or another: continuation of argument from auctoritas
21 concedi It is convenient to have an impersonal passive (+ dative dicto) and thus not have to name an agent.
aetatem et prudentiam Argument from aetas (lines 3 above and 3 on p.4 below)
1 Ego Emphatic position; contrast with the others.
2 rem publicam Public life, affairs of state; the whole phrase ad rem p. accesso means to enter on a public career; argument from auctoritas
3 ignosci adulescentiae Again, dative with impersonal passive. Here Cicero has used a parallel construction which is not strictly grammatical. The pronoun quid (standing in for aliquid) in line 1 is the subject of poterit and thus of the two passive verbs which depend upon it, occultum esse and ignosci. The latter, however, cannot have a personal subject when it is used in the passive.
4 ignoscendi ratio The gerund picks up the same notion as ignosci just before; ratio here must mean habit, or practice, and is virtually synonymous with consuetudo
cognoscendi consuetudo L&S s.v. cognosco III.A = holding a trial. Normal legal procedures had been suspended. Note also paronomasia with ignosco/cognosco
5 sublata L&S s.v. tollo II.B = abolished
6 a ceteris ... a me a here = "of," not "by"
ita Correlative with second ut, the one which commences the result clause and governs arbitrarentur
utrumvis "say yes or no" (lit. "whichever you please")
7 salvo officio The request was phrased in such a way that obligations to the defendant would not be violated by a refusal.
8 amicitia ... beneficiis ... dignitate These are three politically loaded words, meaning, respectively, political friendship, favor (which must be repaid), importance (of those who offer their friendship and favor).
9 plurimum possunt The expression with adverbial plurimum avoids the unpleasant connotations of potentia, while still informing the hearers that those who asked had much influence.
benivolentiam ... neglegere The nouns in the tricolon answer, although not in the same order, the three ablatives with plurimum possunt:benivolentiam-beneficiis, auctoritatem-dignitate, voluntatem-amicitia.
ignorare = "not think about," i.e. the benivolentiam must be returned; aspernari = "not consider [worth anything]," which one cannot do in the case of someone's auctoritas; neglegere = "take lightly," and one cannot take lightly the voluntas of powerful men.
11 debebam It was his duty, or, more to the point, he had a debitum to honor. He has been "forced" to defend Roscius; an item which he enters in his own defense as well.
12 exstiti He means this quite literally; it is the opposite of sedeo
unus I.e. especially for some unique abilities which he may have been thought to have (maximo ingenio).
11-15 The summation of his introduction of himself includes a trio of juxtapositions: electus/relictus, maximo/minimo, defensus/desertus
13 qui ... possem Causal relative clause
15 omnino When used with a negative, makes the negative absolute (not unlike a superlative); cf. §§81, 92, 94, 95, 105, 118, 127. When used as a positive, omnino conveys the idea that an absolute negative was to have been expected: see example at §49.
16ff. Cicero states the question in his listeners' minds; not a real question since they all know the answer, but an opportunity for him to restate the grounds of accusation, so as to remove them. He will also surprise his opponents by bravely attacking the obvious (cf. §60).
16 terror ... formido Refer to the same thing, although the terror is the active agent causing the formido, the subject of the following relative clause. Many years later, Cicero defined various types of fear (metus), including these, at Tusc. 4.18-19. One may compare a passage where he uses the two together. At Fin. 1.46 when he says sapientiamque esse solam, quae nos a libidinum impetu et a formidinum terrore vindicet, terror is parallel to impetus, i.e., an onset, and the formidines and libidines are broader categories.
17 impediat quo minus ... velint Subjunctive with verbs of hindering; quo minus velint literally says "by means of which [the action implied in impediat] they be less willing" (= "so that they be unwilling").
18 fortunis Not literally, since Roscius has already lost his; the word is formulaic.
19 Quod The reason for their fear; object of ignorare
adhuc I.e. in the remarks of the prosecutor(s)
20 rei ... quae conflavit rei is from res, not reus; literally it means the thing which occasioned the trial
sexagiens 60 times 100,000 sesterces = 6,000,000
23 de "from," with emisse
viro ... Sulla Cicero describes the dictator's two spheres of operations: Sulla was clarissimus in the political arena, fortissimus in war.
quem ... nomino Not part of the reported speech.
24 duobus milibus nummum Cicero uses the exact numbers to make explicit the great difference between the property's worth and its price.
dicit Cicero repeats the story as the buyer's hearsay, not necessarily as fact.
25 vel a particle, intensifying potentissimus. The contrast between Sulla and Chrysogonus is clear: while clarus is a word implying great influence, potens is never complimentary.
hoc tempore A reiteration of the circumstances: iniquitatem temporum (§1).
26 L. Cornelius Chrysogonus A Greek, freedman of Sulla, gets his first two names from his previous owner. Cicero states the whole name for effect, as he declares later (§60). To save the subject for the end of the sentence heightens the suspense.
Is Cicero deflects criticism of Sulla to his freedman, and, not for the last time in his career, argues that the defendant on trial is not the one who should be in the dock.
27 quoniam ... quoniamque With subjunctive, indicates that Cicero attributes these reasons to Chrysogonus, even more persuasive (or damning) than stating them as facts, in the indicative.
28 nullo iure ablative of specification; meaning 'in accordance with'
ei modifies pecuniae
29 obstare ... officere mean very much the same thing; the first is more passive in connotation ('be in the way' as opposed to 'get in the way').
1 suspicionem The word does not mean suspicion, but a feeling of mistrust or apprehension
2 huius innocentis "of this innocent man": he attributes the thought to Chrysogonus
3 tam amplum et copiosum Cf. tam plenam atque praeclaram above (previous page lines 27-28). He emphasises the value of the estate, the motive.
posse The meaning of the verb indicates future intent; same in next line.
damnato et eicto Sc. hoc. Parallel to the preceding clause; damnato = found guilty and eiecto = expelled from the rights of citizenship and from the state.
4 quod ... id Reversal of usual order of antecedent and relative.
per luxuriam etc. Poisoning the well: the Graeculus will only squander it; perhaps-taking the infinitives effundere atque consumere with posse-he plans to.
5 sibi Cicero juxtaposes the dative and ablative of separation.
scrupulum The neuter form of scrupulus/scripulus/scriptulus, a tiny stone, indicates a weight of 1/24 of an ounce or, by extension, of other measures. Metaphorically, as the verbs here indicate, the stone is thought to be sharp and pricking, like a thorn.
6 ut ... profiteamini The reflexive adjective shows that this clause reveals Chrysogonus' purpose, as Cicero represents it, rather than a consequence resulting from the judges' compliance.
7 adiutores etc. Cicero argues that a guilty verdict will make the judges guilty of judicial murder and (unpaid) partners in Chrysogonus' crime
10 contra adverb
adfero technical term "introduce"
13 audacium sceleri resisto takes the dative; audacium is genitive plural masculine, used as noun
14 innocentium calamitatem parallel to preceding clause: genitive, object, verb
15 periculum Cicero makes the threat (intenditur: something aimed at one) universal; defending Roscius = protecting everyone. He avoids the monotony of a third parallel clause (e.g. omnium periculum propulsetis) by the relative clause.
aut causa ... res Tricolon crescendo, the first two members in chiasmus, the third much longer and of a different construction.
quaelibit ... vel minima any at all ... even (vel is the particle) a tiny thing (or reason, with quam ob rem). He follows res with quam ob rem, using the expression literally, as elsewhere (and, e.g., with quamvis).
17 videantur relative clause of result/characteristic
18 non nihil = aliquid; some basis for accusation. Cf. nonnulli
tamen "on the other hand"
deferendo with nomen, technical term for indicting or accusing someone
20 non recusamus mixed condition; present follows future, fut.pf.
libidini Characterisation of the guilty verdict another instance of "poisoning the well"
21 aliud ... nihil nihil is emphatic; usual order is the reverse.
eis antecedent removed to beginning of clause for emphasis; dative with desit. Further described by quibus satis nihil est. NB indicative, not relative clause of characteristic.
22-3 hoc solum ... pugnatur ut second characterization of purpose; both protases with indicative
24 cumulus the heap added to a(n already) full measure
nonne etc. The apodosis is a rhetorical question
multa indigna sc. sunt
25 vel particle; cf. §6 line 25
hoc in apposition with substantive clause vos ... consuerunt
The argument is one which Cicero will use frequently in making this
and many another case: does one call it ethical blackmail?
26 sententiae iusque iurandum Hendiadys: "verdict and oath" for "sworn verdict," "verdict given under oath"
27 qui i.e. vos, the judges
ex civitate ... ex senatu here literally "out of" first, the whole citizen population (civitas), and the senate: a progressive winnowing of seed from chaff.
28 dignitas the operative word.
29 ab his his is the antecedent of qui in line 27; the relative clause is placed first to make the main (noun) clause the more prominent
hoc postulare hoc is in apposition with the jussive noun clause which follows; postulare is in same construction as vos idoneos habitos [esse] above, still dependent upon nonne ... vel hoc indignissimum est.
1 sicarios ... gladiatores Two of Cicero's favorite terms of opprobrium, the latter found perhaps thrice as often as the former. The two occur together only here and at Sest. 78; Cat.2.6. Sicarius recurs at §§11, 39, 74, 76, 80, 81, 87, 90, 93, 94 (ter), 103, 151, 152 (16 times in all): more than one-third of the uses of the word in extant works.
2 quae ... debent again, indicative
pro in return for; because of
3 spoliis Roscius' scalp, as it were
The construction of the sentence is chiastic without adhering to exact parallel of grammatical structure. Cicero begins with relative clause characterising senators'/jurors' political/social standing (dignitas) and their suitability to punish malefactors (severitas), then juxtaposes them (ab his) with the accusers (homines sicarios atque gladiatores), who ought to be the accused (relative clause, metuere atque horrere debent respond to severitas), and balances off the judges' dignitas with the image of the accusers leaving the courtroom spoliis ornati auctique.
6 graviter "with dignity" (cf. aetas line 8). The three adverb/verb combinations, in which the verbs are not precisely equivalent in meaning, are explained in the next sentence, in which the equivalent nouns (commoditas, gravitas, libertas) replace the adverbs, maintaining the same order.
7 posse intellego repeated in line 12; Cicero lapses into repetition of phrases.
8 impedimento final dative
huc lit. "hither," i.e. in addition to these things
9 timor etc. timor is a different thing from the terror and formido (§5 line 16) earlier described. It is part of the captatio benevolentiae, fitted to the circumstances: one's shortcomings and the jury's excellence are usual features; a word about the difficulty of the case is also in order, and perhaps a compliment to the opposing attorney's oratorical powers (cf. Quinct. 77): in this case it is the real power of the opponents. For other examples of fear engendered by the circumstances, cf. Mil. 2, Deiot. 1, and denied, Marc. 1. Roscius' endangered position (pericula line 11) is an extension of the same idea. One would not be so nervous in a civil suit, although Cicero's "nerves" (natura pudorque a hendiadys) are always a factor; cf. Clu. 51; Deiot. 1.
10 dignitas ... vis Echoes the order of the rhetorical question in §8
11 oro atque obsecro Collocution very frequent, also in §78 (third person); supine at Pis. 77. More often third person than first.
14 Hoc onus the defence (object of adlevabitis and feram); emphatic position at the beginning of the sentence.
aliqua ex parte lit. from some part, as if he were asking them to lighten the burden by holding up or carrying one corner for him. The sense is si vos aliquam partem huius oneris adlevabitis.
15 feram ut potero feram is future indicative. The expression (ut = as) corresponds, chiastically, to quoad potero perferam at the end of the sentence, and turned round again at the beginning of the next (quod si perferre non potero lines 17-18).
sin introduces the alternative condition; verbs all future indicative. the second half parallels, in the same order, the first: if you help, I ... but if by you I am not helped, I ...
16 spero means "expect," not "hope" in the abused English sense of "wish"
animo with deficiam, locative
17 id quod suscepi Cicero continues to speak as if of an actual physical burden; cf. opprimi me onere in line 18, impositum (? "imposed" in our sense) in line 19, abicere ... deponere in line 20, and, in this line, quoad in the spatial sense as well as temporal.
19 cum fide i.e. faith with others had in Cicero
20 perfidiam ... informitatem animi corresponding to fide line 19 and animo non deficiam lines 16-17
22 huic eidem quaestioni Fannius had already (iam antea) presided over a criminal court (quaestio de caede). If this was the first regularly constituted criminal proceedings, then did Fannius serve before Sulla's return or, after it, over a kangaroo court? See Schol. Gronov. 304 Stangl (Münzer dicit p.427 Or.); H.A. Grueber, Coins of the Roman Republic in the BM (London 1910) 1.314ff. on the coinage; CIL I2.2 p.756 no. 272.
23 et nobis et rei publicae Cicero unites his client's case with the state's condition; he requests a verdict based, in principle, on facts and testimony, not on political considerations. Sulla's reforms had ostensibly restored the republic to regular working order.
24 impertias for variation; means about the same as praebeas
Quanta multitudo hominum the corona, always large for good speakers or notorious cases
25 mortalium usually a poetic word, when used of people, unless contrasting them to immortals (i.e. thnetoi), although sometimes, as here, means the same as homines (anthropoi)
26 exspectatio not expectation as in assumption that something will happen, but an "awaiting" to see if control of affairs had really returned to the state (senate), another reminder of the force of public opinion
cupiditas introduces a jussive noun clause, as if it were a verb
27 Longo intervallo at least two years, possibly seven
iudicium inter sicarios technical term = quaestio de caede, a murder trial.
28 committitur Peculiar choice of vocabulary: the verb in this sense usually is used of joining battle (e.g., §151 proelium committunt; with proelium seven times in the first book of Caesar BG), commencing games. Elsewhere in this oration it carries the more familiar meanings of "commit": to commit a crime, or to entrust.
caedes indignissimae Cicero contrasts the restoration of murder investigations with the murders of the recent past; it is remarkable that he characterises the spate of murders in this way, although in the context of his contrast of judicial investigation with deaths left uninvestigated and unpunished, he means both those improperly killed under pretext of being proscribed, and those who died following Marius' return to the city. One can nevertheless not avoid thinking of the proscriptions. Threats of more caedes, as opposed to proper proceedings, follow soon after. Cf. §12 caedes futurae sint.
1 dignissimam a textual problem (see the app. crit.). The transmitted reading is dimissui or dimissius or some variant, which makes no sense. Some editors prefer to print remedium (or remedio, final dative) and change sanguine to sanguini (thus making maleficiis dative as well), "a remedy for." dignissimam may be closer to the mss. variants but is harder to translate: "this trial will be worthy (in some respect) of ..." i.e. a severe and fair condemnation of criminality and bloodshed, "just deserts." It does go well with the preceding indignissimae so perhaps a noun is missing?
4 causam dicimus causam dicere is a technical term. = make a defence
5ff A long sentence containing a tripartite request:
(1) ut ... vindicetis
(2) ut ... resistatis
(3) ut hoc cogitetis
This is a tricolon crescendo of a sort, the first two members in parallel
(quam with superlative adverbs, object, verb), the second longer
than the first. The last clause, shorter per se than the preceding two,
but longer because of the substantive clause attached to it, breaks the
pattern and gives a pause before the long condition (nisi ... sint
lines 7-12) in apposition to hoc
8 qui = qualis
eo adverbial, correlative with ut, next line ("to that degree/extent ... that")
10 hic Spatial. Trials at this time were held outdoors in the forum. A raised tribunal was provided for the praetor and benches (subsellia) for the judges; below these, more benches for the parties involved. Spectators stood.
Note the multiplication and narrowing specification of spatial detail (non modo clam verum etiam hic in foro ante tribunal tuum ... ante pedes vestros ... inter ipsa subsellia).
14 fortunas ... calamitatem 1: robbery vs. calamity
15 quibus occidi ... bono fuit occidi is a noun, subject of fuit. The Cassian question cui (quibus) bono fuit is the most famous of double datives: who profits? 2: profit vs. penury
17 iugulare ... ne ... trucidetur 3: murderous intent vs. need for self-defence. cum praesidio is not necessarily an armed body-guard; it refers to the escort of friends, advocati, who surround the accused.
18 summe adverb
20 populus poscit ... unus relictus ex ... caede 4: final restatement of the reversal. poscit means to demand for punishment: L&S s.v. II.A. unus relictus ... restat is both exaggerated and redundant; one does not need both relictus and restat, and unus, while not strictly true, is Cicero's way of indicating that the opponents have always been able to murder everyone else at will. Thus Roscius may not be the only man to have escaped their clutches, but he is, Cicero avers, the first.
23 quae facta sunt ... haec sunt quae dicimus subordinate clauses in O.O. may be in the indicative if the statements are true anyway, and if the speaker wishes to emphasize their occurrence (as here)
24 res quem ad modum proleptic
26 et rei publicae calamitatem also, with miserias and audacias, the object of cognoscere, placed after the verb for emphasis
cum correlative with tum, next page line 1
29 genere et nobilitate et pecunia ablatives of specification (with primus) describe the three qualities which one must have to count in Roman society: genus is birth into a respectable family, nobilitas comes from holding office, and pecunia ensures that the two kinds of (local) distinction are worth something.
2 florens prosperous (with abls. of specification gratia and hospitiis), another sort of distinction. Roscius maior had the favor of and had an inherited relatinship of guest-friendship (hospitium) with influential Romans.
Metellis etc. The Metelli, Servilii, Cornelii Scipiones were
all leading Roman families. Roscius took refuge with Caecilia
Metella to escape his enemies (see §27). The Metelli, esp. Q.
Caecilius Metellus Pius, were political allies of Sulla and hostile to
Marius and his supporters.
3 ei Roscius maior; dative of possession
4 domesticus usus et consuetudo actual friendship in private life, opposed to the formality of an hereditary relationship. Roscius maior visited Rome frequently.
5 honestatis amplitudinisque gratia honestas = honorable position (should have something to do with office-holding), amplitudo = distinguished position (amplus and its superlative, and amplitudo, are favorite attributes of Roman senators; cf. above in sections 2 and 3). Cf. Sulla, quem honoris causa nomino in §6.
6 commodis useful things: rank, money, friends at Rome
hoc solum friends at Rome; the rank would be worthless without the patrimonium, although the fama is worth defending
7 domestici praedones his kinsmen were among those who robbed him
vi ereptum possident better than having to say they took (active voice) by violence and keep it
8 paternis adjective for genitive.
cum correlative with tum, line 10. Normally the parallel
clauses have the same mood; the subjunctive here is due to the
circumstantial force of cum
nobilitatis fautor Roscius maior had allied himself with the Roman senatorial aristocracy, what one in another time and place would call the boni or optimates, at this time identified with the party of Sulla, whose reforms were aimed at keeping political authority with the senate. Historically, the local nobility in Italian towns had supported the Roman ruling class - the senate - in return for real advantages, including Roman citizenship. Cicero states the quid pro quo relationship explicitly in lines 13-15 below: rectum putabat ... numerabatur. In calling the man a supporter of the nobility, Cicero implicitly puts him in Sulla's camp.
10 hoc tumulto proximo Cicero may mean either the events beginning in 87 with Marius' and Cinna's return to the city, or perhaps only the more recent battles of 83-82, culminating with Sulla's victory at the Colline Gate on 1 November 82. In military terms, tumultus is a civil disturbance: cf. Phil. 8.2ff (quoted in L&S s.v. tumultus I.B). Although Cicero's deliberate temporal vagueness may allow one to encompass the earlier period from the beginning of the Social War as well, there is no evidence for what role, if any, Roscius maior played in events of that time, and the characterisation of the conflict as one in which omnium nobilium dignitas et salus in discrimen veniret rather refers to the late eighties rather than to the earlier period. Marian (or Cinnan) partisans who opposed Sulla included disaffected Italians who had not given up on the idea of secession.
11 dignitas et salus Position and existence, the first as important as the second, or, in Caesar's words, more important. The singular verb agrees with the nearer subject, but, although this is a regular grammatical feature, the use of the singular tends to make one idea of dignitas et salus.
in ea vicinitate His part of Umbria: Sulla's disturbances were not confined to Rome.
12 eam partem causamque the "party" (usually plural, partes)
of the nobility, which Sulla professed to defend and vindicate.
opera from opera, -ae, and although singular, brings
to mind the "private armies" or gangs (operae) which played such a
major role in Roman politics of the coming generation.
13 honestate ... honestissimus i.e. their dignitas, upon which his depended
15 victoria may be meant to indicate over the Italians still in revolt, but specifically meant the victory over possession of the city of Rome.
ab armisque the enclitic conjunction is strangely placed, as it is meant to join the two verbs: nearly makes a single idea of ab armis recedere
16 cum proscriberentur an unpleasant aspect of Sulla's victory, but one which Cicero must explicitly state in order to make his case that Roscius maior had never been counted among the dictator's opponents.
17 ei qui adversarii fuisse putabantur Circumlocution for Sulla's
real or imagined inimici. The use of putabantur saves Cicero from
having to pass judgment on the proscribed, and also allows him to embrace
injustices within a broader category of
mistakes.
18 frequens adverbial
in foro et in ore omnium Cf. descriptions in Plutarch, Sulla. Here Cicero distinguishes between Roscius maior, who was actually at Rome, with others who had to be tracked down ex omni regione
19 magis ut exsultare ... videretur quam [ut] timere [videretur] Roscius maior spent much time at Rome in open support of Sulla's faction, not, Cicero assures the suspicious, in activities meant to allay suspicion of his sympathies.
20 ne quid ... calamitatis sibi accideret euphemism
ex ea sc. victoria (ex is causal)
inimicitiae Long-standing political or personal enmity with fellow citizens; usually plural (not plural because of the number of enemies). Here, the inimici are members of his own family. Cicero names them more precisely in lines 25ff.
22 alterum One of the two, Titus Roscius Magnus (lines 26-27), was present at court in support of the accuser.
23 alterum ... audio Hearsay: this one is Titus Roscius Capito (line 26), presumably busy running three of Roscius' (huiusce) farms.
quas inimicitias ... viveret Roscius maior is the subject of the mixed unreal condition. The correlatives tam ... quam indicate inequality: "if he had been able to be on guard to the same extent that he feared them ..." or "if his precautions had equalled his fears."
25 neque iniuria iniuria = sine iure; litotes (= neque ... non)
26 alteri Capitoni cognomen est, iste ... Magnus vocatur variatio, both of construction and in using iste for the second alter; the first construction employs the usual dative of the name in apposition with the owner, rather than nominative with cognomen.
27 alter Capito, as in the first part of the sentence
plurimarum palmarum attributive genitive, with nobilis = famous for; cf. L&S s.v. II.D.2.d-e.
28 gladiator habetur habetur = he was considered; Capito never actually fought in the games. An example of metonymy: the word gladiator was one of several used for the concept of "thug." Cicero similarly characterised others who indulged in violence, e.g., Catiline (Cat. 1.29, 2.24; his followers at 2.7), M. Antonius (saepe in Philippics, e.g., 2.7 and 74, and the adjective gladiatorius at 2.63).
hic Magnus; should be iste, more variatio.
29 eum lanistam Capito; he continues the metaphor by calling Capito a gladiator-trainer.
quique = et qui, the conjecture of Madvig. The mss. have qui, which gives an abrupt asyndeton. The person is still Magnus.
hanc pugnam The murder of Roscius maior.
30 tiro technical term for newly-recruited soldier, frequently extended to a beginner in any field.
quod sciam proviso
2 T. autem iste Roscius autem and other postpositives regularly appear between two parts of a name
adsiduus adverbial
4 ipse Roscius maior
5 occiditur Cicero uses the historical present for his narrative of the murder and subsequent events, through §21.
ad balneas Pallacinas ad = near; the baths were near the Circus Flaminius
6 ex hoc ipso the preceding account of who was where. Cicero argues that Roscius had no opportunity to kill his father, but that Magnus did.
non esse obscurum in apposition with the relative clause
7 malefici genitive, the second -i omitted, as usual; with suspicio
id quod ... suspiciosum proleptic
suspiciosum grounds for suspicion of the defendant
8 perspicuum refers to id (line 7): nisi res ipsa fecerit perspicuum id quod ...
res ipsa the facts which he prepares to set forth
fecerit future perfect; with iudicatote, the future imperative, in apodosis
adfinem culpae adfinis + dative or genitive = party to. culpae could be either case; Cicero uses the dative elsewhere, e.g. huic facinori at Cat. 4.3. Same promise at §76.
11 tenuis etc. one may assume a grammatical progression, thus a logical progression from bad to worse: of slender means, an ex-slave, client and buddy of Magnus
13 inimici noun, in apposition with Capitonis
cum concessive
post horam primam noctis Day and night each had 12 hours, which were longer or shorter according to the season. "After the first hour of the night" would correspond, in our terms, to after 9:00 p.m. or later in June, after 5:00 p.m. or earlier in December. So what time of year is this?
14 primo diluculo "at the crack of dawn;" the noun diluculum apparently ante- and post-class. except for this instance in Cicero and one in the letters; nearly a hapax.
decem horis nocturnis Does Cicero make a particular point, i.e. was it summer, so that the hours were shorter?
15 sex et quinquaginta milia passuum 56 Roman miles is approx. 51.5 U.S. miles (1618 English yards to a Roman mile) = approx. 82.5 K.
cisiis pervolavit Understood literally, Mallius Glaucia used more than one carriage, that is, he employed relays. The verb is poetic (exc. Rep. 6, 26, 29 - there prob. Platonic): mock epic tone.
16 inimico ... inimici The position of the word indicates that one should understand it with exoptatum as well as with adferret. Same word for the two people, reinforces the idea, the first active (Capito hated Roscius maior), the second, by context, passive (Roscius maior hateful to Capito).
18 ostenderet The original final clause (ut ... adferret lines 16-17) continues.
20 ad Chrysogonum ... Volaterras Three constructions of goal of motion: to (ad) a person, into (in) a kind of place (common noun), to (no preposition) a named place.
defertur ... demonstratur ... commemoratur Deliberate use of passive to avoid naming the messengers. When Cicero changes to the active voice he has already established anonymity: "they" explain (demonstrant) and promise their support (pollicentur).
21 praediorum ... fundos Here praedium = fundus
22 Tiberim ... tangunt Location, location, location
24 splendidus et gratiosus splendidus is to an equestrian what amplissimus is to a senator; gratiosus = influential (full of gratia) (above §15 line 1).
25 perfacile Cicero is very fond of compounds with per-, as well as of superlatives
hunc ... ignotum Roscius is an easy victim for three reasons: his natural lack of suspicion (incautum), his lack of experience in affairs of the world (rusticum), his lack of a reputation or supporters where these count (Romae ignotum).
26 de medio tolli posse de medio is an idiom (lit. from the middle) for "out of the way," i.e. he could be disposed of.
28 societas Business term (of tax farmers too), also political.
iam any longer; Sulla had ceased adding new names to the list
29 qui ante metuerant redirent The antecedent of qui is omitted; the relative clause stands for a noun ("the fearful," or perhaps, "the vulnerable"), subject of the verb redirent. Before (antea) the lists were closed, no one knew from one day to the next whether or not his name would be added.
defunctos < defungor (with periculis on next page line 1) (Virgil Aen. 6.83), more negative than fungor
1 nomen refertur not the same as nomen deferre (to accuse; cf. §8 line 18). referre = to enroll (in = among), usually used with a word for the place in which something is entered, e.g. in tabulas, in librum, in proscriptos (§27 line 14): L&S s.v. refero II.B.3.e.
tabulas the proscription lists
2 hominis studiosissimi nobilitatis cf. nobilitatis fautor §16 line 9
manceps technical term for a purchaser (of the confiscated estate) at public auction
3 propria predicate
4 in with impetum facit (line 6), like an invading army; cf. in praedia huius invadit §23 line 20.
6 imprudente L. Sulla imprudens = "unaware," not "stupid." Whether or not Sulla kept himself apprised, or learnt what happened, even after the fact, Cicero must absolve him of blame or it would be dangerous for anyone to vote for acquittal. Cicero reiterates the point in §25.
neque enim mirum
cum eodem tempore
et ea quae praeterita sunt reparet
et ea quae videntur instare praeparet
cum
et pacis constituendae rationem
et belli gerendi potestatem
solus habeat
cum
omnes in unum spectent
unus omnia gubernet
cum tot tantisque negotiis distentus sit
ut respirare libere non possit
si aliquid non animadvertat
cum praesertim tam multi
occupationem eius observent
tempusque aucupentur
ut
simul atque ille despexerit
aliquid huiusce modi moliantur
8 ea quae praeterita sunt ... ea quae videntur instare circumlocutions for past (misfortunes or mistakes) and future (problems)
reparet a reading which Lambinus reported; some editors prefer Rinkes' emendation sanet. But reparet balances praeparet
9 pacis constituendae rationem Sulla was reworking the constitution. The formula or pretence of restoring the government and the republic became tediously overused: cf. Libertas.
10 solus Sulla was both consul and dictator in 80; although his friend Metellus Pius was his colleague in the consulship (and hadn't left yet for Spain?), as dictator Sulla officially retained sole control of the state.
11 omnes in unum ... unum omnia 1. esp. nice chiasmus; 2. meaning of spectare slightly different with each object (one requires a preposition); 3. in means "at"; 4. Cicero evidently liked this collocution so much that he repeated it at §139.
12 distentus Sulla was, figuratively, pulled in different directions = same meaning as English "distracted."
13 si aliquid non animadvertat euphemism. Usually quid appears after si, but aliquid is also permissible, especially to emphasize the existence of the something. Not the same as nisi quid animadvertat. Note mood of the verb.
cum praesertim the final circumstance, the list having been interrupted for variety and because of emphasis by the si- clause which, in apposition to the main clause, answers all of the preceding circumstances. The previous cum- clauses were all "positive" statements of Sulla's activities and responsibilities; this final one is "negative," the affirmation that his associates take advantage of his preoccupation.
14 occupationem ... aucupentur aucupor = bird-hunting (literally). tempus = opportunity
ut ... moliantur final, despite tam multi
16 huc cf. §9 line 8
felix Sulla's cognomen: I would like to see the word with upper-case F, for this is surely how Cicero's listeners heard it, and presumably enjoyed the double entendre in sicut est. Sulla styled himself Sulla Felix, and named his children Faustus and Fausta, because he believed that he was the darling of Fortune (or Venus).
17 nemo potest esse To be taken only with in tanta felicitate, which sets up the consecutive relative clause qui neminem ... habeat.
in magna familia This prepositional phrase is not to be construed with esse but as a description of circumstance: "when he has a large family." The familia included not only family members but slaves and freedmen.
neminem modified by improbum, in apposition with servum and libertum
iste T. Roscius This is always Magnus in the speech; he refers to the other one (who has three farms and is absent from court) as Capito.
vir optimus, procurator Chrysogoni irony, early instance of insult by definition: esp. the description of the free man as the agent of the ex-slave, a reversal of expected roles.
21 paterno funeri lit. to his father's burial, i.e. to his dead father
22 iusta solvisset solvo means to pay or discharge a debt owed; in this case the necessary funeral ceremonies. Offerings and a feast (novendiale) were given for the dead on the ninth day following the funeral (the burning of the body).
domo atque focis patriis disque penatibus Three expressions meaning the same thing, abls. of place from which with, the tangible with eicit, the figurative with exturbat
23 iudices the position of the vocative involves the judges emotionally
24 Qui in sua re Magnus in his previous station, with only his own resources (res)
25 ut fit "as it happens." Cicero asserts that poor people are likely to be carefree with others' possessions (in aliena [re])
multa ... plura ... non pauca tricolon ending with litotes
26 de medio "out of sight;" slightly different meaning from that used of getting rid of Roscius §20 line 26
27 donabat donare takes two constructions: donare aliquid alicui, as here, the same construction as dare, or donare aliquem aliqua re
constituta auctione an official auction. A spear (hasta) was set up to advertise the sale and there was a magistrate present to note down the highest bidders.
usque eo with indignum signals the consecutive clause ("it seemed to them outrageous to such an extent that ...")
urbe tota a noun modified with an adjective - esp. totus - need not employ a locative preposition (A&G 429.2)
3 versabantur Here = erant (L&S s.v. verso II.B.1). Cicero reproduces the picture with a variety of structures belonging to a string of nominatives in apposition with multa. The first two things are the death and the son: the change in word-order not only produces variation but places the most important thing first in its phrase and allows each to end with the feminine singular superlative adjective. The relative clause interrupts the list at the crucial chronological point: after the father's death and the son's impoverishment, impiety is thrust upon the dispossessed heir. Cicero then resumes the previous construction with the important word "property" (bonorum), with its nominative and attached adjective, and flings out four more nouns for good measure.
5 iter a right of way
7 possessio technical term for taking possession, i.e. seizure: Cicero does not say that the town fathers object to the fact of possession, although they may, but to the manner.
8 ardere omnia omnia is subject; ardeo is intransitive
videre ... T. Roscium When the verb of sense-perception is used in its literal sense, as opposed to "I perceive that," it is followed by a participle, as in English. Cf. I see that he has come; I see him coming. T. Roscium is the subject of the participles (se in line 9 is object of iactantem); the preposition in governs bonis in line 9.
decurionum decretum fit ut = decuriones decernunt ut (+ jussive noun clause; ut governs the following four 3rd person plural subjunctives). Cicero resumes the historical present here, also with veniunt in line 16.
11 doceant here means to inform; construction with external accusative (direct object) of person told, thing told variously, either with internal accusative, or with substantive clause = indirect question (as here), or with de
12 qui ... fuerit indirect question; qui = qualis. Evidently Roscius maior did not know Sulla personally, although he was friendly with the Metelli.
14 conservatas with famam and fortunam. Note the perfect infinitive (esse omitted) with velit; the perfect participle is in predicate agreement with the subjects and is a more emphatic expression of their wishes than the present infinitive.
15 cognoscite (to the judges) "hear," the command softened by parenthetical quaeso. The text of the decree is not transmitted, merely the words indicating that it was read.
16 Intellegitur ... fieri Parenthetical reminder; cf. end of §21. Intellegitur = "of course."
scelera haec et flagitia fieri nice collocution, alliteration.
18 Chrysogonus et ipse The et = both (with following et): Both C ipse accedit and adlegat homines nobilis.
eos The decem primi from Ameria.
19 qui peterent ... et ... pollicerentur Relative final clause. Cicero does not reveal the identities of these noble people who do Chrysogonus' pleading for him.
adirent Unexpressed subject is the decem primi.
et omnia etc. The word order weaves Chrysogonus into the business and places him squarely next to "everything." The order of sense is [homines nobiles] pollicentur Chrysogonum facturum esse omnia quae [decem primi] vellent.
22 Sullam doceri Cf. line 11 above; here Sulla is the subject of the passive verb; different construction of verb for variation.
Homines antiqui Subject of crediderunt in line 26. The adjective describes their mores, not necessarily their years (L&S s.v. II.C).
23 ceteros fingerent etc. Relative consecutive clause (characteristic), lit. "make the rest out of (the substance of) their own natures;" Cicero states a truism of human nature, that people imagine that others will react as they do.
ille ... sese ... exempturum ... traditurum Chrysogonus' promise, to erase the name of Roscius maior from the list, will free the son from the laws governing the heirs of the proscribed, thus he promises also, in his own name, to return the property to Roscius. After Cicero's description of Magnus' treatment of the property in §23, praedia vacua seems ironic, but the adjective when used of property can mean "without any [other] owner": L&S s.v. II.D.
25 Capito ... appromitteret This is the first advice that Capito was one of the decem primi. The verb is a hapax, coined effectively to connect Capito with Chrysogonus. The other legates from Ameria must have been peculiarly oblivious to the personal relationships in their own town to trust an enemy of the deceased.
26 re inorata The decem primi may have believed that they had pled their case, but as they did not see Sulla, it effectively went unheard.
27 rem Effecting the promises
28 isti Chrysogonus and friends. The verb coeperunt governs only the infinitives in this clause; those which follow are better taken as historical infinitives.
lentius As it stands, the text reads, "they were doing nothing a little more indifferently and being deceitful." Some editors bracket nihil (thus "they began to behave [agere] a little more indifferently) or change lentius to insolentius or licentius. The adverb does not make logical sense.
29 intellectum est = intellegi potest
1 vitae dative (incommodi) with insidias
sese subject in O.O. of obtinere; arbitrari continues the historical infinitives.
3 obtinere "hold on to": it is not a question of obtaining what they have already seized
de sententia The phrase usually means "in accord with their wish," but "advice" suits the meaning better here.
4 sese with contulit in line 6
5 Caeciliam ... filiam The ms. reading is Nepotis filiam; cf. §147 line 25.
quam ... nomino Same phrase as for Sulla (§6).
6 qua ... usus erat L&S s.v. utor II.A: means to enjoy someone's friendship (used of persons of either sex); cf. §15 for the corresponding noun: cum Metellis ... domesticus usus et consuetudo
8 quasi exempli causa Here, "example" means a model to follow, a common meaning of the word, although not usually with causa
vestigia antiqui offici Cf. homines antiqui above. vestigia is not usually used of something intangible, but sometimes, and then often softened (quaedam). The word does not imply that there is nothing but a faint trace remaining to Caecilia, whose sense of duty (officium), being old-fashioned, is uncontaminated by more modern notions of expediency.
9 Ea Caecilia, subject of recepit and opitulata est in lines 11-12. The sentence is well framed by Ea Sex. Roscium inopem ... opitulata est, although grammatically Sex. Roscium is object only of recepit
11 hospitique ... desperatoque Roscius, dative with the deponent verb. Roscius was Caecilia's hospis not only because of staying in her house, but because of the relationship of hospitium between the two families (§15). The first -que joins the two clauses (verbs), the second joins the two participles modifying hospiti
ab omnibus with desperato
12 factum est ut impersonal verb
14 referretur Cf. note above p.10 line 1. For in reos cf. Verr. 2.5.42.109.
17 consilium Explained by the three substantive clauses which follow (ut ... deferrent, ut ... compararent, ut ... pugnarent). The first clause explains their plan; the second two, the method of achieving their aim.
18 nomen ... deferrent to accuse formally, as in §8 line 18
de "on a charge of"
ad eam rem "for that purpose"
19 aliquem accusatorem veterem vetus in the bad sense, "an old hand," opposed to antiquus, which is a positive word. The person in question is named Erucius (§35).
20 de ea re "concerning this accusation"
in qua re refers to aliquid
21 nulla subesset suspicio Since Erucius did not hold any of the dead man's property, he would avoid suspicion of a personal interest in bringing the prosecution.
crimine ... tempore ipso abls. of means: the political circumstances (tempus) were the only point in their favor, as there was no real grounds for accusation (crimen)
22 loqui historical infinitive. The verb is followed by O.O. despite the quotation marks printed in the text.
quod "because": since the clause is in O.O. one cannot tell whether or not Cicero would vouch for the truth of the reason.
iudicia regular sessions of the law courts; quaestiones
23 condemnari ... esset oportere is the "main verb." The first regular trial ought to conclude with a guilty verdict to signal a return to law and order. Cicero does not admit here the possibility that people in general may have wanted to see an acquittal for the same reason, although he argues elsewhere that this consideration should move the judges.
24 huic Roscius (dative with defuturos); in choosing this pronoun Cicero delivers the gossip of others from his own standpoint.
patronos Plural indicates actual attorney(s) as well as advocati.
25 gratiam influence, lit. "favor," i.e., the position of enjoying Sulla's favor, and the ability to do favors for others.
26 societate the business deal which Cicero revealed in §21.
neminem subject of the infinitive, placed last for emphasis.
27 ipso nomine ... atrocitate abls. of cause; parricidi is genitive of definition
fore ut ... tolleretur periphrasis for the future passive infinitive; lit. "it will be that he be done away with"
nullo negotio adverbial: "with no trouble"
28 ab nullo In classical Latin one usually finds nullo (or nulla) for nemine, and nullius for neminis, so although nullo is from the adjective nullus it stands for the pronoun nemo All of the last several clauses are negatives, real or implied, beginning with verb desum. Paints rather a black picture for the accused.
29 quem occidere The relative clause is placed first, before the antecedent eum in line 30, to emphasize the clause of which eum is a part: him they handed over to be murdered by you.
cum concessive
30 vobis By its position, may be taken with both the gerundive iugulandum and the verb tradiderunt, thus reinforcing the idea of the judges' complicity.
1 A double tripartite aporia; the last of the first three questions (aut quod aut a quibus auxiliam petam is in effect one question) introduces the second set.
querar "complain" (about). The verbs (ordiar, petam, implorem) are all deliberative subjunctives.
2 quod with auxilium
deorumne ... populine ... vestramne qui The enclitic -ne introduces alternatives. vestram, as well as the two preceding genitives, modifies fidem in line 4. The relative has as its antecedent the pronoun vos implied in the possessive adjective.
6 infesta In the primary meaning of unsafe.
7 sceleris Partitive genitive with Quid = what (facet) of criminality.
8 cumulant Here means "increase."
adaugent The prefix multiplies the meaning of the verb.
9 testis accusative plural
10 pecunia ablative of means
condicionem misero ferunt condicionem ferre means to offer terms
11 optet utrum ... an opto here means to have a choice, with the alternative indirect question describing his options. A Hobson's choice?
cervices often plural in the expression cervices dare
insutus in culleum The penalty for parricides was to be sewn up in a sack and drowned; for further details see §70. Cicero does not mention in this speech any of the other details, e.g., the other occupants of the sack.
12 Patronos Established advocates; Cicero does not count himself as one. The sentence prefaces an emotional appeal, and commences a repeated captatio benevolentiae (cf. §9).
13 qui libere dicat, qui etc. The relative clauses of characteristic serve both as nouns (Latin has no complimentary word for free speaker, faithful defender; translate "he who" or "one who") and as antecedents of the unexpressed subject of deest
16 adulescentia abl. of cause with impulsus
semel Indicates priority of time (with quoniam): "since I have once undertaken it," i.e., "now that I have undertaken it."
17 minae etc. The first two members in asyndeton; for effect, although it is not grammatically necessary, Cicero repeats omnia with pericula, both creating a chiasmus and leaving the adjective emphatically last.
18 succurram ac subibo The first verb is absolute, or one may imagine the case, or Roscius, as object. The objects of the second are the minae terrores pericula
Certum est deliberatumque Virtual passive verbs whose subject is the substantive clause omnia ... dicere (line 21).
19 quae ... arbitror Relative clause (not indirect question), the delayed antecedent of quae is omnia in the next line, which Cicero places in a more prominent position. The adjective omnia also recalls the nouns which it modified in the last sentence.
20 omnia non modo dicere etc. Another advocate might have chosen to ignore the Sullan connection, but Cicero states that he sees his only hope of victory in a daring exposure.
libenter audacter libereque The third adverb relates back both to his description of himself above (qui libere dicat) and to the exordium, especially §3 (si omnia quae dicenda sunt libere dixero ... si quid liberius dixero). The first two add extra dimensions to his self-portrayal.
21 tanta "so important," or perhaps, "so powerful;" with the consecutive clause ut possit ... adhibere
22 metus genitive with vim, placed near the end for direct comparison with fides. Perhaps vim here is to be translated "amount," "abundance," "quantity," as it sometimes is in other connections.
fides nominative
qui ... possit Consecutive relative clause, interrupted by subordinate clause haec cum videat
24ff. Patrem meum etc. Cicero now speaks in the person of his client, addressing his accusers.
cum concessive
25 occisum sc. patrem
26 domo mea abl. with expulistis. The verb uses a preposition (repeated ex, or ab) rather more often than it governs a simple ablative.
27 ad subsellia Cf. §12 line 10.
28 hic spatial
ut aut iuguletis aut condemnetis Final clause. Roscius is the unexpressed object of the verb. The mss. add Sex. Roscium, some editors, following Lambinus, delete it.
2 C. Fimbria PW Flavius 88. Cicero elsewhere (Brutus 233) describes his oratory as in keeping with his character (insanus inter disertos). C. Flavius Fimbria was one of the supporters of Marius and Cinna in 87. He was responsible for the deaths of P. Licinius Crassus Dives and one of his sons, and the murders of C. and L. Caesar in their own homes. In 86 Cinna sent Fimbria as legate to accompany L. Valerius Flaccus and his army to relieve Sulla of his eastern command against Mithradates VI. Fimbria killed Flaccus (his motives are obscure) and took over his command, not without some success, but at the end of the year he committed suicide after his men deserted him for Sulla.
3 insaniunt insanissimum paronomasia.
4 in funere C. Mari Marius died early in 86, the year of his last consulship.
curasset ... ut Q. Scaevola vulneraretur Final clause. The use of curo and the passive imply that Fimbria had the murder attempt carried out by someone else. This Scaevola is Q. Mucius Scaevola the Pontifex.
5 sanctissimus atque ornatissimus sanctissimus as pontifex; ornatissimus as a prominent orator and advocate.
6 ut multa dicantur final clause: "to speak at length"
7 memoria locative abl. with retinet
8 diem Scaevolae dixit The subject is Fimbria (Is, line 3); Cicero uses the proper name as object both for clarity and because he has interrupted his sentence by several lines of praise for Scaevola. Scaevolae is dative: diem dicere alicui means to accuse, to prosecute someone, by having the praetor set a date for the hearing.
eum Scaevola, who was recovering from the wound.
9 quaereretur impersonal passive: "people asked."
quid the internal object of accusaturus esset (the external object is eum). The more usual construction is accusare aliquem alicuius rei
tandem often used in the interrogative clause to emphasize the question mark: whatever will you accuse him of?
10 pro dignitate in proportion to his position (with satis commode in line 11)
11 hominem One difference between homo and vir is that homo can be used contemptuously.
ut causal
12 quod ... recepisset A variation on the people's shout to a defeated gladiator, "recipe ferrum!"
13 Quo sc. dicto, abl. of comparison with indignius
14 eiusdem viri Scaevola
tantum potuit possum is often used with adverbial neuters, and means "have influence," vel sim.
omnis accusative plural
15 quos proleptic, with ab eis.
per compositionem Scaevola wanted to reconcile the Marian and Sullan factions; that is, he was going to support Sulla. He and three other senators were killed by L. Iunius Brutus Damasippus, praetor urbanus in 82. Pompey captured and executed Brutus after the battle of the Colline Gate.
16 ab eis The Marians. Thus his death at their hands prevented his saving them from Sulla. Actually, it was Sulla who decided not to negotiate, once he learnt that Cinna was dead.
19 Illud ... hoc Contrast between the ranks both of the victim Scaevola and the intended victim Roscius, and of the perpetrators Fimbria and Chrysogonus: the earlier case is outrageous because of the stature of the victim, the present one because of the baseness of the criminal, an appeal to the judges' class prejudice.
22 defensionis genitive with indigeat, as always in Cicero's formal prose.
qui locus qui is interrogative adjective; locus means place, or point, in an argument.
23 magno opere adverbial
24 explicemus ... consideremus hortatory subjunctives
25 expositam with causam
quae res ... quibus de rebus ... quid Tricolon: tripartite indirect question with intellegetis. Two of the three verbs are impersonal; their respective constructions are identical. Cicero answers the questions in order.
quantum adverbial, referring to the tres res, "there are three things, that I can count ..."
1 crimen etc. in apposition with tres res. NB crimen is an accusation, not a crime. Cicero attributes the three things, in the order listed here, to the three different parties to the accusation: the official prosecutor, the T. Roscii, and Chrysogonus.
2 audacia et potentia Bad words; on audacia cf. above §33, on potentia cf. §4 line 9. The polite word for potentia is auctoritas
confictionem "invention" (from confingo). A hapax in Cicero, and not used by anyone else except a fifth-century C.E. medical author.Cf. §30 crimen incredibile confingunt, and crimen commenticium §42.
3 Erucius The official prosecutor
partis accusative plural: a stage word, meaning the part or role. The word is also used of political parties (cf. §16 line 12).
4 plurimum potest cf. note on tantum potuit §33 line 14. Of the conspirators, Chrysogonus had the most power. potentia is abl. of means.
5 De hisce omnibus rebus me dicere oportere intellego Echoes the second question of §34, quibus de rebus nos dicere oporteat
Non eodem modo sc. me dicere oportet de quaque re
7 ideo quod cf. above §1 propterea quod
prima illa res the crimen. It is Cicero's duty as advocate to address the specific accusation.
8 imposuit he says that the Roman people imposed audacia et potentia upon the judges (vobis), but he means that the people imposed the responsibility for dealing with these problems.
9 oportet diluam as usual, ut omitted after oportet. Cf. below §42 res tam levis qua ratione infirmem ac diluam
vos et resistere et ... exstinguere atque opprimere Answers the third question, quid vos sequi conveniat, the judges' duties. The first two of the tres res, crimen and audacia, receive short notice: the advocate should argue against the accusation, the people in charge of lawcourts should try cases against malefactors, but the problem of potentia is the most threatening of all and Cicero treats it with the prominence which he argues it deserves.
10 perniciosam atque intolerandam potentiam loaded words. Cf. §34 non est ferendum
11 primo quoque tempore quoque from quisque. With primus means the first possible, thus, "at the first possible opportunity," namely, now.
exstinguere atque opprimere copia
Scelestum also with facinus
13 eius modi The third element, a descriptive genitive replacing an adjective, means tale, and introduces a consecutive relative clause: quo = ut eo
quo uno maleficio ... complexa esse Cicero substitutes maleficium for facinus; the ablative goes with the verb complexa esse. Complector is usually a deponent, but here and in one other passage of Cicero cited by the grammarian Priscianus (p.797 P), its meaning is passive. L&S cite also Tusc. 5.14.40 and Fin. 3.12.41 and say that the better reading is completur
15 voltu abl. of means: "by an expression" (or look)
16 laeditur laedo is the usual verb for doing harm to an abstract idea (cf. §111 fides ... quam qui laedit), and laesa maiestas, and divinities. Other verbs (noceo, saucio, vulnero) not so used in classical prose.
pietas proper feelings. Pietas includes both duty and affection, especially towards parents, country, political allies, deities.
17 in eum in = against. English idiom is "for him."
pro quo for/instead of whom
mori ipsum ... iura ... cogebant duty (iura divina atque humana) was forcing (or should have forced) the child (ipsum) to die to protect his parent. The use of indicative in unreal conditions is regular when the verb involved has the meaning of possibility, likelihood, or duty: A&G 517b&c.
20 auditum sit "heard of"
21 numeretur is counted as, or reckoned the same as
tandem with quibus (argumentis); cf. §33 line 9
22 uti infinitive dependent on oportere, dependent in turn on censes
23 in crimen vocetur lit. is summoned to a charge
ostendere depends on oportere, assumed from previous sentence. Its objects are audaciam, mores, naturam, vitam, omnia. Cicero's characterisation of such an accused focuses on both character (audacia, mores, natura) and evidence of character as seen in actions (vita, omnia). The length of the list is excessive, although the alliteration is vitam vitiis is nice. This kind of argument - that previous evidence of a depraved character or misspent life is necessary to accuse someone of a heinous crime - was, with its opposite, commonly employed in Greek and Roman law courts. No one seems ever to have reduced the idea ad absurdum, for until one has committed even a minor infraction, one's purity of character is infinitely (mathematically speaking) removed from the possibility of conceiving of such a deed.
25 omnia ... profligata omnia is often used as a noun. Here it means every aspect (of his life).
26 Quorum ... nihil Erucius has evidently cited none of the usual arguments of character assassination just rehearsed.
in Sex. Roscium ... contulisti in aliquem conferre aliquid means to ascribe something to someone
ne obiciendi quidem causa lit. for the sake not even of reproach (the English idiom is not even for the sake of). Cicero has offered the first point of his refutation: how could Roscius be guilty of parricide when his accusers have not even attributed to him a depraved character? (Since all agree that parricides are rare and monstrous.) This is an early example of one of Cicero's favorite tactics, accusing his opponent of an imperfect grasp of the principles of oratory or logic, or of misjudging or insulting the audience (§§44, 48, 50, 89).
Qui = qualis
29 nequam indeclinable adj., with hominibus
inductus "incited," (L&S s.v. II.B.2) here used absolutely
Annos natus maior quadraginta natus + accusative (so many annos) = so many years old; with maior one expects the ablative annis, but does not always find it.
30 Vetus videlicet sicarius vetus again, cf. §28 line 19
1 versatus from the deponent form (L&S s.v. verso II.B.2)
ne dici quidem part of a puzzling sentence, lit. "but you heard this not even said by the accuser." It is difficult to hear something which was not said; English idiom would put the "not even" with the verb "to hear." The difficulty vanishes if one translated dici "mentioned."
2 Luxuries fifth declension form; followed by luxuria in line 4. Same phenomenon in § 75. L&S say ablative of 5th decl. is doubtful.
nimirum ironical.
3 aeris alieni aes alienum means someone else's money (a debt)
4 impulerunt its object is hominem in line 2. Extravagance, debt, and the desire for more of the same are often encountered in Ciceronian argument as motives for violent crimes.
purgavit usually wants an object.
5 ne in convivio quidem ullo fere Erucius had argued that Roscius' almost total avoidance of parties was evidence of an unnatural character; cf. §52.
6 debuit In its original sense: he had no debts.
cupiditates porro etc. Cicero cannot directly refute a charge of having cupiditates, so he argues from character, habit, and likelihood (lines 8-9 quae vita etc.). This is an ethical argument. Cf. §75.
quae interrogative adj. with cupiditates
8 in agro colendo gerundive construction
obiecit here means imparted (L&S s.v. II.A).
11 Patri non placebat? Perhaps one of the times when he shouted? (cf. his criticism of his own earlier delivery)
12 eam sc. causam
13 perspicuam so that there would be witnesses to it
ut correlative with sic in line 15: just as that (illud = the following statement, mortem ... causis) is unbelievable, so is this (hoc = odio ... necessariis) not likely (veri simile).
Nam ... necessariis Cicero argues two points at once: (1) Roscius
needs a motive. This is supplied: his father didn't like him.
(2) His father needs a motive. The two parts of the sentence balance
each other, the prepositional phrases at the end arranged chiastically:
1. mortem - verb - patri - a filio - sine plurimis et maximis causis
2. odio - verb - parenti - filium - sine causis multis et magnis et
necessariis
There is also variety: odio (final dative), not the subject
(filium), takes first position in the second clause, not only for
emphasis, but to preserve the order set out in the first clause. In the
second clause, causis precedes the adjectives; its adjectives balance
and exceed those of the first clause (plurimis-multis, maximis-magnis,
+ necessariis).
15 odio fuisse parenti filium double dative: the son was an object of hatred to the father
18 in unico filio Roscius maior had two sons, but one predeceased him (lines 25-26 below).
qua re ... displiceret Relative consecutive clause (qua re is ablative of cause).
19 perspicuum est The phrase serves as a reminder of the causam perspicuam above.
nullum sc. vitium
20 is Roscius maior
21 constantissimus "steadfast," i.e. "together," "consistent," the opposite of amens
perspicuum The second use in three lines, with same meaning; as Cicero has defined the premise, if neither condition is justified it cannot stand. The Greek equivalent argument is not linguistically equivalent, as the operative word is eikos.
23 neque fuisse The apodosis, subject of perspicuum est
patri ... filio datives of possession
26 omni tempore lit. at every time (all the time).
27 relegarat sent out of the way (to get rid of him). Used of a form of banishment in imperial times. Examples, e.g. Off. 3.31.112 (Manlius Torquatus), Seneca Ben. 3.37, Val. Max. 6.9.1.
Quod Erucio accidebat "What happened to Erucius": explained in the next sentence. Proleptic
28 idem neuter, antecedent of Quod
usu venit "It happens" (L&S s.v. usus II.C.2) = accidit
29 quo modo introduces a final relative clause; translate as if it read ille non inveniebat modum ("means") quo confirmaret ...
30 res tam levis accusative. The longer second half of the sentence
balances the first, with slight variation:
Ille - quo modo - crimen commenticium - confirmaret - non inveniebat
Ego - res tam levis - qua ratione - infirmem ac diluam - reperire non
possum
qua ratione = quo modo, same construction
infirmem (verb) opposite of confirmaret; Cicero adds diluam for good measure
relegationis ac supplici gratia gratia (abl.) = causa (abl.) + preceding genitive. relegatio apparently rather rare word.
4 hoc ... optatissimum in apposition with filios ... consumere
familiae instead of formulaic familias; cf. §48 line 17.
5 illius ordinis Property owners: Cicero describes the hopes and ways of thinking of the pillars of Italian communities.
7 operae ... studique partitive genitives with plurimum
sic "under such conditions" (described by the two final clauses which follow).
9 tantum modo "only" (with aleretur): his only wages would be his keep, like a slave
commodis omnibus profits; abl. of separation with careret
10 hunc subject of both praefuisse and solitum esse
colendis praediis dative with praefuisse
11 certis fundis abl. with frui
patre vivo abl. abs. This was a mark of great generosity: sons could own nothing while their fathers lived.
12 tamenne consider the effect of -ne as num
rusticana with vita, which is in apposition with relegatio
and amandatio. Modifiers of vita both separated from the
noun by something (haec a te vita eius rusticana): looks rather
like
a pyramid, or, better, a palindrome. But eius is emendation of
Vahlen (app: a te vita et y2, attente vita et cett.: attenta vita et
Naugerius)
amandatio hapax legomenon
14 Quod ... quod ... quod tricolon crescendo with anaphora and a triple pair of opposites: consuetudo-novum, benivolentia-odium, honoris causa-supplici causa. Compare the tricolon with anaphora which ends the next sentence.
usque eo ... ut lit. "you do not have what you might accuse (quid argues is final relative clause) to such an extent that ..."
19 tibi dative of agent with dicendum
non modo only with contra nos
verum etiam variant for sed etiam (NB see below lines 24-5: non enim ... sed); another possibility is sed alone (§48 line 16)
20 contra ... contraque ... contraque The final two parts of the tricolon have the same number of syllables (11; the first has 7) but in different meters.
22 At enim Introduces the objection which Cicero imagines will come from his opponent.
cum Concessive: although there were two sons, the treatment of each was quite different; one might have expected the father to share city-time and country-time equally. [Perhaps the other one was weak, idiotic, sickly? And perhaps Roscius really preferred to stay home on the farm.]
23 hoc what follows (this sentence)
24 in bonam partem "without offense"
non ... causa sed ... gratia variation. Cicero's cue to the audience that an insult is coming. The insult to Erucius' paternity is somewhat mitigated by the slight compliments to his intellect and intellectual attainments.
26 patre certo abl. of source/origin
ex quo introduces final relative clause
qui = qualis
27 humanitatis Not humanity in the sense of kindness, but a human nature (not education, which is not in nature's purview).
28 eo "to that," i.e. not to the human nature per se, but to the fact of nature's having given him humanitas
29 Ecquid Interrogative adj., here = num
30 ut veniamus final clause, lit. "to go to the stories" for an example
Caecilianus adj. "of Caecilius," the old man in a play of Caecilius. The play is lost, but presumably the father esteemed the son who stayed in the country. Cf. the Adelphoe
minoris genitive of value, with facere. When Cicero avers that fathers keep their favorite sons on the farm, he repeats the construction as a reminder: §47 suos liberos quos plurimi faciunt
2 nam ... est The parenthetical comment is an apology for citing an instance from literature. Cicero indubitably knows the names perfectly well but does not want to seem too much of a devotee of the arts. Cf. istas ineptias in line 4. Allusions to comedy, at least, are the least "intellectual" and most familiar to any audience at Rome, as Cicero states below, lines 9-10: nemo vobis magis notus futurus sit quam est hic Eutychus. Cf. Cael. 36-38.
hoc nomine abl. of description
alterum ... alterum Recalls Cicero's citation of Erucius' argument in §42.
5 quamvis multos quamvis with adjs. (most of the examples in L&S are taken from Cicero) may be rendered quam [here, multos] quam vis, "as many as you will," "very many."
6 ne longius abeam final clause; answers Quid ... abis in line 4.
tribulis ... vicinos with multos. Tribules are members of Cicero's tribe (tribus Cornelia for Arpinum).
7 agricolas adsiduos Adjective for adverb
8 sumere "to mention," infinitive used as noun, subject of odiosum est
cum Causal: Cicero gives three reasons (et in lines 8, 9, 10), only the first of which actually explains why it is "odious" to name real people.
9 velintne ei etc. indirect question. This is a real -ne
10 futurus sit First periphrastic future: Cicero uses the future as if he were making his choice of example on the spot.
quam est sc. vobis notus
ad rem to the point
11 comicum The young man is comicus because he appears in a play: the adjective means "from a comedy."
12 ex agro Veienti Territory N of Rome in southern Etruria, named for the old Etruscan town of Veii, which the Romans destroyed in 396 BCE.
Etenim Adds a further reason, and a further apology for the literary allusion.
haec conficta esse ... effictos nostros mores Cicero employs two compounds of the same verb, each with slightly different meanings for "rendered fictional": the first means "fabricated," the second "portrayed."
ut ... videremus final clause, although also subordinate clause in O.O.
14 expressamque imaginem exprimo here means "represent," i.e. about the same thing as effingo, as if the poets were sculptors.
16 in Vmbria et in ea vicinitate Ameria in Umbria, where Roscius lived, or used to live (§15)
his veteribus municipiis Towns closer to Rome. There is no negative connotation associated with the adjective here. The towns are long-established and the people in them are old-fashioned.
17 quae studia ... laudentur Indirect question, not characteristic.
familias Old genitive, in the expression pater familias
18 te subject of dedisse in line 19
inopia ablative of cause
19 vitio et culpae final datives; cf. probro et crimini in line 23
20 voluntate ablative of specification ("in accordance with")
permultos sc. hoc facere, O.O. after novi
et ... et Both (ego) and (unus quisque vestrum, line 21)
21 vestrum The judges; partitive (opp. to subjective) genitive
et ipsi et means "both;" the "and" is the -que at the beginning of line 23. The distinction is between those judges who are themselves fascinated by farming (qui et ipsi incensi sunt) and those (who are not but) admire the occupation anyway (vitamque ... arbitrantur is equivalent to qui et ipsi vitam ... arbitrantur).
22 studio instrumental abl.
ad agrum colendum = ad agriculturam
23 quam [vitam] ... esse esse with oportere, in O.O. after putas
26 his propinquis eius Roscius' neighbors, who, on the evidence of the demonstrative, are in court to support him.
27 audio With Vt ex his etc. from the preceding line
non Position is emphatic before the pronoun, which is also emphatic by its inclusion.
in isto artificio accusatorio artificium here in the bad sense which artifice has in English; elsewhere Cicero compares artificium and eloquentia (cf. Horace ars and ingenium): de Or. 1.32.146, or artificium and legal perspicuity (de Or. 2.19.83); cf. Auctor ad Herennium 3.2 (artificium and prudentia). Accusatorius is found primarily in Cicero, sometimes in Livy, Quintilian
1 Chrysogono dative with ita videtur, "thus it seems best" (other examples in L&S s.v. video 2.B.7.c)
2 obliviscatur ... deponat Jussive subjunctives dependent upon licebit, after which the ut is omitted, as often.
3 Quod "which thing," viz., forgetting his craft and setting aside his enthusiasm for farming.
4 per vos The judges as instrument: cf. §62 line 5.
vitam et famam Cicero wants an acquittal on the murder charge; he does not ask for restitution of property, as he argues in the second part of the sentence.
5 hoc vero Cicero interprets the possible results of Roscius' agricultural activities as ironic tragedy.
et "both," with venit; the accompanying "and" is the second et, with coluit in line 6.
7 quod = the fact that. The two reasons given are virtually
equivalent: the farms are profitable (propter bonitatem) because
Roscius managed them so well.
ea praedia
id erit ei maxime fraudi Double dative: ei (Roscius) is dative of reference, fraudi is final dative (its meaning here is "injury," not "fraud"); id = the substantive clause ut parum etc. which follows.
ut parum miseriae sit parum est means it is insufficient; the expression is often, as here, followed by a clause with nisi. miseriae is partitive genitive with parum
8 quod ... quod the fact that. The first substantive clause (quod
... sibi) is the subject of sit, and in apposition with parum
miseriae; the second (quod omnino coluit) is subject of fuerit
aliis ... sibi datives of advantage. The others are those who, after his father's death, took possession of the farms which he had managed too well.
9 omnino Used here in a positive grammatical construction (despite
nisi), but with a very negative connotation: that he took
care of the farms at all, even if not superbly, has turned out to be
to his detriment.
crimini final dative
esses for fuisses; this is a past unreal condition.
By using the imperfect subjunctive Cicero makes Erucius' putative condition
more immediate, rather like using the historical present.
illis temporibus The good old days (from the expulsion of the kings), if they ever were, did not extend much into what we call the second century BCE.
11 arcessebantur sc. ei, antecedent for qui
qui consules fierent final relative clause
12 qui ... putes [You} who think: relative clause of characteristic
13 illum Atilium "That famous Atilius." Exactly which one Cicero means is not clear, evidently an Atilius Serranus (or Seranus or Saranus: cf. Cicero Sest. 72 ille Serranus ab aratro, Virgil Aen. 6.844 te sulco, Serrane, serentem), whose first name is variously given as Marcus or Gaius, if it is given at all, as it is not in Val. Max. 4.4.5. The ancients connected this branch of the family with the Atilii Reguli, and many people identify this Atilius with C. Atilius Regulus, cos. 257. See RE s.vv. Atilius 47 and 57-71. Similar stories are frequent in Roman history; the summoning of Cincinnatus is probably the most familiar. Cf. Juvenal 7.80, Symmachus Ep. 1.58(52), 5.68(66).2, 7.15, Claudian 18.454, 8.413-415, Rutilius 1.556-558, Sidonius Ep. 8.8.2.
quem ... semen Atilius: the relative quem and its modifiers are the object of convenerunt in line 14.
qui missi erant Periphrasis for messengers, refers to the subject of convenerunt
14 hominem ... inhonestissimum Apposition with illum Atilium; the adj. inhonestus in Cicero, poets, post-Aug. prose. Reductio ad absurdum.
15 iudicares potential subjunctive
maiores Citing the opinions of the ancestors was similar to the later practice of quoting the Bible, or the Greek habit of using Homer's authority.
longe aliter sc. ac tu
16 itaque The -que joins existimabant and reliquerunt in line 18.
17 ex minima ... florentissimam The usual claim.Cicero makes a logical connection (itaque) between admiration for and devotion to hard work and the greatness which results. minima = parvissima (a superlative found only in Lucretius and Varro).
maximam et florentissimam sc. rem publicam. The opposites of minima and tenuissima, respectively.
18 suos enim etc. Comparison between the ancestors and the present generation.
19 quibus rebus abl. of means. The three following abls. (agris, urbibus, nationibus) are taken with auxerunt: they enriched the republic with land, cities, entire nations: the accretions to empire are listed in order of increasing territorial size.
20 rem publicam ... nomen Tricolon crescendo
23 sed ut illud intellegatur The real reason, given in a final clause; illud = the following.
cum causal, with consumpserint in line 26
24 omni tempore Recalls the phrase used above (§42) of Roscius maior and the other son. Here Cicero contrasts the ancients' obligation (debebant) to affairs of state which they occasionally interrupted (aliquantum operae temporisque line 26) with attention to their agricultural work.
25 ad gubernacula rei publicae sedere lit. to sit at the helm. Frequent metaphor
27 ignosci oportere ignosci with oportere, in O.O. after intellegatur in line 23: Cicero repeats the construction of §48 vitamque hanc rusticam, quam tu probro et crimini putas esse oportere.
ei homini dative with ignosci; "that man" = "any man," followed by a consecutive relative clause (characteristic) qui se fateatur (although this is still part of O.O.).
28 cum ... cum causal (although still in O.O.)
29 nihil esset quod ... posset Tricolon crescendo. Cicero changes to secondary sequence when he changes subjects.
opinor Cicero states not an agreement with Erucius' position, but his understanding of the argument used.
2 patiebatur The subject is assumed from the subjective (or possessive) genitive patris in line 1.
Numquid Expecting a negative answer: "There isn't anything else, is there?"
3 inquit Cicero addressed Erucius directly in the earlier sentence, now the opposing attorney has become third person. Cicero frequently engages in imaginary discussions with his opponents, for which he supplies the opponents' lines, the better to refute them. Cf. §40. Most famous example of switching between second and third person is Philippic II.
istum Roscius (also in line 8). When the prosecutor speaks to the defending attorney, iste means your client, the defendant.
4 nunc dicis aliquid etc. Cicero allows that this line of argument is relevant, as it might supply a motive.
5 nam illa Namely, the quotations from Erucius to follow, which even Erucius - tu quoque - is made to concede are levia, inepta and (line 10) nugatoria
6 convivia Evidently the elder Roscius attended quite a few. Convivia are more likely to be given in the city than in the country, hence the relevance of the next statement.
7 Quippe, qui etc. "of course, since he ..." qui-causal
ne in oppidum quidem Roscius almost never (perraro) went even into town (Ameria), let alone into the city (Rome), as he states in line 9.
8 Domum suam acc. of destination with vocabat
non fere quisquam means almost the same thing as nemo
9 qui causal
revocaturus esset To invite in return: very rare in this sense (L&S s.v. II). The periphrastic future means that he was not about to return invitations, esp. as he could not, living as he did on a farm in Umbria.
illud The intention to disinherit, mentioned in lines 3-4.
11 coepimus Absolute here; needs an infinitive to complete its meaning.
videamus Hortatory
quo abl. of comparison
odi genitive of odium, objective genitive after argumentum. The odium is still that which Erucius argues Roscius maior felt towards his son: for a Roman to take away family property from his only surviving son is evidence indeed of extraordinary loathing, as Cicero argues in lines 16-20.
13 Mitto quaerere quaerere is the object: "I omit the question," i.e. "I do not ask." Although Cicero is justified in seeking the source of Erucius' knowledge, the question which he does not ask is a valid one, which he does, in a way, address below. More to his point, he takes Erucius to task for not giving adequate indication of the elder Roscius' reason(s).
qui adverb: "how"
tametsi usually means "although," but without a correlative clause, as here, means "and yet." Cf. §56 line 12: tametsi ... tamen
14 erat ... officium it was, i.e., ought to have been, the duty. Compare the use of indicative in unreal conditions, e.g. with debere.
15 certi reliable (L&S s.v. certus II.A.2)
explicare infinitive as noun, in apposition with officium
16 quibus [vitiis ac peccatis] with incensus
17 ut duceret etc. Final clauses; tricolon. NB animum inducere means to resolve. Parens (understood), not animus, is the subject of the following verbs.
18 ut denique The last clause is most important, and effectively concise.
19 quae The three things in the preceding ut-clauses. Quae is subject accusative of potuisse accidere
21 cum taces cum + indicative present = "while," or often, = si in a simple condition: If you are silent, you grant that these things are nothing.
illud i.e., voluisse (as a noun)
23 adfers offer as reason: L&S s.v. affero II.C.
qua re abl. of cause, refers back to quid, as if quid were quam rem
24 finge aliquid saltem commode lit., "at least make up something appropriately." English idiom would have commodus with the pronoun; Latin modifies the verb. Cicero reiterates his allegations that Erucius' case is fictitious (§§30, 35, 42) and that the prosecutor is incompetent into the bargain.
ut ne = ne
25 fortunis et ... dignitati Datives with inludere. Cicero's attack on the prosecutor allies the jury with the defendant.
26 inludere dependent on videaris, and explains id facere. Verb apparently in Cicero, poets (incl. Plautus), post-Aug. prose.
28 Cogitabat No real answer to "who stopped him?", only a dodge; i.e., no one had an opportunity to stop him because he was still thinking about it.
29 Quid est aliud ... abuti "What else is abuse [lit. to abuse]," followed by nisi ... accusare etc.: "if it isn't to accuse in this way ..."
iudicio, legibus, maiestate abls. with abuti. The judges have maiestas, which properly belongs to the Roman people, because of their official function as representatives of the state. Note progression from least (law-courts) to most important (maiestas), with laws in the middle.
30 ad quaestum etc. for profit (ad + acc. to express purpose). Add libido and you have "for fun and profit."
31 id obicere lit. "to reproach this thing," internal accusative: i.e., to make this reproach. The infinitives accusare atque id obicere are in apposition with abuti
non modo non possis etc. 1. The subjunctives (possis, coneris) are due to the consecutive relative clause (characteristic). 2. The negative of non modo (or non solum) ... verum (verum etiam, or sed etiam) is either (mss and edd vary): a. non modo non ... verum ne ... quidem: "Not only [are you] not [able] but [you do] not even [try];" Cicero uses another variant of this type, non modo nihil ... sed ne ... quidem in §79, or b. non modo ... verum ne ... quidem, which means the same thing, even with the extra non omitted. 3. The second person singular verbs are generalising, not addressed directly to Erucius. It is plain from maiestate vestra that Cicero is speaking to the judges.
2 quin As usual after nemo est. It is best to translate "There is no one who ..."
tibi dative of possession
inimicitias The plural is usual in this usage, a t.t. in Roman political jargon for a person enmity. While in a modern law-court judge and jury might be suspicious of someone who prosecutes out of personal animus, in the ancient world the situation was the reverse: since there was no state-supported office like that of attorney general, individuals brought suit on behalf of the state. When one did not have a personal interest in the crime it was not usual to bring such a charge for purely altruistic reasons: one must either have a grudge against the accused (many examples, also from the Greeks: better cite same) or expect to profit in some way, as, for example, Julius Caesar and many another entered public life by prosecuting some well-known individual.
3 huic inimicus venias inimicus is the adj. here and takes the dative; venias means to come into court.
5 Ita ... ut correlative. Ita modifies cupidum esse in a limiting sense.
quaestus genitive with cupidum
6 legem Remmiam A law against false accusations: Lex Remmia de calumniatoribus. L&S s.v. Remmius quotes the scholium to this passage on this law: qua, qui calumniabatur, damnabatur, si crimen approbare non poterat. A person convicted under the law supposedly had the sign K (for Kalumnia, deliberately [sciens, line 15] false accusation) branded on his forehead. See the end of §57.
aliquid adverbial with valere: have some force, or authority.
9 audacia Subject in emphatic position
ita est utile ut ne ... inludamur Cf. note to line 5 above; a limiting relative clause. Cicero reminds his listeners again, with the same verb as in §54 (inludere), that he regards Erucius' accusation as frivolous; in the next sentence but one he uses ludificari (line 14). Again, a verb in Cicero, the comic poets, post-Augustan prose (not much), once in Sallust.
11 abest ... non caret Chiasmus with variatio.
tamen 2 Resumes verum tamen ("notwithstanding") after interruption by the concessive clause quamquam abest a culpa
12 tametsi "although," frequently with tamen, as here. Cicero hedges his whole statement with concessions.
hunc = quispiam, the innocent person (about whom I'm speaking) caught in suspicious circumstances, not Roscius
13 possim aliquo modo potential subjunctive, with another hedge: indeed, a double hedge, the potential and the manner of it
Cum enim causal, the explanatory clause
14 criminose ac suspiciose dicere These adverbs are not as pejorative as they sound: criminose means not "slanderously," merely "reproachfully," and suspiciose means "in a way to arouse suspicion." I.e., "he can claim that there is some basis for an accusation or suspicion," even though the accused be innocent.
aperte ... et sciens non videatur At least the calumny, if it is that in such a case, is not patent and deliberate. The excursus on the role of the professional accuser in the state will lead to another attack on Erucius' insulting lack of preparation; cf. finge aliquid saltem commode §54, neglegentiam eius §59.
17 potest ... non potest Apodosis of a future condition can be any form implying the future, or an imperative, or a verb of necessity, probability (as here), etc.
nocens a guilty person
accusatus fuerit future perfect passive, fuerit for erit
18 utilius est In apposition with the infinitives, a reminder of where he began (utile est line 9) before he compares the accusers to animals set on guard.
absolvi innocentem ... nocentem causam non dicere Chiasmus with variatio: in saying nocentem causam non dicere and not, e.g., nocentem non condemnari, Cicero varies the idea as well, for to be brought to trial (causam dicere) is not the opposite of to be acquitted.
19 cibaria subject of locantur ("are contracted out") publice ("at public expense"). Ever since the sacred geese warned of the Gauls about to gain the Capitoline in 390 BCE, the state maintained the geese and let out a contract for their food. Although there were guard dogs on the Capitoline as well (canes aluntur), on the famous occasion of the Gallic siege the dogs, according to Livy 5.47, did not hear the Gauls climbing up.
20 ut significent final clause, replaces the apodosis of the future more vivid condition (si venerint is future perfect indicative).
21 fures internoscere The verb is not common, in Cicero and early poets; the persons or things to be distinguished are usually supplied specifically or by the context. Here, the dogs cannot tell which humans are thieves and which are not.
22 si qui qui for aliqui (plural) after si. Cf. cum ... aliqui venerint line 22.
23 tametsi ... tamen Repeats the construction which he had used of the accusers (lines line 12), thereby drawing them into his comparison with the beasts.
in eam partem The expression is not unlike our own: they err on the side of caution (lit. "they transgress into the part which is safer").
24 luce "solitarium" in Cicero, poets (esp. early), Livy once
25 salutatum supine, to express purpose with venerint
eis (the dogs) dative of disadvantage
26 suffringantur Hapax legomenon for Cicero, and not often found elsewhere.
suspicio here means reason for suspicion
27 ratio the situation, or case, of accusers, not their reasoning
vestrum The accusers, not the judges
28 anseres ... nocere non possunt Cicero betrays little barnyard experience: geese can attack people viciously. But that ruins his point.
29 Cibaria Subject of praeberi, parallel with cibaria locantur above.
30 impetum facere with in eos, means to attack, a military term usually. Here it must be equivalent to "bite," as an attacking dog.
1 Hoc ... gratissimum Cicero gives the professional informers a catechism: it is best to attack those who deserve it (qui merentur), actual criminals, or at least those for whom one can make a reasonable case (cum veri simile erit).
2 cum veri simile erit cum + indicative future used for future time, in keeping with the future condition si voletis ... latratote (the future imperative) to which this clause is appended.
3 commisisse sc. some crime; committo is not usually used absolutely.
4 sic agetis ut "you will behave in such a way that" + consecutive clause
aliquem patrem aliquem is subject, patrem object, of the infinitive
5 neque = et ut non
6 latrabitis also part of the protasis: sin ... sic agetis ... ac ... latrabitis
vobis dative of disadvantage, in the same expression as that used for the dogs
7 hos the judges
litteram illam "that well-known letter," the letter K, object of adfigent: see note to legem Remmiam in §55.
8 cui sc. litterae, dative with inimici (adj.)
usque eo with inimici, signals the consecutive clause
Kal. Kalendas (with omnis). The point is twofold: the abbreviations for Kalends and Kalumnia both begin with K, but also the Kalends was the day when debtors had to pay their interest.
9 ad caput adfigent branded, if Cicero is accurate. Clearly he means that anyone so marked will be easy to recognize in future.
neminem ... accusare accusare is used in both its senses here, "to accuse" (of a crime) with neminem alium, and "to blame," "to complain of" with fortunas vestras
bone accusator Ironic
12 hisce the judges, with dedisti supplied from previous sentence.
13 qua ... debuerit Indirect question dependent on nemo dicit
14 Planum fac "Prove it."
15 non sc. some verb of saying, e.g., dixisti, on which the three indirect questions (clause beginning quicum ... quem ... unde) depend.
quicum = quocum
istud with suspicari; the second person pronoun marks the suspicion as the accusers' alone
16 vobis ... in mentem venerit The expression in mentem venire, "to come to mind," is followed by a dative of the person to whom the thought occurs and either a genitive of the person or thing thought of or, as here, an infinitive. Literally, "it came to mind for you to suspect this." The expression recurs in §§59, 74, 95, 105, 122.
cum ... accusas cum means when; indicative present is used for a temporal statement only
17 quid acceperim indirect question; what Cicero says that Erucius received was his pay for prosecuting
18 quid dicam deliberative subjunctive, also an indirect question
unum illud that one thing, viz., quod Chrysogonus aiebat
19 neminem ... futurum ... neminem esse O.O. attributed to Chrysogonus.
isti dative, refers to Roscius
20 verbum facere means dicere, but rather more emphatic when used with a negative
21 hoc tempore A reminder of Cicero's original claim that the current political situation is a disadvantage for his client (§§1, 6, 28)
haec te opinio falsa ... impulit te is the object; its position between the noun and its demonstrative adjective emphasises both the origin of the misconception (opinio falsa is written as two words, but is one idea) in Erucius' mind and the effect which his belief had on him.
22 verbum fecisses Cicero uses the phrase for Erucius which he had made Chrysogonus use of some other, or rather, the lack of another.
23 quemquam quisquam (anyone) is the pronoun used with negative ideas (aliquis, or quis, means "someone" in a positive statement). Thus Cicero states that Erucius believed that no one would respond to his accusation.
si animadvertistis Perhaps the judges had not been paying close attention; cf. §60 for Cicero's report of Erucius' behavior.
25 Credo, ... quaesisse ... suspicatum esse The infinitives need a subject, eum, which one can supply from the pronoun eius
26 qui indirect interrogative. The men sitting with Cicero and Roscius (in hisce subselliis) were advocati, giving moral support but not taking an active part in the pleading: §§1-5.
num ille aut ille Cicero indicates that although Erucius asked whether one or another of the important people would speak, he expected that they would not.
28 quod antea causam publicam nullam dixerim causam dicere above §12. The mood of the verb is explained by O.O., not because Cicero necessarily attributes the reason only to Erucius (although, don't you know, he could have stated it as an independent fact in the indic.).
29 neminem eorum qui possent et solent sc. dicturum esse. The relative clause (characteristic) replaces a noun with adjectives: no one of the able and customary pleaders.
neglegens careless in his behavior; although taken with esse it is nominative because it refers to the subject of the verb coepit
30 ut commences consecutive clauses: resideret ... spatiaretur ... vocaret ... abuteretur
ei dative, with in mentem veniret; same construction as in line 16
resideret The people who argued the case were supposed to remain standing while they spoke.
1 spatiaretur The people who argued the case were not supposed to wander about while they spoke, although some movement was necessary to the delivery.
cui ... imperaret Final relative clause
2 prorsus (ut) introduces a summation after a rehearsal of particulars: he began to be so negligent that he sat down, that ... in sum, that he abused ...
consessu ... conventu abls. with abuteretur. The concessus is only the people sitting (judges); the conventus includes all the participants, and onlookers.
pro "the same as": he behaved as if he were alone
3 aliquando "at last": Erucius must have prepared a lengthy oration, suitable to the alleged crime, even though his actio was lacking in dignity.
adsedit For the last time, having finished his speech.
surrexi ego Note the emphatic position of the pronoun and the asyndeton. After the details of the last sentence, this rapid enunciation of three verbs in a five-word sentence builds tension which Cicero temporarily dispels by the next sentence but renews in the following one (coepi dicere). (A great moment in the history of oratory!)
non alius potius sc. quam ego
5 Vsque eo with antequam in line 6; lit. up to that point, before (only until)
animadverti first person singular, perfect
6 eum iocari atque alias res agere alias res agere means to pay attention to something else other than Cicero's argument: he should have been taking notes.
7 quem Coordinating relative, here replacing sed ... eum
8 pepugisset Clark prefers this spelling, although L&S s.v. pungo give pupugi as the form for the perfect. Clark cites Aulus Gellius 6.9.15. Gellius says at the beginning of the chapter that many of the ancients spelt reduplicated perfects with an e in imitation of the Greek practice: Sic M. Tullius et C. Caesar 'mordeo, memordi,' 'pungo, pepugi,' spondeo, spepondi' dixerunt.
9 nominavi sc. Chrysogonum
10 non destiterunt desisto takes an infinitive or ablative usually, although many other constructions are possible: cf. the Greek and English idiom with the participle.
qui ... nuntiarent Final relative clause followed by a long passage
in O.O. (seven infinitives), carefully arranged:
esse aliquem ... qui
aliter causam agi atque ...
aperiri ... emptionem
vexari ... societatem
gratiam potentiamque ... neglegi
iudices ... attendere
populo ... videri
The first two statements in O.O. describe the circumstances of the
trial and contain subordinate clauses of different types. The
last five are simple statements: the first two refer to the activities
of those whom Cicero identifies as the malefactors, the last
two to the reaction of the legitimate elements in the state. These
two pairs frame the third of the five statements, the attribution
of not only gratia but potentia to Chrysogonus. Cf. §6
adulescens vel potentissimus
esse aliquem The position of the infinitive is emphatic; it is the initial est (aliquis) of the direct statement. Est is enclitic except in this position, where it means "there is," "there exists."
11 eius Chrysogonus'. Under other circumstances Cicero could have written suam, as the construction of the reflective pronoun in O.O. and other dependent constructions, e.g., final clauses, is ad sensum.
12 aliter causam agi atque causam agere (here in the passive) means to conduct a case. aliter atque = "otherwise than": atque is more common than quam after forms of alius; lit."otherwise and."
bonorum genitive of bona (property)
vexari pessime was being [lit. to be] abused in the worst way
populo dative with videri
16 versa (over)turned, as in having the tables turned on one
causam ... dici also in O.O. after vides
17 commode ... libere "if not elegantly, freely at any rate" (at here means "yet"): cf. §3 lines 17 and 1 (p.4), §9 lines 5-6.
quem ... iudicare Supply eum, antecedent of quem, as subject of defendi. Similarly, supply eos as the subject of iudicare. Dedi is the present infinitive passive of dedo, not the perfect active of do. Note the two imperfect tenses, representing Erucius' previous conception of the case, balanced by two presents of his current recognition: [He] who you were thinking was being surrendered you realize is being defended, [they] who you expected would hand (him) over, you see are judging (the case, on its merits).
19 veterem tuam illam calliditatem atque prudentiam calliditas can be a complimentary word but, like "shrewd," usually is not; prudentia, however, is. Here it might mean an ability to save one's neck. For the adjective vetus, cf. §§28, 39.
20 confitere imperative (as, of course, restitue in line 18); note asyndeton.
huc to the trial
ea spe abl. of attendant circumstance
venisse sc. te as the subject: this is a Greek idiom. Cicero did this above: §§52, 59: pronoun subjects supplied from preceding genitives.
quod ... futurum Explains ea spe. (quod = "that")
hic here
21 latrocinium Big word in later Latin, us. of civil strife.
22 causa ... quam ob causam In this instance, although it is hard to say how Cicero would have said "for what reason" without using the word causa, one cannot help suspecting a play on words.
ratio ... reddita non est Rationem reddere is technical term meaning "to give an account."
in ... peccatis in = "in the case of"
24 magis crebra for the apparently nonexistent comparative
25 iam prope cotidiana an observation probably made in every generation, that minor crimes have now (iam) become commonplace.
vel maxime et primum vel with superlatives intensifies = "the most ... possible" (cf. §6), lit. "It is asked the most particularly as possible, and first ..." i.e., every crime, even the most minor, must have a motive (causa malefici).
26 id = quae causa malefici fuerit
in parricidio in the case of a crime which is neither minor nor commonplace: cf. §38
27 quaeri non putat oportere Cicero frequently uses oportet, esp. after a verba sentiendi, with Erucius: §§38, 48, 51.
28 etiam cum multae causae convenisse ... videntur Description of circumstantial evidence, spatially very graphic: as if the circumstances migrated to one spot for the purpose of fitting together with each other. Note present indicative = temporal, not circumstantial, implying fact.
29 non temere creditur sc. an accusation of parricide, as subject, to be supplied from in quo scelere, a phrase which does not serve as "object" to the passive verb, but stands independently: "in the case of which crime." L&S s.v. credo II.C.2.a cite this as an impersonal passive—evidently singular. Followed by tricolon (neque [ter]) denying authority to inference, witnesses (unless credible), or the accuser's mental or oratorical gymnastics (e.g., arguments from probabile, although in Erucius' case Cicero says that he misses even these). Cf. Cicero's arguments in the Pro Caelio that witnesses and so on are not necessary, but that the case will be decided on the basis of reasoning and argument.
levi coniectura an easy inference, a trifling conjecture, as opposed to "no reasonable doubt" (as in the modern U.S. judicial system)
30 incertus untrustworthy
31 ingenio here = speaking ability
cum With following cum and tum means "not only, but also, and also" (cf. above §§38 and 39, for the same argument, of which this is a summation).
multa ... maleficia "a criminal record"
2 ostendatur necesse est ut omitted (necesse est ut ostendatur)
3 haec cum sint omnia concessive; sint is emphatic, so, by position, is omnia.
4 exstent oportet oportet may govern the subjunctive as well as have a substantive clause as its subject.
expressa sceleris vestigia "hard evidence," described by the indirect question which follows
ubi, qua ratione, per quos, quo tempore All with maleficium sit admissum: the usual questions (where, how, through what agents, when). Cicero says per quos, not a quibus, to distinguish between the real murderer (that would be a quo) and the people who actually struck the blow, who are accessory to the crime but not responsible in the same way as the person who hired them. Cf. §49 line 4. All must have agreed that Roscius could not personally have killed his father, as he was in Ameria at the time when his father was struck down in Rome (§76), but the prosecution would argue that he had hired killers.
6 Quae sc. vestigia
res tam scelesta etc. Tricolon, a brief one.
7 credi non potest When credo means to trust, to believe a person, a dative of the person follows; when it means to believe (that a thing is so) it takes an accusative object. Cicero's use of the passive here is grammatically acceptable but apparently singular; cf. si tantum facinus, tam immane, tam acerbum credituri sunt §68.
multum adverbial
communio sanguinis blood relationship, lit. communion of blood
reclamitat hapax legomenon. The frequentative form of reclamo appears only here in Latin literature. Like reclamo, it takes the dative (suspicionibus).
10 esse ... privarit Substantive clause in apposition with portentum ... est. Again, esse emphatic by position: "that there exists," or, "the existence of."
humana specie et figura Abls. of description with aliquem, replace hominem, which would be inappropriate after the description of the power of humanitas.
11 tantum adverbial, signals the consecutive clause ut ... privarit
immanitate abl. of specification. This whole business is rather excessive but also rather nice, esp. as the beasts come off better in the comparison.
12 propter quos ... aspexerit The relative clause precedes the clause of the antecedent, so as to save eos ... privarit for an emphatic contrast, and conclusion.
hanc suavissimam lucem aspexerit metaphor for "be alive," answered effectively by luce privarit, "kill," in the next clause
14 partus atque educatio et natura ipsa conciliet educatio in the sense of "rearing," for animals. The three terms are meant to recall, but do not exactly correspond to, humanitas, sanguis, ipsa natura in the first part of the sentence. There is, of course, no equivalent for humanitas when speaking of beasts - feral or bestial nature will not do here - so the caretaking involved in educatio must take its place, while partus is approximately equivalent to communio sanguinis. The singular verb agrees with the nearest subject. Cf., on the animals (and barbarians) Mil. 31.
16 Terracinensem Tarracina is a town in Latium.
hominem non obscurum The adjective denotes rather class standing than that the man was famous or that the story about him was.
cenatus The perfect passive participle of ceno is used in the active sense of "having dined," i.e., having been fed.
cubitum Supine with isset
17 conclave An ancient example of the locked-room mystery.
19 ea suspicio suspicion of guilt
20 id aetatis adverbial accusative with partitive genitive: "at that time"
propter adverb
21 se the sons, subject of sensisse, which lacks an object.
nomina ... delata sunt Passive of nomen defero. They were indicted on the grounds of overwhelming improbability: (1) that neither of them noticed anything, (2) that an outsider dared to attempt the crime in the presence of two young men who could interfere, (3) that anyone else had a motive.
22 neutrumne sensisse Implied O.O. indicating what people said or thought.
ausum autem esse Continuation of implied O.O.; ausum esse is deponent perfect infinitive of audeo
se in id conclave committere lit. "give themselves up to that room," which means, to feel safe in that room
25 porro introduces the clinching argument
26 in quem ... conveniret "whom the suspicion fitted": evidently the victim had no enemies
dormientos eos The present participle indicates time contemporaneous with that of the discovery. When the sons were found, i.e., when the people opened the door and saw them, they were sleeping. This leads to the question of how the locked door was opened from the outside.
28 iudicio absoluti Acquitted; lit. absolved from judgment
29 quemquam esse Again, quisquam is an implied negative: no one thought that anyone existed who ... (cf. §§52, 58)
2 propterea quod Cf. note to §1 line 7.
3 non modo ... quidem See notes to §§54 and 79. This is the variant rendition, without a non after non modo, of "not only not but not even."
sine cura quiescere ... spirare ... sine metu Chiasmus
4 possunt Cicero gives the explanation as a fact. Such arguments, and their opposites, had great force. Cf. Sallust's characterisation of Catiline.
quos The antecedent is eos in line 8; quos is the subject of sumpsisse, in O.O. after tradiderunt.
patris ulciscendi gerundive construction, with causa
6 supplicium de matre sumpsisse Orestes and Alcmaeon killed their mothers Clytemnestra and Eriphyle, the former with perhaps more right than the latter, whose father Amphiaraus was, it seems, fated to die before Thebes, and whom Zeus actually killed.
cum praesertim "especially when" is, in this context, "even when," "although," with the following tamen (line 8).
7 iussis .. oraculis abls. of cause?: it was Apollo who commanded Orestes to kill his mother, but Amphiaraus, himself a seer, foretold his demise and told his son to avenge him.
dicantur The personal construction, as usual: they are said to have done it.
8 ut "how," introducing the indirect question
neque consistere Cf. the end of Aeschylus' Choephorae and the opening of the Eumenides: the Furies continually drove Orestes from one place to another, until he gained absolution by trial at Athens. Cicero does not bother to apologize for a literary allusion to what was clearly a well known story. On Alcmaeon Apollodorus 3.86.
9 ne pii quidem sine scelere Oxymoron? Pius implies correct behavior, as in obeying the god's command, avenging one's father's death. Cicero uses the word officium in §70 to characterise the proper relationship.
10 Sic se res habet Lit., thus the thing has itself = that's the way it is.
magnam ... sanguis The force of the tricolon is intensified by several devices: anaphora, vocabulary, word position, esp. of the verb. Cicero's choice of three (feminine) abstracts enables him to repeat the same form of magnus thrice. Later on Cicero eschewed such obvious tactics and would deliberately vary his vocabulary while maintaining anaphora, e.g. nullus, nullum, nihil. Cf. §67 lines 17-18 for some slight variatio with sua et suus, suum, suae. The three accusative nouns encompass varying types of compulsion: vis is compelling force, necessitudo is compelling bond of family relationship, religio is compelling fear, or reverence. Blood of any sort is associated with the variety of feelings and practices implied in the word religio. Cicero creates a tricolon crescendo by moving the verb between the third abstract noun and its adjective, the unusual word order emphasising in turn the verb, object religionem and the subject sanguis.
12 ex quo sc. sanguine
concepta est Has been received; macula, an actual spot of blood, makes the statement concrete rather than metaphorical. The choice of the verb concipio, used also of conception, is not accidental.
13 usque eo permanat ad animum usque eo anticipates the following ut, the consequence: Cicero describes the spot of blood physically penetrating from the surface of a person's body deep within, blazing a trail to the soul for rage and madness to follow. The distinction between the material and immaterial disappears in the process.
14 consequatur singular with nearer subject
15 in fabulis e.g., in Aeschylus' version. Cicero elsewhere (Acad.pr. 2.89) cites Ennius' Alcmaeon for a similar scene.
eos ... agitari et perterreri Cicero reminds the audience that he does not believe in the literal existence of the Furies, nor in their material manifestation as the poets represent.
17 Sua quemque fraus etc. In the various expressions with suus quisque, the adjective and pronoun are usually in different cases, as here, each with its individual construction: his own crime and terror plague(s) each man, his own sin (suum scelus) disturbs each man, etc. This formulation is somewhat different from the English idiom, in which the "each" is usually the subject, e.g., we each make our own hell. The passage is colored a nice shade of purple, a tricolon crescendo with anaphora (a different form of suus in each phrase) and variation. The first part has a double subject, the second has two verbs, the second and third members of the tricolon are somewhat longer than the first and second, respectively, and the last member, also with a double subject, both feminine plural nouns, omits both the repeated suae, which is not necessary, and the pronoun quemque, which can by now be supplied.
18 amentiaque instrumental ablative; the -que connects the verbs.
19 conscientiaeque animi conscientia means joint knowledge, usually with oneself, and therefore means consciousness (of good or evil), here joined with the objective genitive animi, opposed to unconscious knowledge or an inability to tell oneself the truth.
20 impiis masc. dat. plural, dative of possession, and a good example of its use (opp. to habeo) in a case where the fact of possession is news (cf. note to §17). To say "the impious have (impii habent) these Furies" merely describes the Furies (we assume their existence); to say "these are the Furies for the impious" makes a new definition and imparts new information (we do not assume their existence, or not in this form). The Furies exist, but they are internal; as poets cannot show the inner workings of human beings, they externalise the phenomenon. Cf. gods' epiphanies in Homer.
adsiduae domesticaeque Furiae Both attributes imply residence, in the soul; the second also pertains to the household and family.
21 parentium poenas parentium is objective genitive: penalties for the parents' deaths
consceleratissimis filiis The prefix on the participle (Cicero does not use the verb) makes the word almost a double superlative; the noun could be sons or daughters. Superlative also in Cat. 3.17
nisi paene manifestum parricidium Preferable with eye-witnesses: cf. the last sentence of this section. nisi here means "except when."
23 nisi This and the four instances of nisi which follow mean "unless." The verb sit should be supplied with the participles and adjectives in this and the following clauses.
24 inquinata The verb (in extended sense) and participle primarily in Cicero.
sumptus effusi lit. costs poured forth, i.e., lavish expenditures
25 cum probro atque dedecore abls. of manner; Cicero leaves to the consciences of his listeners whether or not it is proper to spend large sums in a morally acceptable way.
26 abhorreat lit. means to shudder at, shrink from, but more often used in the same sense as abest, even vacat
27 Accedat huc oportet huc is the son's bad character, evidenced by those traits or actions which Cicero has just enumerated, to which must be added (accedat) the parent's hatred and other conditions which he lists below.
parentis subjective genitive or objective genitive? It should matter more to the criminal that s/he hates the parent than whether or not the parent hates her or him, unless the fact that the parent hates the child makes the fact of parental vengeance (animadversionis paternae) more likely.
1 si tantum facinus, tam immane, tam acerbum credituri sunt Echoes the assertion of §62 lines 6-7: res tam scelesta, tam atrox, tam nefaria credinon potest, adjectives here are roughly synonymous to those, at least the first two are.
quo minus ... eo magis Correlatives, to be translated "the less ... the more;" a kind of comparison wherein Cicero compares the rarity of the crime to the severity with which it should be punished. The word order of the second part of the sentence is not precisely parallel to that of the first, as the si- clause interrupts the two parts of the verb with eo magis, thus leaving vindicandum in a more prominent position. Sense order is quo minus credibile est (nisi ostenditur), eo magis vindicandum est (si convincitur).
5 cum with tum in line 7
intellegi potest impersonal passive
6 armis ... consilio sapientiaque abls. of specification
plus not only with quam, but adverbial with potuisse
7 ex hac re anticipates the explanatory quod-clause in line 8
vel maxime Cf. vel maxime above §62, and note.
8 in against; as also in eum in line 15
9 quantum prudentia praestiterint Indirect quesion with considerate, line 10; quantum is adverbial with praestiterint, prudentia is abl. of specification.
apud ceteros in the judgment of the rest (of humanity)
10 sapientissimi fuisse dicuntur personal construction of dicere, hence subject nominative of infinitive; same personal construction in the next sentence: prudentissima ... fuisse traditur.
rerum potita est potior + genitive: dominated things, i.e., other Greek states, in the last three-quarters of the fifth century especially.
12 sapientissimum Solonem dicunt fuisse Third-person construction, for a change. Solon is credited with having modified the laws of Draco as part of his reform program in the 590's; our knowledge of him derives primarily from his poetry and from Aristotle Ath.Pol. He was counted as one of the seven wise men.
13 eum Solon. The pronoun, = illum, seems redundant, but Cicero refers back to Solonem, placed, before the end of the clause, next to sapientissimum
quibus sc. legibus, object of utuntur
15 necasset In O.O. represents the future perfect indicative of O.R.
se subject of putasse; the pronouns are lined up for maximum effect: he: that(!)—no one(!)
16 dicitur Personal passive
de eo eo is neuter, antecedent of quod in line 17
17 nihil sanxerit enacted nothing: passed no law; Cicero uses the word always in a context of legislation, natural right, religion, even agreements between people whom he disapproves of.
ne ... videretur negative final clause; ne with videretur, non only with tam prohibere
tam ... quam correlative; with the verbs means "so much ... as"
18 admonere here means "to suggest," "to give someone the idea." This idea is a commonplace for all those who argue that to mention is to persuade, e.g. on the topic of sex education.
Quanto abl. of degree of difference
19 sapientius adverb needs some form of facere supplied to complete the meaning
qui sc. maiores, subject of excogitaverunt in line 21
20 audacia subject of violaret
supplicium singulare Same phrase as in line 8 above; a punishment suitable, one supposes for a singulare maleficium requiring singularis audacia (§§38, 62). Cicero next describes how singular the punishment was and how singular the wisdom of those who invented it.
22 in officio i.e. in proper relationship with the parent as prescribed by pietas; cf. pii in §66.
ei subject of summoverentur, antecedent of quos in line 21. Note physical connotation of the verb, almost as if the potential malefactors are removed bodily. I think this is weird but L&S don't.
23 Insui etc. Cf. §30 line 11.
voluerunt The subject is the maiores. They not only wished or willed it, they made it the law.
Nonne videntur Asks the audience to agree with his assessment of the ancients' intent.
hunc hominem "this man (about whom I'm speaking)," a parricide; antecedent of cui in line 26 (usual antecedent of a relative is some form of is). Same usage as hunc in §56 line 12.
26 rerum natura Nature, as in Lucretius' poem. At this point in a draft of the commentary, a student once wrote, "These lines of Cicero, approx. 25-30, seem to be downright out of control."
cui dative of separation (disadvantage) with ademerint. The ablative of separation is not used of taking anything from persons.
27 qui eum ... unde ipse qui and ipse are the son, the father eum, and unde, which stands for ex quo; evidently Cicero does not want to clutter the sentence with another relative pronoun. Not really common used absolutely (opp. to correlatively), found in comic poets, Cicero a few times.
28 careret Supply is, antecedent of qui above, as subject.
omnibus unusual position, for emphasis (adjs. of size and quantity usually precede the noun), and to get it that much closer to omnia in the next line.
29 omnia nata esse dicuntur The natural philosophers named air (here represented by caelum), fire (here, the sun), water and earth as the four elements, although not necessarily all, or all at the same time, as the source of all things.
feris corpus obicere To cast out the body unburied to be eaten by animals, a dishonor reserved for lesser crimes, e.g. treason. This alone was a terrible disgrace and, in the ordinary way, to fail to bury the dead was a serious offense against religion.
30 bestiis with immanioribus, ablative object of uteremur
quae ... attigissent causal subjunctive, explains immanioribus
1 sic nudos a present participle of esse would help. Sic here is probably the same as that in the expressions with esse, where sic est = talis est, and therefore may be translated "[they wanted] not to throw them out, [being] such (i.e. just as they were), naked into a river." Perhaps closer to English "just like that"?
2 cum delati essent in mare most rivers "run down" to the sea
ipsum mare
cetera All other things - forms of blood-guilt - except parricide; washing in running water or the sea was part of the ritual of cleansing.
3 denique This last clause is a statement of Cicero's opinion, not an explanation of the ancients' reasoning, as the first two clauses were. It is curiously put: there is nothing so cheap or common that they left any part of it (sc. to the criminal). The idea is elaborated in the next sentence. In a way, it means the opposite of "nothing was too good for them."
4 cuius refers to nihil ... consecutive relative clause
6 fluctuantibus ... eiectis Participles used as substantives: "the floating" and "the washed up." The participles vivus and mortuus are in common use as nouns.
Ita vivunt The condemned men live ita, correlative to ut. So ita moriuntur ... ut below. This whole passage is characterized by gross excess, but evidently Cicero enjoyed himself and produced a good effect. [Comment of same student: "I'm glad that he enjoyed himself, because this is making me miserable!"] Later on Cicero admitted that he found his early rhetorical excesses embarrassing.
7 non queant A form of the negative non queo is found here and in §86. Cicero does not write the first person nequeo in prose (thrice in poetry), preferring non queo.
8 eorum ossa terra non tangat (naturally, since they are in the water) - they cannot be admitted to the underworld without burial, or at least dust thrown onto their bodies (cf. Antigone).
ita iactantur ... ut ita ... ut again; and again in ita postremo eiciuntur ut in the next clause: they are tossed about, but never actually washed by the waves as the sack gets in the way.
9 ne ad saxa quidem They rest not even on the rocks, which might be an acceptable substitute for terra, because, again, the sack gets in the way. Although one might quibble that the sack could suffer some damage either on land or in the sea, and the body could indeed be devoured by some creature, the Romans have at least symbolically removed the offender from contact with any of the four elements.
10 cui maleficio Dative with constitutum. The relative acts as adjective here (= qualis, or a demonstrative); Cicero repeats the noun to avoid confusion of antecedent: otherwise one might take cui to refer to crimen, which is only the accusation. But as a result, he uses the word maleficium thrice in the same sentence (third time in line 13).
12 talibus viris i.e., good men, the judges; cf. line 13, where Cicero posits the the extreme case of prosecuting in the presence of those who would profit by the accusation being proven.
ne causam quidem malefici Cicero is almost done with his argument on the lack of motive.
13 protuleris future perfect; the tense in the aposodis is present, although the operative word is posse, which refers to the future.
Si hunc hunc is Roscius; si here = etiamsi; note tamen in the apodosis: Cicero, Plautus, Ovid, Curtius use tamen after plain si
emptores ipsos ... Chrysogonus Cicero describes an hypothetical kangaroo court, with Chrysogonus as praetor in charge and the others who bought up the estate as judges: learnt it from Plato, who compared the trial of Socrates to that of a doctor with a jury of children and candy-maker as prosecutor.
14 eique iudicio ei with iudicio, both dative after praeesset
diligentius paratiusque venisses = venisses diligentius paratus. The replacement of the modified participle by two adverbs is strange, but Cicero repeats the phrase in later works: ad dicendum veniebat ... parate (Brut. 241); cf. paratius atque accuratius dicere (de Or. 1.150).
15 venisses here means venire debuisses/debuisti (use of indicative in unreal condition to indicate possibility, likelihood, duty).
17 suscipi parricidium (not, e.g., iudicium)
18 qui intellegunt the indicative states a fact, not a characteristic
19 admittere commit
Tametsi ... tamen Cf. §§53, 56
vicisse debeo "I ought to have won (the case)"
21 de meo iure decedam Frequent non-spatial use of decedo: L&S s.v. II. "To withdraw from one's right" means not to object.
quod Object of concederem; its antecedent is suppressed, but one might supply it (id) as object of concedam
22 concederem potential subjunctive
in hac sc. causa
23 qua re ... quo modo "why" (the motive, or causa maleficii) ... "how" (the means, opportunity)
24 Ita quaero ... quo modo quo modo answers ita; i.e., I ask (questions) in this way (only), (namely) how (repeating the statement of the last sentence).
25 sic tecum agam the ut-clause explains in what manner Cicero will deal with Erucius
meo loco In my place. Each side had a time-limit for speaking.
26 tibi potestatem faciam potestas here means opportunity, and facere means dare. The three gerunds in the genitive modify potestatem: e.g., power of responding = opportunity to respond.
27 si quid voles sc. interrogare (with quid as its object).
28 ipse percussit an an alternative question (ipse percussit [patrem] is the first alternative) is not necessarily introduced by utrum. Cicero distinguishes between the case of a murder accomplished in person by the accused and that of a "hit" hired out. Cf. above §§49, 62.
occidendum gerundive, with patrem to be supplied
Si ipsum arguis i.e. Si arguis ipsum percussisse patrem; cf. si per alios fecisse dicis in the second half of the sentence.
29 Romae non fuit Cf. above note to §62 line 4. This sentence is not a logical apodosis; there has been an ellipsis of, e.g., dico, with its attendant construction: if you accuse him of having done it himself, I counter by saying that he was not at Rome.
per alios The same phrase which he has used repeatedly of people using other persons as agents, e.g. §§49, 62.
1 Servosne an liberos? -ne ... an is another formula for introducing alternative questions. With the accusatives supply the preposition per and the verb fecit, or fecisse dicis. Supply per also with the following accusatives liberos, quos homines, hosce ... sicarios
indidemne Ameria Adverb + ablative of place from which: "from the same place (that is) from Ameria." Much ellipsis; Cicero presents a string of what must have been unanswered questions, although eventually he supplies answers from Erucius.
2 hosce Although not necessarily present (perhaps they are!), he means urban toughs who spend their time at Rome.
3 Si Ameria ... si Roma Address the alternatives indidemne Ameria and ex urbe
4 Romam acc. of destination
multis annis abl. of time within which; in this line of argument Cicero uses the prosecutor's own statements; cf. §§20, 39, 52.
neque umquam plus triduo fuit sc. Romae; triduo is abl. of comparison.
5 eos convenit convenire when transitive means to meet with; intransitive meaning is to assemble.
qui "how"
6 per quem The agent whom Roscius must have used to send the bribe to Rome.
7 unde The source of the money. Actually this is not such a problem since his father allowed him to retain profits from several farms (§44).
aut quantum English idiom is "and how much"
his vestigiis instrumental ablative
8 caput head as in author, source.
perveniri solet impersonal passive not frequent
9 veniat facito facito is future imperative; facere is often followed by a consecutive clause, but here the ut is omitted (facito ut veniat). Veniat of course is part of the expression "come to mind" (with tibi in mentem). The whole clause is a periphrasis for the imperative "remember."
quem ad modum ... depinxeris indirect question
huiusce Roscius
10 fuisse (and other infinitives) in O.O. after a verb of saying implied in depinxeris. Cicero refers back to what he related of Erucius' argument in §§20, 39, 42ff, 52.
11 quoquam = ullo Cf. §§52, 58, 65.
12 constitisse from consisto; means "remained"
maximo argumento final dative
13 poterat esse was able to be, but is not, since he does not mention it; equivalent of a potential subjunctive.
14 istius modi of that sort which you describe: with maleficia, not vita
15 gigni non solere Cf. §39: both an argument from likelihood and a literary commonplace (the purity and simplicity of country life). Cicero really belabors the ponit in the last sentence of this section.
Vt non omnem frugem etc. Analogy from the botanical world; agricultural authors also compare the treatment and growing conditions of plants and people. Vt correlative with sic
16 possis generalising second person singular
17 luxuries ... ex luxuria Again, the fifth declension nominative with first declension in the oblique case, as in §39. The argument here runs along similar lines to that in §39: there Cicero mentioned together luxuries, aes alienum, cupiditates, to which he contrasts officium.
18 exsistat With necesse est; subject is avaritia. The verb, like creatur, erumpat, gignuntur, is another equivalent for nascitur. The sentence provides a good example of variatio.
erumpat Also dependent on necesse est, supplied from preceding clause. Cicero changes the construction to a simple statement of fact in the conclusion (gignuntur). The argument is an old and tired one, but still effective in Roman society: Roman "national mythology" created an image of the good old days which never were, and even the most dedicated sophisticates would not relinquish the ideals of a simpler republic.
20 parsimoniae, diligentiae, iustitiae with magistra, feminine because vita is. Note asyndeton. Cicero often uses dux as a feminine noun; examples in L&S s.v. dux I fin. (note these are all from philosophical works).
ut "as" + indicative
23 tute tu, not the adverb from the adjective tutus
numquam inter homines Cf. §20 huius ... solitudo
per quos homines ... potuerit Indirect question after quaero
26 argui suspiciose "be used in an accusation in a way which causes suspicion (that the allegations are true)."
si suspicio ... concedam Roscius' reaction to Cicero's assertion is not recorded; he argued similarly at §18.
27 inesse with in his rebus, as well as with the implied in Roscio
29 alicui adjectival
qui refers to the subject of misit, Roscius, not to the sicarius
Arcessivit aliquem He had a person summoned.
2 Pretio, gratia, spe, promissis instrumental ablatives
3 horum neuter accusative plural, partitive genitive with nihil
confingi The means cannot even be invented, let alone proven. Cf. §30 crimen incredibile confingunt; §54 finge aliquid saltem commode
et tamen etc. An abrupt and effective conclusion. Cicero has finished with the topic of hired assassins.
7 quod that which, defined by the clause ut ... polliceatur
innocenti saluti double dative: dative of reference and final dative respectively
in quaestionem always under torture, when slave were questioned
8 id ... facere subject of licet = servos in quaestioem polliceri
9 omnis acc. plural, with servos
eius Roscius'; Cicero incidentally affirms that the property should belong to the son, as he does with dominus erit in suos in §78.
victus genitive, modified by cotidiani, with administer. The slave's function here would be to wait on table.
10 familia the household of slaves
11 relictus non est with unus puer in line 9. This word order is more emphatic than ne unus quidem
appello call on, as witness. Scipio and Metellus were two of Roscius' advocati (supporters), and powerful names. Cf. §15.
vobis advocatis, vobis agentibus abls. absolute; with agentibus supply causam. He refers to their services prior to the actual pleading of the case in court: "with your support and backing Roscius asked ..."
12 paternos for patris; cf. above §15.
13 ab "from," not "by"
14 ei masculine nominative plural, adjectival
15 Chrysogonum, iudices, sectantur Offered as if the judges should be surprised. An inexact answer to ubi, but rhetorically effective, especially as Chrysogonus' name has an electrifying effect. Sectantur means "attend," "are attendants of."
in honore et in pretio honored and valued
16 ut ex eis quaeratur Jussive clause with all three verbs; impersonal passive; eis = servis
17 ego postulo, hic orat atque obsecrat Difference between the advocate and defendant is marked by the meanings of the verbs; while Cicero demands, Roscius beseeches.
19 ab eone -ne indicates the first alternative; the second begins with an in line 21.
illius Roscius maior
20 versatur versor + in means to be in a state or condition continually
quaerendi with potestas (same construction in §73).
22 fugitant The frequentative fugito indicates a more desperate attempt at flight than fugio. The verb is primarily ante- and post-class.; found in poets, esp. comic poets, in Ammianus, and only here in Cicero.
in caede atque ex caede in indicates their profession, ex indicates their source of income
23 Omnia .. misera atque indigna; tamen Cf. §49 Quod tametsi miserum et indignum est, feret tamen ...
24 hoc abl. of comparison. The comparative adjectives acerbius and iniquius approximate in meaning the two adjectives in the preceding clause.
nihil neque ... neque The negative conjunctions here reinforce the negative nihil, as in Greek: A&G 327.2.
25 paternae ... paternis ... filio Cicero emphasises his complaint by the repeated vocabulary of relationship. (Also patris in line 27.)
26 tam diu antecedent for the temporal clause with dum
erit future indicative, although temporally it applies to the past: Cicero represents the question from the immediate point of view of one making the request.
28 neque ita multo postea ita with adjectives means "so," "so much," thus, "and afterwards by not so much," i.e., "soon." (§83)
locum in the argument, refers to de patris morte, as hoc totum does.
1 Roscios Magnus and Capito
tum at the time following the events in the following cum-clause
2 cum ... diluissem Pluperfect subjunctive for future perfect indicative of O.R., secondary sequence after pollicitus sum. (When did he promise?) §36 ego crimen oportet diluam, §18 Spero ex hoc ipso non esse obscurum ad quem suspicio malefici pertineat. Perhaps at §31, when he says quae ad causam pertinere arbitror, omnia ... dicere; nulla res tanta exsistet, iudices, ut possit vim mihi maiorem adhibere metus quam fides. Cf. §83 Venio nunc eo quo me non cupiditas ducit sed fides.
4 ad hunc with pertinet: to Roscius.
maleficium istum subject of pertinet; the maleficium of which Erucius has accused Roscius.
5 id quod negas = aut ipsum sua manu fecisse. Erucius evidently has not tried to prove that Roscius went to Rome and did the deed himself.
6 ut "how," with potuerit, an indirect question dependent on neque ... potes ostendere. Cf. Videtisne ... ut agitent §66, videtis ut ... despiciat, ut ... putet, ut ... putet §135.
7 neque ubi neque etc. It is pointless to supply verbs and subjects (e.g., quos is also the object of inducere): one may accept that this is a stream of interrogative words, elliptical language similar to that of §74.
8 contra adverb
9 non modo nihil eorum ... sed ne ... quidem The third instance of this construction (not only none ... but not even); eorum is neuter plural. Cf. notes to §§54, 65.
10 quod because
neque Romae multis annis Cf. §74 line 4.
11 temere not "rashly," but "without a good reason"
Restare tibi videtur servorum nomen All that Erucius has left is the word "slaves." Servorum is genitive of definition; nomen means word (as a t.t., "noun").
12 quo ... posses Final relative clause; quo refers to nomen but means "to where" with confugere
quasi in portum reiectus Metaphor from shipwreck, continued in scopulum offendis below.
13 suspicionibus i.e. all the rest which he has raised about Roscius, but which he cannot prove.
ubi in the harbor of servorum nomen, where he thought he would be safe.
14 offendis in the literal sense of "strike against"
eius modi with scopulum, anticipates the consecutive clause
resilire Something bounces back from the rock of Erucius' accusation (crimen); resilire needs a subject: suspicionem from the next clause.
15 recidere recidere 1, from cado. It is a nice image, reminiscent of slapstick. Erucius flees for safety on the ship of this one suspicio (means of raising suspicion) but it bounces off the rocks and lands on him and his friends, who are now, as it were, caught between a rock and hard place.
inopia ablative of attendant circumstances; translate "for lack of evidence" (argumentum means argument only in the sense of convincing argument).
17 Eius modi tempus ... ut Same construction as in line 14 above.
18 volgo impune The force of the two adverbs in asyndeton is elegantly concise: men were killed all over the place and no one did anything about it.
hoc tu hoc, this crime (object of facere), and tu, Roscius (Erucius is speaking), are linked more closely together by their proximity in the sentence.
19 multitudinem ... nullo negotio There were countless hit-men for hire so it would have been no problem for anyone to hire one: Erucius' version of argument from likelihood.
Interdum in primary sense of "sometimes"
20 una mercede abl. of price; adsequi means to get, obtain, but might as well be translated "to buy," as in the English idiom. Especially nice accusation as Erucius was paid to prosecute.
duas res namely perfundere and accusare; note chiasmus
21 nos iudicio perfundere nos is the object. Perfundere is a problem. There are only two other references, both from poets of the late first century CE, cited in L&S with this passage for the meaning "to disturb, alarm" (the verb means to pour over, or to wet). Suggested emendations are pessundare, pervertere, and confundere. Iudicio is ablative of means.
eos ipsos object of accusare
22 volgo occidebantur Echoes homines vulgo impune occiderentur in line 18.
23 Nonne Here Cicero actually expects the answer "no," or at least asks a genuine question.
a sectoribus Sectores were those who purchased property, e.g., confiscated property, at public auction; here specifically it means Chrysogonus and others who took over the dead Roscius' possessions.
24 Quid postea sc. ais. Cicero pretends disbelief that Erucius mentions the era of casual and multiple murders, in which his employers, according to Cicero, took such a prominent part, and asks "don't you realize what you are saying?" (Quid ais? Nonne cogitas ...) "and what else you are saying?" (Quid postea?)
25 sectores ... collorum et bonorum Paronomasia. Like most puns, difficult to translate effectively. Cicero uses sector in two senses: not only a purchaser (L&S s.v. II sector bonorum [genitive of neuter plural bona]) but also a cutter (L&S s.v. I sector collorum) of throats (lit. necks). Cf. English cut-purse and cut-throat.
26 qui Romae erant adsidui cf. cum ruri adsiduus semper vixerit in §51 and quod ruri adsiduus later on in this section, both of Roscius.
27 qui ... in praeda et in sanguine versabantur Cf. §39 ruri semper habitarit et in agro colendo vixerit (Roscius); versor in means to occupy oneself with, be engaged in.
28 Sex. Roscio dative, indirect object of obicient
temporis illius with acerbitatem iniquitatemque
29 multitudinem subject of fore
1 ipsi same people as Ei ... qui ... qui (lines 25ff.). Duces ac principes is in apposition to the pronoun ipsi
erant The indicative in a subordinate clause of O.O. means either that (1) this relative clause (in qua ipsi ... erant) is Cicero's own addition, not part of their original thought - and this is the more likely here, or that (2) the statement, even if part of their thought, is true regardless. A&G 583.
huic crimini double dative, with multitudinem ... fore; huic is Roscius, dative of reference, crimini is final dative.
2 qui Roscius
omnino with nescivit
quid Romae ageretur indirect question; impersonal passive
Vereor ne aut molestus sim vobis
aut ne ingeniis vestris videar diffidere7 dissoluta est same figure as in diluam in the next line; diluo = dissolvo
8 exspectatis ut ... diluam The verb exspecto, "to look out for, wait," precedes a final clause stating the judges' purpose; translate "unless you are waiting for me to ..." or "unless you are waiting until I ...". Often with dum
illa accusations, explained by quae ... inaudita ... ac nova obiecit
de peculatu Embezzlement of public money, i.e., of his father's property, which became public property when his father's name was entered on the list of the proscribed.
9 eius modi rebus commenticiis What "other lies of that sort" Cicero does not reveal. Perhaps Roscius attempted to obstruct the seizure of his property, perhaps this is copia.
inaudita nobis ... nova The two adjectives mean the same thing. Erucius has mentioned in his speech for the prosecution new charges which were not in the formal accusation. Inaudita (L&S 2 inauditus I) means "unheard of," and in this context, "new," although it does often have the connotation "unusual." Nobis includes Roscius and his supporters.
10 quae the new charges
11 declamare The verb means to practice the art of speaking, as in school orations on a set topic, and here has all the unhappy associations of the English "declaim."
quam orationem
in against
commentaretur commentor means to prepare one's mind, often used of an orator's preparation and rehearsal. The technical vocabulary of the set-piece in preparation and delivery is necessary ot the point of his objection, that these new allegations are not ad rem, as he says in lines 12-13. This verb and the adjective commenticius, which he used above, both derive from the same root (cf. comminiscor); commentor has an accessory meaning of "to invent (a story)," at least in Plautus Cas. 2.3.27, and Cicero may intend to combine this meaning with the usual one here.
12 ita with the negative and the verb = unsuitable to both the accusation and the accuser.
13 verbo ... verbo instrumental ablatives. Evidently Erucius has as yet produced no evidence nor testimony.
14 ad testis for (the examination of) the witnesses; Cicero hints that Erucius may be saving something for the part of the trial in which witnesses were summoned and questioned.
ibi in that part of the trial
15 in ipsa causa in the lawsuit itself; i.e., in the official charge of parricide
Thus ends the defence per se. It is worth considering whether Cicero consistently argued most (in volume) from likelihood because that was the kind of argument that swayed juries, or whether, in his extant orations at least, usually had a weak case. One might compare the speech for Milo, defending him on the charge of murdering Clodius, as Milo did (per alios), in which Cicero discusses at length such matters as motive, the good accruing to the state at Clodius' death, opportunity, the case for and against malice prepense (first-degree murder), and says little about the actual circumstances of the crime, which was witnessed by many people. In the defence of Roscius he presents background information, arranged in such a way as to prejudice the listeners against the accusers and for the accused, then argues interminably about motive and likelihood. His treatment of the means available to Roscius is slight in comparison, and he almost never addresses the question directly, save to observe that the accuser does not, either. Rather, he brings in other points and complaints, both specific and general, a practice which is in itself suspiciosum. The last point above, that of peculation, is scarcely touched upon. One suspects that Roscius did indeed attempt to hinder those who came to confiscate his property.
Cicero turns to the offensive.
cupiditas Cf. §55, where he warns Erucius about the extent to which one should be quaestus cupidus. There are other objects of desire as well, as Cicero explains shortly.
fides comprises duty; he attacks the prosecution, he says, only because he must do so to keep faith with his client. Cf. §31, and the end of §83.
17 si mihi liberet A restatement of his assertion that it is not cupiditas which leads him on; unreal condition. Cicero maintained throughout his career that he preferred to gain his reputation by helping people be acquitted than by helping to get them condemned; defense is the kinder task. He apologizes at some length, ten years later, for prosecuting Verres, and explains that he could do so only if he regarded the prosecution as a defence of the Sicilians: Div. in Caecil. 1, 4 , 5.
18 crescere i.e., get a reputation. Many marked their entrance into pubilc life and gained notoriety by prosecutions of important political figures. Cf. §55. The T. Roscii, however, are not in the latter category.
quod which thing (prosecution), object of facere
certum est The expression, often with a dative (mihi may be supplied here), means "it is resolved."
19 dum utrumvis licebit sc. facere: as long as either (prosecuting or defending) will be permitted, i.e., as long as he has a choice, he chooses not to prosecute. Cf. utrumvis in §4.
amplissimus The senatorial adjective again, and an indication of Cicero's own aspirations and how he plans to attain them.
20 in altiorem locum A higher rank: for Cicero this means the Senate, as he was a member of the equestrian order.
21 alterius the usual genitive of alius
incommodum misfortune or injury, stronger implication than inconvenience. The image of ascent by (per) someone's disaster is almost visual: using one's fellow creatures as steps to climb up.
Desinamus ... quaeramus hortatory subjunctives. Cicero has finished his apology.
22 ea ... quae sunt inania Immediately, the red herrings mentioned in §82, but actually the whole of the prosecution's case.
ibi correlative with ubi; the inclusion of the word, in this position, makes it emphatic.
23 et est et inveniri potest Both where there really is a crime and where one can be discovered (proven). Cicero has argued that neither factor obtains if Roscius is accused because there is no crime and there are no cogent arguments or grounds for suspicion.
certum real
24 coarguatur The prefix intensifies the verb arguo, thus coarguo means to prove beyond a doubt.
25 leviter He promises only to scratch the surface; cf. §91 leviter transire et tantum modo perstringere
26 signi predicate genitive: "it will be (of) a sign." Me invitum facere is in apposition with it.
27 quod that (the fact that), explains id in line 26
non persequar longius He does not intend to chase his opponents too far (they may end up back at their own camp, and he with them). These assurances are meant not only to excuse himself but to reassure certain people.
2 T. Roscio Magnus, present at the trial (§17)
Tecum enim mihi res est For the idiom see L&S s.v. res II.E.
4 viderimus Future perfect where English uses a future. A&G 516c, note, state that the future perfect often appears in the apodosis of a future condition, they they do not say why.
quem ad modem etc. proleptic
paratum esse sc. eum (Capito)
5 prodierit Future perfect again, as regularly in the protasis of future more vivid conditions.
palmas Prizes; for victories, or in this case, for killings. Cf. §17 plurimarum palmarum vetus ac nobilis gladiator
7 L. Cassius ille L. Cassius Longinus Ravilla, PW 72, consul 127, censor 125, a judge of proverbial harshness; Valerius Maximus 3.7.9 mentions the nickname of his tribunal: L. Cassium praetorem, cuius tribunal propter nimiam severitatem scopulus reorum dicebatur. The most memorable instance of his severity was as special prosecutor in a case involving the Vestals Aemilia (PW 153), Licinia (PW 181), and Marcia (PW 114); for ancient references see Broughton s.a. 113, p.537. Jurists remembered him not only as a "hanging judge" but as the man who formulated the essential question "cui bono?", which he habitually (identidem line 8) asked in criminal cases. In the double dative cui bono (line 9 below), cui is M/F dative singular, the dative of reference, and bono the dative singular neuter, the final dative, literally, "for whom was it (for) a profit?" or, "who profited [from the crime]?"
quem populus Romanus verissimum ... iudicem putabat In the case of the Vestals accused of unchastity (vel incest) Cassius Longinus was made special prosecutor by a plebiscite proposed by the tribune Sex. Peducaeus. The Pontifices, headed by L. Caecilius Metellus Delmaticus (PW 91) (Broughton, following Asconius 27 C) had heard the case in 114 and acquitted Licinia and Marcia. Their verdict found little favor with the people.
9 sic Introduces the consecutive clause; equivalent to talis
10 conetur with accedere
spe atque emolumento hendiadys
quaesitorem ac iudicem quaesitor (investigator) was a term ofen used of the presiding praetor; iudex is one of the other judges
12 quibus periculum creabatur i.e., for people on trial, literally, "for whom a trial (L&S s.v. periculum II.B.2) was occasioned."
ideo quod cf. note to §1 line 7; explains fugiebant and horrebant, not creabatur
13 veritatis amicus somewhat bold expression; cf. Off. 1.109 veritatis cultores, fraudis inimici
natura abl. of specification; Cassius is subject of videbatur
non tam propensus ... quam applicatus tam and quam are correlative (applicatus magis quam propensus); applicatus originally meant attached (affixed, in a spatial sense) to, and implies a stronger inclination than propensus. The word, however, is an emendation (see app. crit.).
15 Ego ... facile me paterer ... dicere Cicero has added a second point to the one which he began to establish in §84, namely, "who profits?"; after a digression upon the severity of Cassius Longinus, he returns (§86) in a roundabout way to his point, and first declares that he would be happy to have Cassius Longinus as judge and jury in this case, as his client is innocent. The tactic of stating a willingness to have a Cassian judge and jury is equivalent to his earlier claim in §72 that even with Chrysogonus as judge and the emptores as jury Erucius has not argued his case adequately.
vir ... fortissimus M. Fannius; cf. §§11-12.
16 ab innocentia ab means "in regard to," "on the side of"
17 vel illo ... iudice quaerente abl. abs.; the iudex is Cassius Longinus
18 apud Cassianos iudices apud means "in the presence of;" here the adjective Cassianus represents not possession, but likeness; cf. Verr. 2.3.137 and 146. Cicero uses it again at Mil. 32 and Phil. 2.35 in the possessive sense (illud Cassianum, cui bono fuerit).
quorum with nomen ipsum, plural because of the proximity to Cassianos iudices, but refers to Cassius himself.
quibus dative with passive periphrastic; the whole relative clause is a periphrasis for "defendants."
21 illud in apposition with the question cui bono fuisset
22 eo perspicuo abl. abs., refers to cui bono fuisset: "this [who profited?] being very clear"
23 potius ad praedam ... quam ad egestatem Cicero has the judges attach suspicion to the ends achieved rather than to the people who received profit or poverty.
24 Quid si ... Anaphora; means "what if"
eodem to the same place/thing/conclusion: the guilt of the robbers
ut ... fueris substantive clause, subject of accedit. Translate ut "that;" same construction in subsequent questions, in each of which supply accedit eodem and ante fueris
26 inimicissimus used as noun, as shown by the genitive illius
27 horum neuter, refers to the four substantive clauses which preceded. He deals with them in order: tenuitas, avaritia, audax esse, inimicitiae
28 eius modi with tenuitas, equivalent to talis; cf. eius modi materies in §89.
dissimulari non queat Cicero uses the passive in order to keep tenuitas as the subject. Note the difference between simulo and dissimulo: the simple verb means to pretend that one is what one is not, the compound means to pretend that one is not what one is. Cf. dissimulare in §102. On the verb non queo/nequeo, cf. note to §72.
eo magis ... quo magis correlatives; the clause with the relative must be taken first in English, but the order here both makes the point that much more clear, and delivers an easier construction, as ut governs eluceat the more closely.
qui coieris qui = tu; the relative clause is causal, or circumstantial
1 municipis cognatique of a (fellow) townsman and relation
2 alienissimo Chrysogonus; to the town and family
Quam with audax; the ind. question, being the most important part of the statement, precedes the clause upon which it depends.
hinc "from this" ("on this account"), namely, the quod -(fact that) clause beginning in line 3
3 hoc est etc. Cicero never lost his taste for insult by definition; cf. Phil. 2.70: At quam crebro usurpat: 'et consul et Antonius!' Hoc est dicere, et consul et impudicissimus, et consul et homo nequissimus.See also Verr. 1.1.15, 1.1.25 paternos amicos, hoc est divisores; 2.3.84; Mil. 24; Pis. 65 (Piso and Clodius together) cum P. Clodio, hoc est cum amoribus suis.
4 qui ... sederes causal
5 ostenderes ... offeres The distinction is between merely showing (ostendere) and showing willingly (offere).
6 rei familiaris objective genitive with controversias; meaning "about" as if the expression were de re familiari (the usual construction; but cf. Verr. 2.2.46 cuius hereditatis controversia fuerat nulla ). Arguments about the family property frequently lead to inimicitiae; one thinks of the house of Atreus: or Cluentius, perhaps.
Restat, iudices,ut hoc dubitemus, uter potius Sex. Roscium occiderit
1. is ad quem morte eius divitiae venerint
an is ad quem mendicitas
2. is qui antea tenuis fuerit
an is qui postea factus sit egentissimus
3. is qui ardens avaritia feratur infestus in suos
an is qui semper ita vixerit
ut quaestum nosset nullum,
fructum autem
eum solum
quem labore peperisset
4. is qui omnium sectorum audacissimus sit
an is qui propter fori iudiciorumque insolentiam
non modo subsellia verum etiam urbem ipsam reformidet
postremo, iudices, id quod ad rem mea sententia maxime pertinet,
5. utrum inimicus potius
an filius.
9 morte instrumental abl.
11 avaritia abl. of cause
in suos against his own family
12 quaestum ... nosset nullum, fructum autem Should be the opposite of ardens avaritia, but, if interpreted literally, not only is not, but contradicts what Cicero said earlier (§44) about Roscius' enjoyment of profit from certain of his father's farms. The word quaestus is said (L&S, OLD) to mean "gain," "profit," or "gainful employment," "advantage," but as such, makes a weak opposition to "avarice," "greed": to say that one knew no profit is not to say that one had no desire so to do. It is better to approach the word from the verb quaero, that which one seeks, and thus to understand both that which one attains by seeking, and that which one wishes to obtain. Comparison with the next noun in the sentence makes the point clear: fructus, as Cicero uses it here, is not the same thing, but rather, it is the fruit (as in agriculture) of one's labor. The distinction may best be observed in the English expressions "to break even," or "to get one's time out of a job." Thus, to derive sufficient income from a farm to live on without incurring debt and to have seed for the following year is fructus; to sell one's produce at a profit and thus to have something left over after expenses produces quaestus.
14 fori iudiciorumque political life (forum) and litigation (iudicia)
15 insolentiam a being unaccustomed to (+ genitive)
subsellia the benches in a courtroom; Magnus of course as a sector, whether of property or of necks, would have been very familiar with the courts, in one way or another.
16 mea sententia abl. of specification
17 utrum inimicus potius an filius a devastating and simple termination. The finality is marked not only by postremo in line 16, but by utrum potius echoing uter potius from the beginning of the sentence. Vtrum of course is the adverb, uter the pronoun, but for variatio, so much the better.
Haec ... tot et tanta object of nanctus esses; Cicero means the grounds for suspicion of motive.
19 quo te modo iactares quo modo means "how," (in the exclamatory sense, e.g., "how you've grown!") and se iactare means to boast or to toss oneself about: Cicero probably implies both, although especially the latter. By setting the pronoun between quo and modo Cicero emphasises the physical aspects of the expression; he probably accompanied the passage with exaggerated gestures and delivery. With good arguments Erucius might have worked himself up, rehearsed, to a display of physical ostentation, but his performance was in fact careless and nonchalant (§59).
tempus ... deficeret Each side had a time limit.
22 Neque ego non possum = Et ego possum or Ego quoque possum. Litotes.
derogo ... adrogo "I do not detract so much from myself, even if I do not claim anything (else, extra) as my own, that ... " (consecutive clause). Derogo and adrogo are legal terms often used more generally. The clause with derogo means "I am not so unaware of my abilities" (cf. English 'derogatory'), the one with adrogo means "even if I do not pretend to be better than I am" (cf. English 'arrogant').
23 copiosius Copia (abundance) was for Cicero a great rhetorical good, and he states that while he can outdo Erucius in that respect (this sentence), he will not (last sentence in §91).
24 in grege i.e., one of many patroni
25 pugna Cannensis The battle of Cannae in 216 BCE during which Hannibal's army slaughtered tens of thousands of Romans. This action became proverbial, even late into the Empire. Cicero alludes to the slaughter of professional informers during the proscriptions, with the result that Erucius became a good enough prosecutor by default, when most of his rivals were dead.
26 Trasumennum lacum ... Servilium sc. lacum. Lake Trasimene was the site of Hannibal's earlier (217 BCE) overwhelming defeat of the Roman forces. The Servilius lacus (or fountain) was a place in Rome where the heads of the proscribed were displayed: Seneca de Provid. 3.
29 omnis ... Curtios, Marios, ... Memmios No one knows exactly who these men are, or even if the plurals are real or generalising
1 a proeliis Terminology used often of the law courts; the simile of the Trojan War continues.
2 Priamum ipsum senem Cicero makes Antistius (PW 1), a senior informer, play the role of Priam. This, however, reverses the point of the line from Ennius, as Antistius was proscribed. E. Klebs in RE 1 (1894) 47-59 rejects the identification of this Antistius with P. Antistius (PW 18), a well-known patronus in the eighties.
3 leges Perhaps the law against calumny
pugnare = accusare
quos nemo ... nominat People even more obscure than the unknown Curtius and company above, who were prominent as professional informers.
4 sescenti sunt 600 = many; sunt means "there are," as in "one can list;" it does not mean that they are alive, because they are not.
inter sicarios ... de veneficiis Names of standing courts (iudicia) established for these types of crimes; the mass of accusers plied their trade in these courts, prosecuting hired assassins and other unsavory types. Doubtless today they would be called ambulance chasers, shyster lawyers, or worse.
6 vellem governing viverent, means "I might wish (if it weren't impossible)"; the idiom may be either an independent potential subjunctive or the apodosis of an unreal condition, with suppressed protasis (in effect the two kinds of subjunctives are the same)
mali partitive genitive; nihil mali is in apposition with canes ibi esse
canes Refers to the simile of §§56-57.
ibi ... ubi correlative
9 turba The abstract, "disorder," not "the mob."
10 is ... qui summam rerum administrabat summam rerum here= dictaturam. summa is the noun, originally the adjective in summa res, but used with a genitive. Near the end of his life Cicero defined this periphrasis: cum penes unum est omnium summa rerum, regem illum unum vocamus et regnum eius rei publicae statum (Rep. 1.42). A variant, used not of absolute rule but of the citizenry, occurs at Har. Resp. 11: populus Romanus, cuius est summa potestas omnium rerum, and, again, of Caesar at Marc. 1: in summa potestate rerum omnium. For an example of the word summa alone, see, e.g., Att. 10.5.2.
erant ... qui The indefinite antecedent introduces three relative clauses, the first of which may be subjunctive of characteristic, as here, or indicative, merely stating a fact: A&G 535a. Note 1.
11 volneribus dative, the normal construction, with mederentur; the wounds were not physical, but were slights, grievances, or hatreds. Cicero uses medeor infrequently in his orations, eleven times in all, three of them in this one (§§ 128, 154), usually in the extended sense of mending psychic, political wounds, or righting wrongs; the word occurs more often in the letters, and in the rhetorical and philosophical works—eight times in Tusc. 3.
tamquam si Introduces a somewhat fanciful comparison, and thus apologetic; effectively a contrary-to-fact condition with the apodosis included in the particle tamquam (A&G 524 Note 1, 524a). The effect is somewhat as follows: "If eternal night had been poured over the state, it was just like that."
rei publicae dative with offundo. The verb is quite rare in Cicero: four instances in the orations, six in the rhetorical or philosophical works, usually metaphorical of various obfuscating materials, e.g., in an extended comparison of P. Clodius to a storm at sea in Dom. 137. He uses the metaphor of darkness poured out elsewhere, although of the four instances the present one is the most compelling. Cf. Pis. fragment 4 (in Nisbet); ND 1.6; Tusc. 5.6.
12 ita corresponds to tamquam: they rushed about in darkness because of the perpetual night
qui ... ita ruebant ... omniaque miscebant Cicero states the second relative clause as a fact. Mixing things up, i.e., disturbing the status quo, was always a bad thing to do, but in the period to which Cicero refers there really was not only confusion but a general disturbance of all social and political norms. Cf. Plutarch Sulla 30-32.
13 a quibus Change in construction for variatio: the relative pronoun, indicating agents of the passive verb esse combusta in line 14 (O.O. after miror), precedes the rest of the clause to indicate continuity of antecedent.
ne ... vestigium Negative final clause, with quod for the more familiar quid/aliquid. To English thinking this is placed prematurely, but in Latin the final clause usually - and logically - precedes the action on which it "depends." English would say, "I'm surprised that these benches weren't burnt up by them too, so that ..."
14 et accusatores et iudices sustulerunt Cicero has already (§§89-90) described the slaughter of accusers; the iudices in 82, before Sulla's reforms, were another class of men, the equites, many of whom were primary victims of the proscriptions, for not only political but financial reasons. This final description of the men who took advantage of Sulla's lack of awareness is also given as a fact.
15 ita vixerunt i.e., ita se gesserunt
16 testis omnis accusative plural: those whose actions Cicero condemns worked openly, so to eliminate witnesses would have required eliminating that portion of the human race resident in Italy.
17 qui accuset ... deerit Same construction as in line 10: the omitted subject of deerit is the antecedent of qui. Here, however, the qui-clause is one of purpose, and while it stands in for the noun "accusers," or "witnesses," no noun can convey the idea inherent in the subjunctive verb.
18 ut coepi dicere, et Erucius Cicero returns to the point begun in §89; et here means "both," completed by et ego in line 20.
19 haec object of haberet, occupies the same position in its clause as haec ... si nanctus esses of §89: a clear signal of returning to the beginning.
20 quamvis diu = quam diu quam vis (vel vult)
possum sc. diu dicere, another reminder of §89 (Neque ego non possum; copiosius ... posse dicere).
21 leviter transire cf. §83 leviter ... tangam
tantum modo perstringere = leviter tangere; cf. §83 neque omnia dicam et leviter ... tangam
22 unamquamque rem cf. unum quidque of §83. The sentence is an interesting exercise in rewriting an earlier statement.
23 studio ... officio abls. of cause; studium, a liking or inclination for a thing, replaces the cupiditas of §83, as officium replaces fides: here Cicero uses words which describe behavior rather than impulse.
§92 causas ... permultas §§86-88 contain some of the motives
24 istum Magnus
25 facultas judicially, means "opportunity" combined with "means" to commit a crime, thus covering all points of an investigation, as causae are "motives."
27 tu, T. Rosci etc. Here and in §94 Cicero returns to the tactic of questioning his opponent and supplying the answers, as he did with Erucius above §§ 52-54, 58, 74.
28 Quasi nunc id agatur This sentence rejects Magnus' imaginary objection that many people were at Rome and could have done the crime. There has been an ellipsis: "[Magnus answered] as if the point were that (id = quis ... occiderit)...". In so stating Cicero disregards the obvious answer, that id quod agebatur was not whether one of two people of Cicero's choosing was more likely to have murdered Roscius maior, but whether or not his son did.
29 ac non hoc quaeratur also with quasi, "and not as if this (hoc = the rest of the sentence) were the question;" he narrows the choice of suspects from all those at Rome to Magnus (at Rome) or Roscius (in the country).
eum ... accesserit A long indirect question with three relative clauses, one for each of the people involved: the victim, Magnus, the accused. The main question is utrum verisimilius sit (line 30) eum (line 29) esse occisum (line 30) ab eo ... an ab eo
3 id quod commemoravit Erucius in §80 line 19 (multitudinem sicariorum), and line 18 (homines volgo impune occiderentur)
4 quae interrogative adjective, means, of course, quorum?, as is evident from the next sentence
5 eorum genitive refers to multitudo from line 4
in bonis bonis is abl. of bona, [other people's] property
occupati the adjective "busy with," "engaged in"
ab eis refers to qui ... occupati, another relative periphrasis for a noun which does not exist
6 conducebantur "were hired" + final clause
si eos putes one must supply an infinitive for eos, who are the first group mentioned (eorum qui at the beginning of line 5). The best thing to understand is eos esse eam multitudinem, and that is probably why Cicero omitted it.
7 alienum neuter, "the thing of someone else"
tu es ... qui in eo numero refers to those who have others' things, but tu is the antecedent of qui: you who are rich ... are (a change from general to specific)
nostra pecunia instrumental
8 sin eos "but if them," same construction as si eos putas above
qui ... appellant This relative clause interrupts the relative clause quos ... vocant; quos is in apposition with percussores and the subject of vocant is the omitted antecedent of qui. Again, the nonexistent noun which the relative clauses stands in for would be something like hoi euphemizontes.
9 quaere imperative is addressed to Magnus
in ... clientela In domestic terms, to be in someone's fides = being in his clientela; the relative clause means "whose subordinates are they?"
10 aliquem or perhaps more than one
de societate tua the original societas between Magnus, Capito, and Chrysogonus first mentioned in §21
quicquid ... dixeris the verb is future perfect, the construction is a disguised future more vivid condition: "no matter what objection you make" = "if you make any objection at all"
11 id ... contendito For the meaning "compare" see L&S contendo IIB3; future imperative, as in the apodosis of a condition
ita not only with facillime, but with the whole clause - the comparison is very easy when done as Cicero suggests (ita).
15 Non continuo "Not necessarily;" continuo is adv. of continuus
16 si me ... contuli se conferre (here, with in) means "to betake oneself (to)," "associate with," or "join." Cf. Catullus 16.5-6 nam castum esse decet pium poetam / ipsum, versiculos nihil necesse est.
17 quemquam = ullum, with ne ... quidem
18 longe absum ab "I am a total stranger to" (far removed from); Cicero reverts to his own persona after this sentence.
Permulta ... quae ... qua re Permulta and quae are "things" (there are many things which can be said) but if one translates as "things" one encounters difficulty in translating qua re (lit. because of which thing, why), so one had better translate Permulta and quae as "reasons."
19 facultatem opportunity again, with malefici suscipiendi, the phrase he employed to open this question in §92.
20 quae coordinating relative, corresponding to et/sed ea
non modo ... verum eo magis etiam another variant of "not only ... but also" is "not only ... but all the more." Eo is an adverb which signals the quod (line 22) coming up; just as with idcirco ... quod in lines 20-21.
21 te ipsum non libenter accuso as he had said in §83, when he promised not to go beyond what the defense of Roscius required. Ipsum marks the contrast between this quod-clause and that which follows (not only you yourself, but also [others]).
22 de illis caedibus ... quae tum factae sunt ista eadem ratione According to Plutarch Sulla 32, L. Sergius Catilina had killed his "brother" (vel brother-in-law) before the war was over, and Sulla obliged him by inserting the man's name retroactively into the lists.
24 ad pluris ... pertinere These would include other associates of Sulla, and Sulla himself.
sicut cetera sc. vidimus; cetera are the motive and opportunity which he has just discussed
quae ... facta sunt !!! Indicative in indirect question.
27 invitus not out of fear, or compassion for a man whom he might endanger, but out of embarrassment at stating the obvious
28 cuicuimodi variant spelling, and easier on the tongue and the ear, for cuiuscuiusmodi "of whatever sort"
vereor ... ne ita ... videar ... ut ita circumscribes the action of the verb voluisse and causes a result
29 tibi ... pepercerim The perfect subjunctive (< parco) is unusual in a result clause unless the permanence of the result is emphasised. As he says in the next sentence, cum ... cupio tibi ... parcere
cum "when": note present indicatives vereor et cupio. Although Cicero could have written a concessive clause, the sense is temporal; yet "when" is in the sense of "whenever."
aliqua ex parte see note to §10
quod ... possim Relative clause of characteristic; quod is internal accusative with parcere; one has to take parcere with both cupio and possim
1 rursus finishes the cum-temporal clause
venit ... in mentem Since the object genitive, oris tui, of this phrase is Magnus' face, one can see that this expression for 'remember' has become fossilised. He might more precisely have said venit mihi in oculos
2 oris tui He explains in the next sentence what he means. Magnus' face is not in itself obnoxious, although if the man were homely mentioning his face would elicit a gratifying reaction for the defense, but his presence in court is what Cicero says he finds offensive. Cf. §87 os tuum etc.
Tene = Te-ne
3 illorum Magnus' socii (not de sua praeda because iudicium is the subject of this clause).
4 huius maleficio The absence of a word meaning "alleged" may be explained either by Cicero's representing the thought of Magnus' associates, or by ellipsis; Cicero himself should say crimen malefici
potissimum especially, by preference: Magnus actively sought what his associates actively avoided; essentially the same idea as that expressed by the verb offeres in §87.
partis acc. plural: role, as in a play
5 depoposcisse deposco is often used of demanding a duty or honor, e.g., consulatum, provinciam for oneself.
6 nihil aliud ... nisi ut Cf. sin aliud agitur nihil nisi ut in §8, and note.
7 audacia tua ... impudentia Cf. §87 quam sis audax. cognoscatur agrees with the nearer subject. Cicero saves impudentia for final emphatic position; normally et impudentia would have come before the verb.
9 Quid attinuit "what was the point?"
10 eum nuntiare substantive clause, subject of attinuit; potissimum with eum here means "him, of all people."
quod subject of pertinebat in line 13; its antecedent, and the object of nuntiare, is omitted
iam ante sc. mortem Sex. Rosci. Cicero clearly understands that his case against the T. Roscii will fail on the grounds that they had no viable motive at the time of the murder.
11 consilium ... inieras ineo is used with a variety of nouns (rationem, societatem, bellum, etc.) to mean "enter upon" (or something like that); with consilium it means to make a plan
societatem ... coieras same expression as in §21
12 sceleris ... praemi objective genitives with societatem
ullo to use nullo would have created a double negative and made the statement positive after the negative nullam societatem; the alternatives neque ... neque, however, do not destroy the negative (one might regard them as parenthetical): A&G 327.2.
13 minime omnium the adverb minime is strengthened by omnium, as superlatives are often strengthened by quam: "least of all" (exactly the English expression)
Sua sponte etc. The dashes indicate Magnus' purported direct answer; cf. his reply "quoted" in line 17.
14 eius Mallius Glaucia. Interest (and refert) take the genitive of the person affected, or the abl. sing. fem. of the possessive adj. (mea, nostra, sua, etc.). English uses the dative: what difference did it make to him?
An ... casu accidit An introduces an alternative question: "Or could it be that ..."
cum Like si in a statement contrary to fact.
16 Cuius rei causa Means the same as cur, but using the same construction makes the statement of line 15 into a question.
17 divinare "divine," i.e., guess or tell by supernatural guidance. The verb usually means "foretell," "predict," but here it is used of the past. Cicero uses it deliberately so that he can score a rhetorical point using the original meaning of the word: nihil divinatione opus sit.
Eo ... adducam ut Lit. "I shall soon bring the matter to that place (or, so far) (eo) that ..." i.e., "I shall reveal that soon enough." Some form of is, ea, id frequently replaces talis, tale in the main clause introducing a result clause; here eo is an adverb and there is no corresponding form of talis.
18 Qua ratione Yet another expression for cur.
19 primo emendation for primum; the adjective in apposition with Capitoni, not the adverb.
Sex. Rosci Roscius maior
20 liberi Used in plural, even when there was only one child.
21 optime convenientes lit. "agreeing the best": Cicero says that Roscius got on well with his neighbors and relatives, except Capito.
22 sceleris tui Cicero assumes Magnus' guilt; he is trying to establish Capito's prior knowledge and partnership in an actual plot against Roscius maior, i.e., what is not known as murder in the first degree. As a bonus, he assumes that he has said he will not try to prove. See §§98-99.
potissimum the third time this page: each time it is "why in particular" (the particulars--circumstantial evidence--are suspicious).
24 Quid ... quid Cicero repeats the object of significat with each of the subjects (celeritas means about the same thing as festinatio).
quod metuas final relative clause
excutio not shake down, but shake out, search, "frisk"
27 quid ... ferri something of iron, a weapon
nihil adverbial with the impersonal pertinere; the subject must be supplied from what has preceded, e.g., "examining you."
28 cuius consilio occisus sit ... cuius manu sit percussus Cicero says that he cares about the author of the crime, in the sense of the source, not the agency, or means, of having it done. The verbs (chiastic arrangement, because of the exigencies of the grammatical structure, limited to the positions of the participles and sit) make the same distinction, as occido means generally to kill but percutio to strike (the actual blow).
29 invenio A statement of fact which could be explained as a simple condition.
Vnum hoc Defined by the several questions beginning Vbi aut unde.
1 sumo to take hold of, to use as proof
tuum scelus He resumes his address to Magnus.
3 audisse Needs a subject, to be supplied from previous sentence.
tantum itineris contendere contendere in sense of "to hasten," used absolutely, with accusative of extent of space and partitive genitive. The collocution vtantum itineris occurs again only at Verr. 2.5.128: hic tam grandis natu Eubulida hoc tantum exacta aetate laboris itinerisque suscepit. The usual expression iter facere does not as readily convey the idea of distance.
4 quae necessitas eum tanta premebat The final adjective and the pronoun defy usual word-order, the adjective saved for the end for emphasis (usual order would be quae tanta necessitas), thus including eum within the phrase. Thus Cicero spatially "premebat" eum, between necessitas and tanta.
5 id temporis idiomatic accusative with partitive genitive: A&G 397a.
6 nullam partem in asyndeton, which Cicero could have avoided, had he wished, by writing neque ullam: accusative of extent of time.
argumentatio a bringing forward of proofs, through argument
8 coniectura capienda a putting things together (coniectura) + capio = to form conclusions
haec ... cernere oculis videmini Cicero pretends to credit the judges with vivid visual imaginations.
9 non = nonne (so the following instances of non)
10 ignarum casus sui Objective genitive
11 non versatur ... Glaucia "Can't you just see Glaucia right in there?"
12 ante oculos vobis vobis is dative of reference; one might have expected vestros
non adest etc. "Don't you see Magnus too?" Cicero does not actually leave anything to the judges' imagination.
13 suis manibus ... conlocat ... sui sceleris Grammatical necessity sometimes has a wonderful way of forcing a point: by making Magnus the subject of the sentence Cicero can attribute to him the crime.
Automedontem Achilles' charioteer; antonomasia. There were certain allusions, especially characters from the Trojan War, which one could trust to virtually any audience.
15 eam noctem pervigilet The compound verb and the accusative reinforce Cicero's point that Glaucia's journey involved extraordinary exertion and discomfort. The verb is a hapax in Cicero; the related noun occurs only once [in all of Latin literature, quod sciam: seek Examples], at Leg. 2.37: Nouos uero deos et in his colendis nocturnas peruigilationes sic Aristophanes facetissumus poeta ueteris comoediae uexat, ut apud eum Sabazius et quidam alii dei peregrini iudicati e ciuitate eiciantur.
honoris sui causa The phrase honoris causa used literally. Magnus is still the subject of the main verb upon which these final clauses depend, thus properly described with the adjective suus.
18 bonis abl. plural neuter: Capito was a sharer in the property, not a partner among good [which would have to be understood as irony] men.
19 eum video possidere From the use of infinitive, instead of participle possidentem, Cicero means video in the sense of intellego. Cf. §24: videre in Sex. Rosci ... bonis iactantem se ac dominantem T. Roscium.
hanc suspicionem i.e., being a murderer, or party to murder
lemniscatam sc. palmam, adorned with ribbons, an honor accorded to military commanders as token of a great victory. The adjective (a hapax in Cicero: evidently also the first time in extant Latin literature, not, therefore, necessarily his coinage) is formed as if the past participle of the (nonexistent) verb lemnisco. The noun lemniscus (loan word from Greek) is more common. Repetition of the claim of §17: alter [Capito] plurimarum palmarum vetus ac nobilis gladiator habetur, hic autem [Magnus] nuper se ad eum lanistam contulit.
23 nullum modum esse ... occiderit Litotes reinforces this truly extravagant claim: not only has Capito killed people in every conceivable manner, but he has evidently killed not a few people by each of the several means available to the imagination (although Cicero supplies only two, venenum and ferrum).
24 Habeo ... dicere habeo + object clause (infinitive) means to have the knowledge or ability (to tell, in this case); somewhat different from possum in that the latter verb implies inherent power or capability, habeo indicates the possession of some knowledge which grants the ability. Cf. planum facere possum ("I can prove") below.
25 quem the interrogative pronoun, object of deiecerit.
contra morem maiorum etc. The common story is that men over sixty were not allowed to vote and were excluded from the bridges leading to the saepta (voting enclosures) [maybe this has to do with military service]. Varro (ap. Non. 523.21) cites the proverb sexagenarios de ponte (Paul. es. Fest. p.75.7 MÙll.: depontani senes appellabantur, qui sexagenarii de ponte deiciebantur); some took the expression to refer to killing people, as Ovid Fasti 5.621ff.
26 Quae The neuter embraces not only this story but others.
atque adeo "or rather," correcting si to cum, but retaining the conditional construction.
Veniat modo, explicet suum volumen Clauses of proviso; the volumen is the roll of writing, some piece of written evidence which the prosecution intends to use against the defendant.
28 ei Dative singular; refers to Capito. Cicero's change of subject from Capito to himself, as subject of the verbal expression governing O.O. (planum facere possum), explains the use of ei to refer to the same person meant by the possessive adjective suum.
29 conscripsisse The verb ("to compose") is often used of writing history, as well as of enrolling men in the military, into tribes, or of writing legislation.
aiunt One cannot tell here, when Cicero says "they" say, whether he means the opposition or people in general.
quod aiunt illum ... intentasse et minitatum esse ... The position of the relative at the beginning of the clause leads one to expect that it will be taken with both verbs in O.O., but Cicero merely continues the subject illum, meaning Capito.
30 Sex. Roscio dative with intentasse; the English idiom is to say threaten someone with something; Latin says to threaten something to someone.
se ... esse dicturum Another layer of O.O., this dependent upon minitatum esse, thus the change of pronoun from illum to se, although there has been no change of subject.
pro testimonio "as" testimony or, perhaps, "instead of." Cicero says that Erucius has written up something for Capito to use as damaging testimony against Roscius. He does not further elaborate, although his retreat into apostrophe indicates that the subject made him uncomfortable. One may imagine any number of things which the document may have contained, e.g., a draft of a will (of Roscius maior) disinheriting his son, or proof of some heinous crime committed by the son, or of misappropriation of what was not now his property.
1 O praeclarum testem etc. Accusatives of exclamation doing double duty as red herrings.
2 exspectatione ablative with the adjective dignam; Capito is being awaited because he has not yet appeared in court.
eius modi ut Cf. §37 facinus ... eius modi quo; §79 scopulum ... eius modi ut; §86 tenuitas ... eius modi ... ut; §89 eius modi materies est ut; §104 quae facitis eius modi sint ut; §120 Res ... eius modi ... ut.
3 libentibus animis abl. of manner
5 nos Cicero addresses the judges and identifies his vision with theirs. The nominative nos is used (it is not necessary) for contrast with istorum. It is somewhat strange to state that the blindness of one set of people has given another group keener vision, although, to be sure, what he means is that since Capito et alii are blinded by greed they behave stupidly.
ipsos Wants some other pronoun, esp. as the grammatical subjects are the abstract nouns--the real agents of the sentence, however, are the people. Must be an instance of Latin emphasizing the wrong word (to our way of thinking): their very greed has made them blind.
6 cupiditas et avaritia et audacia Cicero has twice before connected greed with daring: §12 eo prorumpere hominum cupiditatem et scelus et audaciam, and §75 ex luxuria exsistat avaritia necesse est, ex avaritia erumpat audacia. The word audacia appears twenty times in the oration.
volucrem This adjective is pretty well confined to Cicero and the poets; he uses it frequently. Examples
8 adeo "even": L&S s.v. 2.II.D. It serves the same function here as a correctio using potius.
9-11 si cuperent ... ponerent The imperfect subjunctives are due to two cuases: (1) normal sequence in a final clause, dependent on misit ut and (2) present unreal condition.
11-12 si placet ... dicturus est This is not a future condition, but a simple present condition, the future participle indicating Capito's intention.
12 quasi vero id nunc agatur Cf. §92 for the same tactic (Quasi nunc id agatur quis ... occiderit): Cicero deflects what is in fact the matter at hand to introduce a counter accusation.
13 is quod dixerit credendum i.e. id credendum sit quod is dixerit; is is placed before the relative clause for emphasis.
dixerit ... fecerit the first verb should be future perfect, but the second should be perfect subjunctive if it refers to complicity in the murder. Yet the two verbs are in the same construction, so fecerit must refer to Capito's intention of giving evidence in a matter which involves his own property: Cicero begins the next sentence Itaque, to explain.
credendum sc. necne
14 more abl. of attendant circumstances (accordance)
comparatum est impersonal passive: see L&S s.v. 2.I.B ("it was established"); followed by consecutive clause ut ... non dicerent.
15 in minimis rebus and by extension, in maximis. Halm would add vel after ut (see app. crit.); the idea is that not even in petty cases involving one's own property could one give evidence.
18 ageretur ... diceret "past tense" of a future less vivid, or potential, idea.
in talem virum in + acc. often means "against;" it can also mean "about," e.g. de Or. 2.352 (cum cenaret Simonides apud Scopam cecinissetque id carmen, quod in eum scripsisset).
19 crederetur impersonal
20 in peiorem partem cf. §45 in bonam partem [accipere]
21-25 Observe the tripartite division of the sentence. In each case, Cicero preserves the same order of subjects, (1) property, (2) murder:
cum (1) de bonis et (2) de caede agatur
testimonium dicturus est is qui et (1) sector est et (2)
sicarius
hoc est[definition + relative clause]
qui et (1) illorum ipsorum bonarum de
quibus agitur emptor atque possessor est
et (2) eum hominem occidendum curavit de
cuisu morte quaeritur
21 de bonis Actually, the property is not an issue in the present case, although it serves Cicero's purposes here to make it one, but cf. §82.
24 hominem occidendum curavit The same idea may also be expressed by curo + infinitive (active or passive), or by curo + subjunctive (with or without ut or ne), as in §105 curat ...ut eius bona veneant statim. The gerundive is the closest construction to the original direct object.
dicas characteristic
26 ausculta a "vulgar" word (cf. "listen up"), much used in comedy, only here in Cicero; in the sense of obaudire, obsequi. It occurs once also in Horace Sat. 2.7.1, where a slave says it to his master.
28 unum stultissime brief and effective surprise conclusion after the tricolon with multa and three violent adverbs.
tua sponte, non de Eruci sententia Note two different manners of expressing "in accordance with."
2 muto adjective, with accusatore. The sentence argues two things at once: (1) All accusers had their turn at speaking, yet Magnus sits silently among the accusers: his behavior is a breach of proper procedure; (2) No witness called by the prosecution (teste ... eo qui ... surgit) should be sitting with theprosecutors (another breach of proper procedure).
3 Huc accedit Cf. §8 cumulus accedat. Huc, "to this" (lit. "to here"), refers to the advantage already given the defence by Magnus' presence. Thus there is a further advantage which Cicero will relate in the quod- ("the fact that") clause.
paula tamen "at least by a little": an unsubtle statement of Magnus' lack of discretion
4 vestra ista forms of iste are often joined with a second-person possessive. vestra = the two T. Roscii, who are the same people meant by vobis in line 5.
esset potential subjunctive; understand as the apodosis of an unreal condition: "[if you had kept away] your greed would have been ..."
5 quod ... desideret relative clause of characteristic; desideret is used here in the sense of "need," more than "desire."
6 dedita opera adverbial, means "deliberately;" it is the abl. abs. of operam dedere: see s.v. dedo L&S II.A.b; OLD 3.d.
a nobis for the force of the preposition cf. §85 (ab innocentia): "with a view to us," i.e. "for us."
7 facere has as its object the unexpressed antecedent of quae (line 5)
9 ad Volaterras cf. §20 quadriduo quo haec gesta sunt res ad Chrysogonum in castra L. Sullae Volaterras defertur. On quadriduo quo see loc. cit.
10 Quaeritur impersonal
11 nonne The expected response is factually inadmissible.
12 eundem qui Ameriam i.e. eundem esse qui nuntium Ameriam miserit
13 veneant from veneo, used as the passive of vendo.
qui Despite the nearer antecedent eius (Sex. Roscius), the relative refers to Chrysogonus, as the sense makes clear.
14 qui ei qui is "how;" ei (dative) is Chrysogonus
15ff Soletis ... produntur Note four expressions for indicating the Latin equivalent of a Greek eikos-argument: Soletis, necesse est, plerumque, plerique. Cicero can argue that this is the usual way that someone's property comes to the attention of the wrong people only because of the recent proscriptions. In normal Italian life before that time, it was not normally the case that one's fellow townsmen or neighbors gave this sort of evidence: there was no opportunity.
16 audistis Most mss have the present auditis, which would conform better to the English idiom. The perfect means, in primary sequence, what the pluperfect means in secondary: "after you have heard it, you immediately say ..."
17 aliquem from the adjective aliqui
dixisse absolute: "told" (as in English "I'll tell!"), "gave information"
indicant The word usually means "inform," "disclose," "betray;" the equivalent of prodo (produntur is in the next line).
18 quod object of occupetis (relative consecutive clause)
suspicione occupetis See the app. crit.; there are many conjectures for the mss suspicionem hoc putetis, including Halm's quod suspiciosum hoc esse putetis, which is not given. Madvig's emendation would translate something like this: "Here there is nothing which you would seize upon with [instrumental] suspicion." Whatever one reads, the point is, as Cicero says in the next sentence, that the situation is so clear as not to require any form of eikos-argument.
21 cum concessive
22 veteres a maioribus reemphasis of the same idea, long-standing, traditional (hereditary) relationships
patronos Not attorneys. Cicero describes the traditional network of Roman and Italian society: people who were more important would protect and foster the interests of those who relied on them, their clients, just as the Metelli, for example, protected Sex. Roscius. In return, the clients owed allegiance, support, their votes in elections, and so on, to their patrons.
hospitesque another sort of relationship, also hereditary, that of mutual guest-friendship with people in other towns or cities; cf. §15 cum Metellis, Serviliis, Scipionibus erat ei non modo hospitium verum etiam domesticus usus et consuetudo.
23 colere atque observare In practical terms the two verbs indicate virtually the same thing; the copia adds emphasis.
24 in fidem ... contulerunt (with se) cf. §93 quaere in cuius fide sint et clientela. Cicero contrasts the upstart Greekling ex-slave with well established and ancestrally linked Italian/Roman men of substance.
25 coniectura nihil opus est The idiom opus est takes either a nominative or an ablative (as here) of the thing needed; nihil is adverbial. Same construction in §96 nihil divinatione opus sit.
27 suo refers to the subject of the second verb introducing O.O., ipsos non negare (dependent in turn upon scio): the T. Roscii, not Chrysogonus.
eum No specific person is meant; no one would wish to write si quem qui ...
indici causa partem Textual problem; others have indicii partem, or a variant thereon, which Donkin explains as meaning partem praedae, with indicium = the things about which the information is given, not the information itself. Eberhard writes pretium for partem.
28 acceperit clause of characteristic
1 Qui sunt ... in istis bonis For various meanings of esse in see L&S s.v. sum I.A.4.
quibus ... dederit Relative clause of characteristic, even though referring to two specific people.
4 obtulerint hanc praedam ... partem praedae tulerunt paronomasia
7 operae pretium "worthwhile," lit. "the price of the effort;" see L&S s.v. pretium III.B.1.
quod ... esset relative consecutive clause, describes nihil, which is placed near the beginning for emphasis.
8 fecerant ... donabantur Not an unreal indicative, but a condition whose falsity is not implied. For the two constructions with donabantur, cf. note to §23 donabat, where the type donare aliquid alicui is found. This is the passive form of donare aliquem aliqua re.
10 gratias agi etc. Note the string of impersonal passives: "that thanks be given to them, or even (denique), that the thing be done really generously, that some reward be granted."
ut ... ageretur final clause
11 honoris partitive with aliquid; this meaning of honor (reward, gift) is almost exclusively post-Augustan.
12 tantae pecuniae genitive of description, with price thrown in
14 manubias = praedas or the money from the sale thereof; cf. pugna in line 7. Cicero continues the metaphor of a military action and its result.
17 totam vitam ... cognoscite An argument from the particular to the general.
18-21 Nisi intellexeritis ... iudicatote Cicero argues that his case is so secure that it is absolute; cf. his earlier assertion that Roscius may be judged guilty if even one point is found against him: §8.
19 integrum untouchable, or not to be touched (as well as untouched).
20 violarit et imminuerit relative consecutive clause; the verbs may be taken with sanctum and integrum respectively.
23 monet ut provideat ne palam res agatur A nice string of subordinate clauses: supply Chrysogonus as object of monet and subject of provideat. palam = before Sulla.
24 sublata comes from tollo and means "cancelled"
illum Chrysogonus
25 capitis periculum Cicero asserts that Capito demonstrated that he would be suspected/accused of murder if the killing were not kept part of the proscriptions.
26ff acuere ... fallere ... etc. Historical infinitives, with
Capito as the unexpressed subject, effectively switches from the
historical present to the imperfect. Observe the structure: Cicero has
four clauses in which he contrasts ille (Chrysogonus) and
hos (the legati), the third clause containing an internal
contrast employing most of the same words:
(1) illum ... hos
(2) illum ... hisce
(3) cum illo contra hos ... horum ... illi
(4) cum illo ... hisce
26 qui ... missi circumlocution for noun
27 caveret secondary sequence after historical infinitive
depecisci depeciscor occurs again in §115. L&S s.v. say "repeatedly in Cic., elsewh. rare" but Cicero uses the word only six times, twice in this oration, once at Verr. 2.3.60, Inv. 2.72, Att. 9.7.3, and in a fragment, cited by Asconius In Toga Candida. The extant works of few other writers contain the word. The instances from Cicero's orations and the Inv. refer either to a compact made for the purpose of committing a crime, or to an agreement reached under duress, thus when he writes to Atticus cum enim tot impendeant, cur non honestissimo depecisci velim? the phrase honestissimo depecisci is an oxymoron.
1 semper with both aliqua fretus mora and intercludere.
3 fide ac potius perfidia paronomasia, and not readily translatable.
4 ipsis the legati
5 testimonium eis denuntiare a technical term: testimonium alicui denuntiare means to call (aliquis) as a witness.
rem mandatam (also mandatum, lines 9 and 17) legal term for a commission, or a contract
si ... gessisset not unreal, but a subordinate clause in O.O.
8 eum ... existimabant The word order is interesting: eum is emphatic, and refers to the person meant in si qui ..., thus it comes first; maiores, the subject, is where it should be in the clause (save for the precedence of eum); summum and dedecus frame the verb, almost as if the adjective modified the verb-object combination and admisisse dedecus meant "criminal action."
9 mandati with iudicium, next line, means standing court for [breach of] contract
10 turpe with iudicium means causing shame for the persons arraigned in that venue
furti sc. iudicium
11 quibus in rebus ... in eis proleptic coordinating relative takes the antecedent noun into its own clause
12 operae nostrae dative, with supponitur
vicaria fides ... supponitur pleonastic: "substitute good faith ... is substituted"
14 disturbat vitae societatem There is a similar passage at Phil. 2.7 where Cicero complains of Antonius' having violated the confidentiality of private correspondence, and describes the result of such his action. Compare also Rosc. Com. 16; in Caec. 62 Caec. 7.
15 per nos "ourselves" regarded as instruments rather than agents
alius in alia etc. Cicero achieves both chiasmus and the juxtaposition of the different forms of the same word.
15ff Idcirco amicitiae comparantur ... A pragmatic and legalistic view of friendship
19 Note the word-play in this line. There are three verbs compounded of ob-; offers is ostensibly a word of good connotation, although in the context it turns out not to be.
officio simulato ablative absolute (or instrumental abl.). Again, note the word-play between officio "duty" and officis "obstruct."
20 de medio = out of one's sight; cf. §20 for the idiom
21 maxime grave ... minime leves The adjectives are used in both literal and figurative meanings; they also serve as definitions of one another, since the most heavy is also the least light.
23ff duas res sanctissimas violat, amicitiam et fidem cf. §109 (sanctum ... violarit). Cicero descants briefly upon the theme, keeping the same order of amicitia (or amicus) and fides.
24 neque mandat quisquam mando here is used absolutely; one still needs to supply an alternative object (cuiquam), for which the adverb fere does duty. Same situation with credit etc. in the next line.
25 Perditissimi ... hominis appositional genitive, with dissolvere and fallere.
iudicio instrumental abl.
condemnetur depends upon necesse est
29 cum with adfecerit in line 31
30 concreditae Plautine word (16 times); occurs with commendare also in Cicero Quinct. 62, the only other occurrence of the word in the Ciceronian corpus.
ignominia instrumental abl.; contrasted with fama, the constructions differing: the first has nominative + genitive, the second, ablative + accusative.
31 inopia vivum Words supplied by Halm; something is needed to complete the contrast with fortunae vivi.
1 adeo "even": see note to §102
inter vivos cf. Quinct. 49, post Red. ad Quir. 10; the meaning of not to be inter vivos is to be "politically dead"
In minimis privatisque rebus Cicero raises the ante: before he contrasted in minimis rebus with in re tanta; here (line 5) in re tanta is defined and characterised by quae publice gesta atque commissa sit.
2 iudiciumque infamiae Donkin renders "trial with the penalty of dishonour"
3 illum neglegere subject of oporteat; refers to the person qui non omnia potest per se agere (cf. §111), i.e. qui mandarit. Cicero omits a logical step in his argument. Strictly speaking, si recte fiat, no one would be negligent: his point is that if anyone is entitled to be negligent, it is the one whose affairs are at risk, not someone who has been entrusted with protecting those affairs.
5 qui antecedent is the subject (is) of adficietur and damnabitur
6 laeserit ... polluerit ... adfecerit future perfect (?)
7 caerimoniam in the primary meaning of "sanctity"
8 qua ... quo in the sense of qualis
is note postpositive position of the personal pronoun (Wackernagel's law); cf. Si hanc ei rem in the next sentence.
10 decideret from de-caedo
11 inque eam rem with fidem suam ... interponeret, "pledge one's word," following which the usual construction, as here, is in + acc. of the thing (see L&S s.v. interponere II.B.2).
quid with opus esse, alternative construction to the ablative (cf. note to §107).
12 ille anticipatory, emphatic; grammatically follows nonne
recepisset (1) relative clause of characteristic; (2) can have the meaning of a verb of promising (L&S s.v. II.B.2.b) followed by O.O. with future infinitive
13 rem suam = property, profit realised (also rem in line 14)
14 arbitrum The arbiter was a person who decided on matters of fides (actio bonae fidei), a legal procedure.
restitueret ... amitteret conclude the condition; logically = the result of the person's dondemnation (damnatus) as guilty of breach of faith
honestatem reputation, respectability; a severe loss in a timocratic society, or so Cicero would argue
18 eo abl. of id = the whole of the things entrusted
paululum more vocabulary from early and late Latin; the adjective paululus and the neuter noun derived from it occur infrequently in classical prose except in Cicero. The addition of nescio quid (the pronoun: see L&S s.v. nescio I[g]) achieves an effect opposite to a superlative's.
19 convertit ... evertit inevitable paronomasia
20 depectus est from depeciscor; cf. note to §110
21 tantidem quanti correlatives in a chiastic construction, genitives of price. Our idiom is different: "he made as much of their wishes as he made of his promise."
23 quo (maleficium) instrumental abl.; relative clause of characteristic
In ... fallere substantive clause, subject of turpissimum est
25 atque with aeque; the Latin idiom is "equally and"; the comparison is to illud which follows
illud to deceive/behave negligently toward the person entrusting; the abuse of faith which he has just been discussing at such great length. What he is about to talk about is different, for the socius is not the person who entrusts something, but a person who shares the onus of that trust.
neque iniuria = non sine iure (with non/neque 15 times in Cicero). The positive iniuria for sine iure also occurs.
26 auxilium sibi se direct object, indirect object, and subject respectively of the infinitive adiunxisse; the person meant, unexpressed subject of putat, is anyone who is in such a situation (qui cum altero rem communicavit).
27 cuius interrogative
confugiet subject of this and of commiserit is the same as the (indefinite) person who was the subject of the last clause
28 eius ... cui any person in Capito's position
1 maxime quae difficillime a kind of correlative
2 Tecti ... ad alienos "cautious (hidden) toward outsiders;" contrasted with apertiora, after a change of construction
intimi asyndeton; adversative clause
3 qui how
4 ius offici laedimus a ticklish situation for a Roman: a display of bad form should not be necessary in close partnerships; cf. note on laeserit (§113). The choice is between being impius and stultus: see below lines 12-15 where he says socium offici metuere non debuerunt ... parum putantur cauti providique fuisse.
tametsi ... videtur cf. §56 tametsi miserum est, tamen ei qui hunc accuset possim aliquo modo ignoscere.
9 muneris ... mandatorum Copia: the four words do not mean exactly the same thing, but convey the same message.
10 induxit ... fefellit a crescendo, but with five verbs; there is a gradual increase in the number of syllables, suddenly a doubling between the third and fourth clauses (also note asyndeton): 3-3-4-8-11; and again, similar but not identical meanings. The last clause (omni fraude et perfidia fefellit) adequately describes the second verb, the penultimate clause, the third; one may then regard the series with punctuation something like this: novem homines honestissimos ... induxit: (A) decepit, (B) destituit, (B) adversariis tradidit, (A) omni fraude et perfidia fefellit.
11 qui nom. pl. masc., the legati, with the first three verbs
12 eius out of place, modifies scelere, but placed between suspicari and nihil for impact
potuerunt etc. indicatives for facts; note asyndeton
15 putantur personal passive, thus nominatives occur with the infinitive
proditor ... perfuga there is a distinction between one who betrays from within and one who physically deserts to the other side
16 sociorum ... societatem more word-play
18 tribus praediis placement for emphasis; with ornatus, a concessive participle. The phrase is interrupted by the technique (hoc est) of insult by definition.
19-21 In eius modi vita ... hoc quoque maleficium ... reperietis the same sort of argument as in §75, to the opposite effect
21 multa avare etc. echoes of §104, to which topic Cicero is about to return
23 scelus quoque latere ... putatote Latin equivalent of "where there's smoke there's fire," an argument from likelihood
24 hoc sc. scelus (also supply the same word with hoc in line 26)
minime latet reiterates the argument with which he began §104
promptum "manifest" (primary, and rare, meaning)
25 propositum also primary meaning: set right out in front, exposed
quae ... esse = quae in illo esse constat
illo Capito
26 si quo de = si de aliquo; indefinite pronoun is attracted to the si, even in the presence of the preposition which should intervene
illorum partitive with quo; refers to maleficia
intellegatur with ut non in the preceding line, which also governs convincatur, a consecutive clause
27 dubitabitur, convincatur impersonal passives
1 ille lanista cf. §17; refers to Capito, who is absent
a gladio recessisse cf. §16 ab armisque recessimus
2 hic discipulus the first-person demonstrative points out not Roscius, but Magnus, who is present, and contrasted to Capito (third-person pronoun)
tantulum L&S s.v. concedere I.2.b call this word an accusative of quantity (i.e., adverbial); concedere is used absolutely in the sense of "give precedence to."
3 par ... similis ... eadem ... gemina Copia: the four adjectives mean virtually the same thing, although the nouns which they modify do not; note asyndeton.
fidem ... aequitatem Capito's perfidia, the subject of the recent digression, and Magnus' iniquitas
6 saepe numero adverb, often written as one word (see L&S s.v. saepe III); seems to be a late Republican idiom. Modifies postulatos esse, not dixi. Cicero has mentioned the reques for slaves once before, at §§77-78.
7 postulatos Cicero will use this verb five times in the next ten lines, to indicate by this repetition, perhaps, that the request was reiterated.
istis the T. Roscii
duos servos Cf. §77 line 12 duos servos paternos
9 qui impetrarent relative consecutive clause; a ridiculous alternative (as Cicero knows), considering the familial dignitas of the men who demanded the slaves for examination. In fact, all three possibilities would be ridiculous to a right-thinking person of Cicero's defining, which is why he phrases the question thus. he will expand and explain in following sentences.
an is ... postulabant Cicero could have said that Sex. Roscius was in a pitiable state (see line 15); instead, he intimates that Mangus lacks pity.
10 res ipsa tibi iniqua returns to the theme of aequitas
11 homines nobilissimi etc. answers the first alternative
12 quos iam antea nominavi P. Scipio, M. Metellus (§77)
14 aequum reiteration of the theme, here in the midst of an eikos-argument: what leading citizens request is by definition fair
15 vel intensifying particle, here with pronoun ipse (cf. §85 vel illo ipso acerrimo iudice, although in conjunction with another vel, intensifying nevertheless)
16 cuperet relative clause of characteristic, with overtones of an unreal condition, since free men were not examined under torture
dum ... quaereretur clause of proviso (instead of a protasis, to continue the analogy to a condition)
18 eam rem handing over the slaves; echoes res ipsa in line 10 and Res in preceding line
maleficio murder of Roscius maior. The statement would be inadmissible in a modern court.
20 cum occiditur Historical present indicative with cum indicates a definite time, as opposed to circumstances; such an occurrence may be rare, but it is normal: A&G §545 cite this passage.
ibidem fuerunt sc. duo servi
21 quod ad me attinet for the idiom see L&S s.v. attineo II.B.1: "(with respect to) what concerns me," answered by quod in line 22 (cf. §122 line 13)
neque arguo neque purgo The slaves' guilt or innocence is not an issue and Cicero generously gives up his right to inquire into it.
22 quod "the fact that"
oppugnari here = a verb of hindering
23 quod "as to the fact that," anticipates necesse est in the next line
24 quod relative pronoun, antecedent is aliquid
si dixerit future perfect; future more vivid condition
25 In dominos quaeri etc. Magnus' purported objection: in = against. Slaves could not be questioned as to their master's guilt; cf. Mil. 59.
Quaeri impersonal passive
26 quaeritur sc. in dominos
27 de hoc re Roscius. Cicero's argument here is different from that at §78, where he complained that Roscius could not remain the slaves' dominus long enough to examine them concerning his father's murder.
28 Cum Chrysogono sunt The second objection; transition to Chrysogonus. Cf. §77 (Chrysogonum, iudices, sectantur; apud eum sunt in honore et in pretio).
1 litteris eorum et urbanitate instrumental abls., both grammatically and figuratively, as a vehicle for Cicero's irony; litterae = education (also litteras in line 6)
2 ut ... velit consecutive clause
deliciarum ... artium begins characterisaion of Chrysogonus' favorites, and thus of Chrysogonus, as effete little things. In the absence of some appropriate adjective (e.g., peritos, studiosos) these genitives must be taken as genitives of quality.
3 puerulos Cicero's word, a contemptuous diminutive
familiis familiae were "households" of slaves; the many slaves who formed part of the properties which Chrysogonus had acquired through the proscriptions. He would have chosen the most well educated, artistic and accomplished (i.e., effete) for his own household.
4 paene operarios Although Cicero describes them as practically field-workers, Roscius maior did bring them to the city with him.
Amerina here means provincial, the specific for the general
patris familiae rusticani Cicero had argued above at great length about the son's devotion to the farm, but this is the first time he has specifically characterised the father also as a hick. At §43, however, he does set him in a rustic, provincial milieu (homines illius ordinis ex municipiis rusticanis).
6 ut ... adamarit substantive consecutive clause, also ut ... cognorit which follows, subjects of non est veri simile.
adamarit The prefix intensifies the meaning; Cicero uses the verb only in the perfect tenses (which would further intensify the intrinsic meaning).
7 humanitatem education, manners (external, not internal, qualities); cf. urbanitate in line 1
negotio dative with diligentiam (the ultimate dutiful word: cf. Cicero de Or. 2.150)
8 et fidem emphatic by position (cf. end of §14), and denied by the slaves' survival of the attack on their master (again, cf. Mil. 29 on the reaction of Milo's slaves to the attack by Clodius' party [as Cicero tells it].)
Est existential: note position
9 quo studiosius ... eo magis correlatives: "the more anxiously ... the more"
opprimitur et absconditur the first verb used in the literal sense of the second, i.e., "pressed down," and opposed to eminet (it keeps popping back up, like a compressed spring mechanism)
11 de eis the slaves; should mean "about," as the usual preposition for those from whom the information is gathered is ex
12 in omnis sc. homines; one of the normal constructions with convenit (here, in the plural omnia conveniunt--or the verb would be plural if it were not in O.O.): L&S s.v. convenio II.B.2
14 hoc ... dicere i.e., to absolve Chrysogonus from the accusation of malice prepense
primum adverb
15 Meministis etc. §35: crimen adversariorum et audacia et potentia; he follows the same order here
in "into," with distribuisse
17 impositae sunt Note the absence of agency.
18 malefici, sceleris, caedis partitive with Quicquid
19 gratiam potentiamque subjects of obstare and perferri; the first word, "influence," is not usually attributed as a fault, unless the one having gratia ought not to; potentia is always an opprobrious term
20 a vobis ... vindicari oportere Cf. §36 hominum eius modi perniciosam atque intolerandam potentiam primo quoque tempore exstinguere atque opprimere debetis.
qui quaeri velit subordinate clause in O.O., antecedent of qui is eum in the next line. Cicero speaks generally of anyone who is (line 23 eum) or is not (line 24 eum) willing to have a crime investigated.
22 ex eis ... adfuisse ex eis with quaeri; another layer of O.O. constat (impersonal) is indicative, stating a fact independent of the reported thought; quos is subject of adfuisse; the whole thing is a circumlocution for "eye-witnesses."
24 verum inveniri the normal construction after cupio is the infinitive, with subject accusative, as here, if the subjects of cupio and the infinitive are different
id = quaeri ex eis quos constat cum caedes facta sit adfuisse
eum subject of confiteri
26 initio §83
me subject not of dicere but of nolle
28 una quaeque earum sc. rerum; cf. §89 in singulis rebus ...
29 quod its antecedent is the unexpressed object of facere in line 30
30 neque diu neque diligenter facere possum cf. §91 Erucius ... posset ea quamvis diu dicere, et ego, iudices, possum. In order for this not to be contradictory, it is a hendiadys: diligenter-facere possum non diu.
Quae antecedent is ea (p.46 line 1)
1 ea leviter ... attigi Cf. §83 leviter unum quidque tangam and §91 leviter transire etc.
quae posita sunt etc. the antecedent is ea in line 3; a semicolon after attigi would be helpful
2 suspicionibus grounds for suspicion, suspicious circumstances (as suspiciosum in §120)
3 sit disserendum the second future periphrastic is subjunctive for one of two reasons, or a combination thereof: (1) in addition to comprising the apodosis, it is part of a relative clause of characteristic; (2) the condition may be mixed. In fact, a better question is, why is coepero indicative (as he will not in fact begin)? Unless the ansewr be that beginning, like being able, has potentiality contained within its meaning.
sub quo nomine ... latuit Cf. Phil. 12.17: sub nomine pacis bellum latet. Magnus and Capito use Chrysogonus' name as a shield.
6 de quo Chrysogonus (or his name; it makes no difference)
neque quo modo etc. A double indirect question; the verbs would be deliberative subjunctives in any case, and the idea approaches that of a final clause; the subjunctives are thus best rendered into English with infinitives.
7 Si enim taceo He takes up the alternatives in reverse order (dicam ... taceam ... taceo ... dico). A simple condition (present indicative).
8 vel maximam partem sc. defensionis; vel maximam: the greatest possible
9 vereor ne non ille solus ne of course with vereor, non only with ille solus, a variant for non solum ille, in which solus remains an adjective. The expression is completed by sed alii quoque plures (sed etiam alii plures). Both nominatives are subject of putent (or one may supply laesum se putet with ille solus).
id quod ad me nihil attinet id = an injury to Chrysogonus; nihil is adverbial. When Cicero says that it does not concern him, he means that he does not care, or does not wish to inquire, not that there is no possibility of ramifications.
10 plures the opposite of solus; all who profited from the proscriptions
Tametsi and yet (not although; there is no corresponding clause)
ita se res habet cf. §66 Sic se res habet
11 mihi dative of agent with dicendum
in communem causam sectorum in = against (in meaning "in the case of" is followed by the ablative); communem causam = general/universal case.
nihil subject of dicendum [esse] videatur
magno opere "particularly" (or, "nothing in particular seems to have to be spoken")
12 nova profecto et singularis The case (not cause) is unique and to be distinguished from those of others who have been proscribed and those of others who have bought confiscated properties. Cicero does not concern himself with buyers of property in general because that situation is not ad rem: he wishes merely to argue that the property of Roscius maior should never have been put up for sale.
venierunt from veneo (venum eo), "go for sale," "be sold" (as passive of vendo); Cicero uses this verb frequently in this section and in what follows (venire < veneo, not venio in line 15; venisse < veneo, not venio line 17; venire line 22; veneant line 23; p.47 venisse line 1; venierint line 4; venisse lines 12 & 16; venire line 20; p.48 venierint lines 5, 7, 8, 9).
15 non ita quaeram "I shall not ask in such a way"; explained by ut id dicam etc. Cf. §106 Non enim ego ita disputabo. Praeteritio in both cases.
16 id = hominis ... venisse (substantive clause)
17 si enim haec etc. haec (these things) = statements that selling the property of innocent men is disgraceful; haec is subject of the future passive verbs
18 tantus homo Roscius maior was not an important man. The point is, if one were to complain about the general injustice of past events, one would choose a better example, not Sex. Roscius potissimum. Cicero says that he is not complaining about the proscriptions, only that the property of Roscius maior was not sold even in accordance with the laws under which people were proscribed.
19 Qui potuerunt ... bona Sex. Rosci venire qui potuerunt? Cicero ends his sentence with the same words with which he began it ("How could ...") as he interrupted himself to make a remark about the law(s).
ista ipsa lege abl. of specification
20 sive Valeria sive Cornelia sc. lege in each case. The first law was named after the interrex L. Valerius Flaccus, the second after the dictator L. Cornelius Sulla.
21 non enim novi nec scio The two verbs do not mean precisely the same thing. Ciceor has not yet learnt (non novi) and does not know (non scio) under which law (supposedly) Roscius' goods were confiscated. His aside underscores the irregular nature of the transaction.
dicunt "they say": Cicero, as he has just said, has not read the law (although of course he has). His modesty covers both his inexperience and a charge that he looks too closely into unpleasant matters.
23 The two provisions of the law concerning sale (and confiscation) of property are written in block capitals. The first category (which, in general, is the later chronologically) is the proscribed, the second is those who were killed in military campaigns against Sulla.
24 quo in numero Roscius maior was not proscribed, i.e., added to the list while it was still open, and killed, perhaps, later.
25 praesidiis troops, armies, in particular, those in Italy
Dum praesidia ulla Cicero means specifically opposing forces in the civil war; there was always an army.
26 in Sullae praesidiis fuit The subject of fuit is Roscius maior; Cicero says that this elderly man actually took up arms on Sulla's behalf.
27 omnes recesserunt omnes is Clark's conjecture to give the transmitted verb a subject; Stephanus instead changed the verb to impersonal passive recessum est; Richter wrote recessimus. The advantage of Clark's emendation is that it answers ulla in the preceding line.
in summo otio Cicero has three separate phrases to emphasize the fact that Roscius did not fall in battle: (1) in summo otio; (2) rediens a cena; (3) Romae. Any one of the three (after 1 November 82) would exclude the possibility of wartime.
1 Si lege sc. occisus est; lege is abl. of specification
2 constat "it is agreed, established" not necessarily by people in general, but by official participants in the trial. Cicero does not take the logical next step and ask, "If he was proscribed, why are we having a trial?"
omnis ... veteres leges etc. The old laws are those long established against murder; the new ones are those establishing and regulating proscriptions.
3 occisum esse needs a subject
quo iure ... qua lege abls. of specification; interrupted by abl. of manner quo modo
6 vis Cicero says that Erucius wants him to make allegations about Sulla, because then Cicero will make trouble for himself. By the addition of et putas Cicero also generously makes it clear that Erucius does not want Sulla implicated for Sulla's disadvantage, but only for Cicero's.
oratio mea ab initio §§6, 21-22
ipsius Sulla's
7 virtus the word, however, is primarily one of military prowess and success and has little to do with lofty moral standards
8 ut ementiretur This and the following ut-clauses are substantive clauses in apposition with haec omnia (object of fecisse), and Chrysogonus is the subject of all the verbs in the clauses. The principle involved in using a number of verbs which are meant to convey some sense of the same meaning has some connotation in common with the Indo-European phenomenon of a compound verb followed by the uncompounded form of the same verb with the same meaning as the compound. The first verb here is the strongest, the last is the weakest: he lied, he falsely portrayed, he said, he prevented instruction. One could represent this graphically on a number line: ementiretur would be a large positive number, fingeret a smaller positive number, diceret would be a very small positive number, and doceri ... passus non sit would be negative.
9 apud adversarios For the proscribed, means the same thing as in adversariorum praesidiis
11 doceri L. Sullam passus non sit The passive is personal; between the first verb, whose action was not allowed to take place, and the second, describing the process of hindrance, Cicero leaves Sulla's name in the middle.
12 omnino ... non venisse For omnino see note to §5; the phrase excludes any possibility of any kind of transaction.
postea in §128
13 aperietur Cicero intends to show that the conspirators never went through even the formality of an auction.
14 quam ad diem up until what day: no one could be proscribed, legally, and no property confiscated, after 1 June 81.
15 nimirum "of course," "indisputably"
Aliquot post mensis Alternative construction of time: one way is to write post with an accusative object (as in §19 above post horam primam noctis), another is to use post as an adverb accompanied by an abl. of degree of difference, as here (afterward by several months). The expression aliquanto post eam diem (§130) is a combination of the two.
16 bona venisse dicuntur personal passive, marking the distinction between word and deed
17 haec bona ... nulla word order/emphatic position of nulla: "these goods ... none of them"
in tabulas ... redierunt the goods never "reached the public accounts," that is, they were not entered therein. Now did Cicero know this by searching the record books? or did he not have access to them? If he has searched and found no record, he will protect his reputation by affirming that if some account of them is found that it will have been entered later.
nosque the -que connects the verbs of the two clauses
ab isto nebulone Chrysogonus
18 facetius with quam putamus; the adverb facete is usually complimentary (wittily, elegantly), but not here; the English facetiously comes close.
19 corruptas "falsified"
aliqua ratione here = aliquo modo
lege abl. of specification
21 ante tempus When the time will be appropriate, Cicero does not say; in this trial on the charge of parricide the disposition of the property has no place. Perhaps he means to imply that the defandant will file charges in turn, for recovery of his property.
22 capiti ... reduviam Paronomasia, and a simile from medicine; he is taking care of Roscius' hangnail (his property) when he ought to be healing his head (clearing him of a capital charge). Although medical similes are not uncommon in oratory, this one is rather special because of the double meaning of caput.
23 laborat Roscius is the subject of this and the following verbs in the sentence.
non ... ducit ducere rationem (+ genitive) means to consider the advantage or interest of; ullius modifies commodi. Non ullius = nullius, but he wishes to repeat the same negative adverb with which he began the sentence, and to switch to the negative adjective would spoil his anaphora (with asynedton). Logically, of course, the negative accompanies the word rationem, Cicero means nullam rationem sui commodi ducit.
25 liberatus sit Perfect subjunctive in place of the future perfect when the condition is rendered in O.O.
27 pro me ipso He says he will speak partly on his own behalf, but in the next sentence he reveals that he is in no sense pleading for himself as an individual, but as a member of the state. Thus he will involve the jury in what he has defined as an issue touching himself.
29 ad omnis sc. civis; with pertinere
nisi providemus Note the force of the present: "unless we look out (right now)." There is nothing potential about the statement.
30 pronuntio announce (emphasis on the pro: he tells his part first, Roscius' last)
1 huius Roscius' (not the genitive of haec)
casum causamque Paronomasia. Here, casus means misfortune.
2 qua condicione (locative) ablative with contentus
in extrema oratione nostra §§150ff. extremus (the end of) is often translated with "of"; cf. medius. Cicero often sets forth in his orations his plan of attack, but he does not always take the time to remind his listeners that the end is near.
5 primum first (of four questions), followed by deinde thrice (lines 5, 8, 9); the first three questions are introduced by qua re, the last by cur
civis optimi "best" in the political sense; Cicero counts Roscius maior as an optimate
6 homini eius eius is demonstrative; with bona in line 7
neque proscriptus ... occisus est echoes the law(s) cited in §126 (neque proscriptus has been supplied by Hotoman, followed by Clark; the MSS omit these words). The relative clause is indicative, a statement not of a general characteristic of Roscius maior or anyone like him, but a fact.
7 in eos solos in = against: the law applied only to those proscribed or killed in battle
8 aliquanto abl. of degree of difference; the lapse of time was more than a little.
quae dies Cicero repeats the antecedent both for emphasis and for clarity
9 tantulo abl. of price, "for so little." The final question, being most pointed, is shortest.
Quae omnia obj. of conferre (+ in = ascribe to)
11 voluerit ... egerit both future perfect: as a rule one does not find the future perfect in the apodosis of a future condition, but Cicero means his statement to be final: "he will have accomplished nothing" as opposed to "he won't get anywhere"
12 nemo est qui nesciat cf. §55 nemo est quin sciat, which is the usual form
rerum affairs (of state)
13 multa multos Cicero uses the same adj. to create two nouns which he juxtaposes for the effect; multa is the object of commississe, multos is subject.
partim ... Sulla partim improbante supplied by Clark; the MSS have only one partim, but the word is not used solitarium. Other editors have suggested partim invito or partim conivente. The second of these is too bold for a passage which may well be contemporary (see below). Clark's suggestion does have alliteration on its side. The word required must have a sense other than "not to notice" (partim ignorante, for example, would not work: even the demands of copia should not overwhelm the idea of alternative suggested by partim ... partim); Madvig's partim invito adds a notion of powerlessness to that of incompetence (partim imprudente, the same phrase Cicero used in §§21 and 25; in §91 it is the less specific imprudentibus imperatoribus).
15 Non placet etc. The beginning of this passage appears to be too critical of Sulla to be contemporary, but the continuation, with the comparison of Sulla to Jupiter, places the burden of proof (of Cicero's "subversive intent," if any) on Sulla: since even the gods are not infallible, no human should complain if he is said to overlook something occasionally.
Iuppiter Optimus Maximus Cf. N.D. 3.93 nempe singuli vovent, audit igitur mens divina etiam de singulis; videtis ergo non esse eam tam occupatam quam putabatis. Fac esse distentam, caelum versantem terram tuentem maria moderantem: cur tam multos deos nihil agere et cessare patitur, cur non rebus humanis aliquos otiosos deos praeficit, qui a te Balbe innumerabiles explicati sunt?
cuius nutu et arbitrio The "nod" is indicative of the deity's will (e.g., Cat. 3.18, 21[bis]), the "judgment," his authority. The collocution is found again in Cicero at Verr. 2.5.34, Or. 24; with dicio at Quinct. 94; with voluntas at Phil. 10.19. As a rule, the word is opprobrious when used of persons (distinguished persons excepted - Font. 24; Har. Resp. 60; Phil. 12.9) in this sense, e.g. Verr. 1.1.13 Nulla res per triennium nisi ad nutum istius iudicata est, nulla rest tam patria cuiusquam atque avita fuit quae non ab eo imperio istius abiudicaretur; cf. Verr. 2.1.78; 2.2.67; 2.5.34; 2.5.140; Agr. 2.98; Phil. 10.19 ad veteranorum nutu ... <at>que voluntatem.
19 nocuit ... delevit ... perdidit copia; a different verb for each type of thing affected (animal, mineral [for want of a better term], vegetable)
20 quorum nihil nihil is subject of factum [esse], line 21; quorum is neuter, referring to the actions of the preceding verbs.
pernicii ... consilio pernicii causa and divino consilio are separate, the first a cause, the second abl. of specification
vi ipsa et magnitudine instrumental abls. = the forces of nature. NB: magnitudine rerum is the same expression he used above (line 12) to explain Sulla's lack of omniscience.
21 at contra contra is an adverb. Cicero says that men (rightly) ascribe bad things to the forces of nature, but good things to the divinity.
commoda ... lucemque ... spiritumque objects of dari atque impertiri in line 23; in earlier passages Cicero discusses the role of the parent in the creative process whereby human beings are enabled to enjoy the light (§63), and the common enjoyment of breathing (spiritus) for those who are alive (§72). Tricolon with variation not only of the number and gender of the relative pronouns (quibus ... qua ... quem) but also in the change to a transitive verb after two requiring instrumental abls.
23 ducimus Cf. §72 ducere animam
ab eo by Jupiter
24 quid miramur When Cicero described the same situation early in the oration, he used very similar language; indeed, much of the passage which follows is a reworking of §22, which begins Neque enim mirum
L. Sullam subject accusative of animadvertere non potuisse, O.O. after miramur. The main statement in O.O. is interrupted by a tripartite cum-clause (the third part is longest and contains a subordinate relative clause as well).
solus ... gubernaret Cf. §22 potestatem solus habeat, ... unus omnia gubernet ...
rem publicam ... orbemque terrarum ... imperique maiestatem Cicero employs two standard expressions (the first two) within his variety of constructions for the concepts which are the focus of the three verbs dependent on cum: noun-adjective, noun-genitive, genitive-noun.
25 maiestatem quam armis receperat iam legibus confirmaret Cf. §22 cum et pacis constituendae rationem et belli gerendi potestatem solus habeat
26 aliqua animadvertere non potuisse Cf. §22 si aliquid non animadvertat. aliqua = some (few, little) things. The main statement here loses whatever force it may have had by its position after the lengthy apology of the preceding cum-clause.
27 nisi unless
quod relative; object of adsequi and antecedent of id
1 si id mens etc. The protasis is in apposition to the subject (hoc) of mirum sit; if the order of the protasis and apodosis were reversed the sense would be more readily accessible: "unless this is strange, if a human mind should not accomplish that which divine power cannot."
2-3 quae iam facta sunt ... quae nunc cum maxime fiunt The past, which cannot be changed, contrasted to the present (and future), which can.
3 nunc cum maxime Cum maxime appears with temporal adverbs by ellipsis of a verb, e.g., quae nunc fiunt cum maxime fiunt; the expression may be translated "now especially".
quivis The force of this indefinite pronoun is randomness: it does not matter at all what person one chooses to ask, as anyone at all can see the reality of the situation.
4 architectum et machinatorem Greek words, and not common, but especially pertinent to a Greek freedman.
unum Alone (all by himself), contrasts with omnium, and, incidentally, puts the attentive listener in mind of what Cicero had said earlier of Sulla: cum omnes in unum spectent, unus omnia gubernet (22.10-11).
5 cuius Chrysogonus'. One must expect at least one other form of the relative pronoun, and perhaps several, but at this point a page or more of text has been lost because of the poor condition of the archetype. Lines 8-11 contain lemmata from the lost text and the scholiast's comments. The lost portion was part of the attack on Chrysogonus, which continues in sections 133 and following.
aptam ... possunt The end of section 132 as we have it is a remark on those who, unlike Chrysogonus, are content with a decent house (domum is usually supplied with aptam and dispositam) in a far-off place (in Sallentinis = the country of the Salentines, in Calabria, the heel of Italy; in Bruttiis = in Bruttium, the toe of Italy).
tibi Thought to be an example (and they are rare) of an ethical dative (cf. "don't you know").
de Palatio The Palatine was the fashionable hill for residences in the late Republic and later for the emperors.
animi causa For amusement; literally "for the sake of his spirit".
rus General for particular, means a country estate.
suburbanum Not too far off in the country, somewhere near Rome; this, as Cicero adds, is not his only "country place" close to the city.
25 propinquum Sc. to Rome. Cicero himself later, and most others who could afford it, owned a variety of houses in the country, some more elegant than others, but most somewhat more widely scattered geographically than Chrysogonus'.
1 vasis ... Deliacis Chrysogonus was a collector of Greek art; the vases described here were expensive, as they were made of Corinthium aes (an alloy of gold, silver, and copper) or Deliacum aes (a similar alloy).
authepsa illa "that famous self-cooker", some kind of Greek cooking apparatus.
2-3 qui praetereuntes The relative pronoun is the subject of audiebant; its antecedent is assumed in the verb arbitrarentur; i.e., "[those] who heard ... thought". The present participle marks a contemporaneous action: they heard the price as they were walking by the auction. The use of the pronoun with the participle is nearly like the Greek usage of the participle with the definite article to make a noun, different from the common Latin device substituting a relative clause for an abstract noun. The construction here, very like creating a noun in Greek using the definite article and the participle, gives the passage a Greek flavor.
3 quid praeco enumeraret A praeco is a herald, here an auctioneer, counting out the price. But these words may not have been what Cicero wrote: there is a textual problem here. The general sense is clear enough: the passersby thought, because of the high price which they heard, that a farm was being auctioned off.
4-6 Quid ... esse? Cicero says quid five times (anaphora), each time with a following partitive genitive. The general idea of the expression "what of engraved silver'" is "how much engraved silver" (not "what about the engraved silver").
5 stragulae vestis Vestis is not clothing merely but any covering, e.g., curtains, rugs, couch-covers; the adjective stragulus (from sterno) also indicates some kind of coverlet, thus Cicero describes something more like Persian carpets, or tapestries, than slip-covers.
6-7 Tantum ... quantum Cicero uses the correlatives both to answer his question and to give to Chrysogonus alone the distinction of having bought up the household furnishings of all the illustrious dead, and once again, by reminding the judges of the proscriptions and confiscations, to involve the defendant with victims of the recent political purge.
7 splendidis familiis Here, not households of slaves, but Roman families, the proscribed and their wives and children; the adjective denotes those of the equestrian order, as at Section 20 Sex. Roscius, homo tam splendidus et gratiosus.
in turba et rapinis In (the recent civil) disturbance and robberies: cf. Section 91 multa saepe imprudentibus imperatoribus vis belli ac turba molitur.
8 coacervari The verb implies a lack of discrimination either in collection or in display.
Familiam Here = slaves.
quam ... artificiis I.e., cum quam variis artificiis; quam (as always with a following adjective) = "how" (exclamatory) or "what" (interrogative) and modifies the adjective. Chrysogonus had slaves of manifold professional accomplishments.
artis accusative plural and means artificia; he then names the artisans, not the arts.
10-11 animi et aurium causa Cf. animi causa in Section 133. Here the pursuit of pleasure extrends to his ears (as in "listening pleasure").
12-13 tota vicinitas personet The verb persono used absolutely ("make noise") is not a compliment in Cicero.
13-14 quos ... quas I.e., quantos ... quantas.
14 effusiones Sc. peciuniae; a stronger word than sumptus, which is merely expenditure; effusio is lavish expenditure.
quae = qualia, answered sarcastically by honesta, credo, in eius modi domo.
15 si domus haec habenda est Ciceronian equivalent of "a house is not a home".
officina Not an office but worse: workshop, place of manufacture, although the manufacture of nequitia and deversoria flagitia is metaphorical.
17-19 quem ad modum ... videtis, iudices; videtus ut ... The indirect question in ABBA arrangement contains what appears to be a second such arrangement towards the end, although in fact the words putet ... solum ... solum ... putet do not form a chiastic statement. Each ut means "how".
17 composito ... capillo Chrysogonus used ointments and/or
perfumes on his hair, evidently not something a respectable Roman would
do. The second verb can also be spelled delibuo,, not 18 volitet "Flits:" the verb is usually of bad connotation.
cum magna caterva togatorum Important men always had with them
large crowds of clients; Chrysogonus' clients are Roman citizens (togati),
although he himself is Greek (as Sulla's freedman he is, of course, also a
Roman citizen). Cicero is indignant, and wishes to help the judges feel
the same way.
19 omnis accusative plural
hominem Predicate with neminem in the next line
(esse omitted); hominem does not mean man in the sense of
vir, but person, human being, or personage.
21-22 si velim ... vereor Mixed condition, starts out as a
future less vivid and ends up a simple condition. Cicero says "If I should
wish ... I am afraid that someone will think", instead of "If I should
wish ... someone would think". The shift to the present indicative shows a
change in his point of view; the two conditions (in quotation marks above)
are not equivalent to statements.
22 vereor ... ne quis imperitior (Ali)quis imperitior is
a general term for a person somewhat ignorant of Cicero's political
position: he maintains tha the supports the Sullan faction (causam
nobilitatis victoriamque, below) even though he does not like
Chrysogonus.
24 meo iure ablative of specification
possum ... vituperare The present of possum + infinitive
replaces the present subjunctive vituperem.
si quid I.e., si quis.
in hac parte Usually when one means "party" one uses the plural
of pars; the singular may be euphemistic: "in this direction",
"over here", rather than "in this party".
25 vituperare Not used absolutely; one must supply an object,
e.g., id (= whatever does not please him).
alienum me animum Grammatically, me is the subject of
habuisse and alienum animum is object.
a causa nobilitatis Political expedience dictated that Sulla had
vindicated the senate; Cicero's hostility to an adherent of Sulla does
not, he avers, indicate hostility to the whole political upheaval that the
Romans have just lived through.
27 qui me norunt opposite of (ali)quis imperitior
me (2) subject of defendisse (next page line 2)
pro mea tenui infirmaque parte modesty, and rightly so, as
Cicero
had no influence; pro = in proportion to
1 id subject of fieri non potuit = the substantive clause
ut componeretur. Cicer, like his mentor Scaevola (§33), would
have preferred (quod maxime volui) to see the citizens reach an accord
without bloodshed. The statement, on the face of it brave, can be defended
as no more than any citizen's pious wish that his fellow-citizens be
spared.
2 id object of defendisse = substantive clause ut ei
vincerent
ut ei vincerent qui vincerunt the relative clause serves as a
noun (= victores), thus remains indicative although a subordinate clause
in O.O. The noun implied would be subject of vincerent. As it is,
the circumlocution is marvelous: "I fought for those who won to win." The
avoidance of proper nouns is deliberate, and continues into the next
sentence.
3 humilitatem cum dignitate de amplitudine Such a use of
abstract
nouns is rare in Latin, but Cicero finds in generalities a more delicate
means of describing reality. Humilitas = the faction of Marius and
Cinna, equivalent to have-nots (populares, loosely speaking); the actual
number of senators supporting Cinna has nothing to do with rhetorical
characterisation.
Dignitas = the senatorial party, rhetorically speaking,
politically,
the optimates. Amplitudo = power (cf. §2, where the same men
have both auctoritas and amplitudo; also de Inv.
2.166
amplitudo est potentiae aut maiestatis aut aliquarum copiarum magna
abundantia).
5 perditi civis predicate genitive: "it was the part of
(belonged
to) a corrupt citizen"
quibus incolumibus abl. abs. = Sulla and those whom he professed
to support, the senators
6 domi dignitas dignitas was thought to be the peculiar
attribute of senators in domestic politics
foris auctoritas the senate had traditionally managed foreign
affairs, although strictly it had no constitutional prerogative
retineretur what was retained, or reinstated, was the status
quo
suum with honorem and gradum; the person meant
is the same as the one indicated by the pronoun cuique, object of
redditum (esse).Cicero and his audience know, however, that not
everyone was restored to his own honorary place in Roman society. In
§139
Cicero repeats his assertion: sua cuique procuratio auctoritasque est
restituta.
8 vehementerque laetor -que joins laetor and
gaudeo
eaque -que joins the whole clause ending with
intellego
to the rest of the sentence; ea is subject of gesta esse,
and refers to Quae (line 6)
deorum ... Sullae tricolon; the abls. are all instrumental. The
three elements necessary for political change are the gods, the people,
and the leader; the leader is emphasized both by position and by triple
attribution of plan, command, and good fortune; the last of these,
felicitas,
Sulla regarded as his particular attribute (cf. §22 quamvis ille
felix sit, sicut est, tamen in tanta felicitate ...). In Manil.
28 Cicero lists what he considers necessary qualities for an imperator:
Ego enim sic existimo, in summo imperatore quattuor has res inesse
oportere,
scientiam rei militaris, virtutem, auctoritatem, felicitatem.
11 contra adverb
omni ratione abl. of manner
non debeo = non audeo
12 opera eximia ... exstitit opera = service (military:
in rebus gerendis); eximia is predicate; exstitit =
fuit
13 honos habitus est = praemium datum est. Sulla's
soldiers
were rewarded with grants of land, either confiscated lands or those
purchsed
with some of the proceeds from the proscriptions. Again, an impersonal
passive.
laudo cf. Phil. 2.34 (intimating that M. Antonius knew
about the plot against Caesar's life) quod bene cogitasti aliquando,
laudo; quod non indicasti, gratias ago; quod non fecisti, ignosco.
Quae coordinating relative, refers to the same thing(s) as
Quae
in line 6; read as if Cicero had said Et ut ea fierent.
14 idcirco "for this reason": here idcirco does not
introduce
a causal clause with quia or quod, but refers to the final
clause which opened the sentence.
pugnatum esse arbitror yet another impersonal passive, this one
related as an opinion (and perhaps here arbitror = cupio)
in eo studio partium lit. "in that party-spirit;" Cicero allows
that he was an adherent of the senatorial party, which he identifies here
with Sulla's.
15 Sin autem id actum est lit. "this was done;" it means, "this
was the aim"; Cicero reiterates his fears in §142.
idcirco arma sumpta sunt echoes idcirco pugnatum esse
above; again impersonal passive. This idcirco (along with id
actum est) also introduces a final clause.
16 homines postremi see L&S s.v. posterus III.A.2. Uncommon
usage in Cicero, although the neuter adjective occurs as a noun, e.g.,
Phil. 2.113 servitus postremum malorum omnium.
pecuniis alienis instrumental abl. "with other people's money"
17 in fortunas in (against) with impetum facerent
unius cuiusque of every single person (without exception):
Cicero
will involve even those of his listeners who feel that they are not liable
to attack
18 id non modo ... vituperare "not only ... not, but not even
...;" licet governs both infinitives, and id (= ut homines
postremi
etc.) is the object of both. Rephrased: licet id non modo non re
prohibere sed ne verbis quidem vituperare.
re ... verbis antithesis, a Latin version of the Greek idiom
with logos/ergon. Latin rhetoric continued to define the lack of
freedom of complaint with adding insult to injury: cf. Pacatus (anno 389
CE) in his Panegyric of Theodosius: miseri vetabamur agere miseros,
immo
etiam cogebamur mentiri beatos et ... procedebamus in publicum non nostrae
fortunae vultu. ... Est aliquod calamitatum delenimentum dedisse lacrimas
malis et pectus laxasse suspiriis; nulla maior est poena quam esse miserum
nec videri.
19 recreatus ... restitutus the first word as in the later
imperial
propaganda, "born again," "given new life;" the second in the same
contexts
of "restored." The latter was a part of Sulla's mandate.
est (2) emphatic/existential; cf. Greek ouk estin.
22 non laedetur causa nobilitatis he turns to the subject opened
in §135 ne quis imperitior existimet me causam nobilitatis ...
voluisee laedere.
23 ornabitur by affirming constitutional procedures and powers,
and incidentally by purging their ranks of non-Roman newcomers, the
nobility
will demonstrate the genuineness of Sulla's settlement.
24 haec the present situation; object of both vituperare
and laudare
Chrysogonum tantum posse O.O. after queruntur;
tantum
is adverbial: they complain that Chrysogonus has so much power
25 concessum ei non esse O.O. after commemorant;
ei
(dative) is Chrysogonus; the subject of concessum esse is implied
from tantum posse: they relate that it was not granted to him to
have so much power
iam any longer: Cicero assumes the case which he is trying to
prove
nihil est quod "there is no reason why" (est emphatic)
26 qui dicat relative consecutive clause (characteristic): this
is moral blackmail again, as no one of the judges would wish to be
regarded
as either stultus or improbus
27 Vellem an imaginary citizen, senator, judge speaks. Optative:
wish unrealised in present time (same tense of subjunctive as in present
unreal condition); cf. dixissem for action unrealised in the past
"I would have said."
liceret sc. dicerem
28 Hoc fecissem with vellem liceret; similarly hoc
decrevissem and Hoc iudicassem
29 nemo prohibet Cicero maintains that the senate really has
regained control of the state.
modo recte sc. decernas, a clause of proviso
31 ordine "properly," often used with recte and other
adverbial expressions, e.g., an id recte, ordine, e republica factum
esse defendes? (Verr. 2.3.194; cf. Phil. 5.36, 10.26);
Orator 188 quibus ordine locatis; Quinct. 28 recte
atque ordine factum; Phil. 10.5 litteras Bruti recte et
ordine
scriptas.
iudicaris future perfect
qui postea quam constituit = sed postea quam is ...
constituit
1 magistratus acc. pl.; Sulla had consuls elected
(creavit);
cf. Verr. 2.2.127, 2.2.128 (sacerdotem maximum creari
oporteat),
2.2.131 & 139 bis (censores), Agr. 2.16 (also 2.17,
2.18)
creare xviros; Phil. 2.84 consul ... creatus. The
verb is usually passive, with the person elected as subject; to make one
individual the electorate is grammatically unusual at this period because
it was unusual in practice.
procuratio administration of magistracies; along with the
auctoritas
to administer effectively
2 restituta the political catchword again
si retinere volunt si volunt are the operative words:
if those who have recovered authority really want to retain it, they will
keep it forever. Cicero threatens the senators with loss of influence if
they do not take charge, just as he threatened them ten years later with
loss of the jury courts if they did not condemn Verres (they did, they
lost anyway).
4 aut facient M. Licinius Crassus comes to mind, for one.
5 aut approbabunt if only by not speaking out: qui tacent
approbant
nolo etc. aposiopesis; he was leading up to a threat or an
unhappy
prophecy, but cuts short his remarks
ne ominis quidem causa the ne in this case is reiterative
after nolo, or redundant; translate ne ... quidem "even,"
not "not even" (I am unwilling to say anything worse against them, even
[if only] because of the [bad] omen): to say or prophesy that something
would happen was regarded as tempting fate.
7 vigilantes ... misericordes a double pairing of strong
(vigilantes,
fortes) and compassionate (boni, misericordes) qualities
(although
the boni are also what the senators claim to be); strong against
criminal elements, compassionate towards the weak.
8 eis hominibus indirect object of concedant; it means
"other men"
in quibus haec erunt haec are the qualities just
mentioned;
men who will be viligant, good, strong, and compassionate
ornamenta sua the senators' present positions and influence
11 communicare in the sense of to make common cause with, to
make their cause (the same as) Chrysogonus'
12 si ille ... de se the other side of the preceding statement:
if communicare is an active idea, it may be likened to common
aggression,
whereas to feel threatened when another is attacked is to be ready to
fulfill
the defensive side of an agreement
13 eos ... posse a lengthy substantive clause, predicate to
turpe
miserumque
equestrem splendorem "equestrian splendor," i.e., the power of
the equestrians (cf. §§20, 133), especially, since the time of
C. Gracchus, in the law courts. Sulla took revenge particularly upon the
equestrians because (1) many of them had traditionally supported Marius
(cf. Sallust Iug. 64.5, 65.4), (2) he needed money. He returned
control of the juries to the senate. He did, however, use a number of
equestrians
to help fill the depleted senate.
14 servi nequissimi Chrysogonus, although now a freedman and
a Roman citizen
dominationem a very bad word, used of mastery over slaves, and
particularly effective in the reversal of the natural order which Cicero
wishes to portray; the phrase servi nequissimi dominationem is an
oxymoron. On the offensive quality of the noun dominatio, cf.
Cicero's
attack on Q. Hortensius Hortalus in Verr. 1.1.33-35 Res omnis
mihi tecum erit, Hortensi. Dicam aperte. ... Nam illud mihi nequaquam
dignum
industria conatque meo videbatur ... nisi ista tua intolerabilis potentia
... interponeretur. Nunc vero, quoniam haec te omnis dominatio regnumque
iudiciorum tanto opere delectat ... and 2.5.175 Tulit haec civitas
quoad potuit, quoad necesse fuit, regiam istam vestram dominationem in
iudiciis et in omni re publica, tulit. Cicero addresses the same
charge
made against himself at Sull. 25. He uses the word six times in
the three orations De lege agraria, twice of Sulla (Agr.
2.8 & 81; cf. 3.13 ad paucorum dominationem); and in other
places
where one might expect to find it, e.g., Cat. 2.19; Dom.
49; Phil. 3.34 & 8.12.
15 Quae ... dominatio Abstract for the real substantive,
Chrysogonus
in aliis rebus during the proscriptions, before (antea)
the lists were closed. But now, Cicero says, Chrysogonus has no decent
excuse for his behavior.
16 quod iter adfectet lit. "upon what road he makes his way
toward
[his objects]"; he is already building the road (quam viam
munitet).
ad fidem etc. after adfectet; the prepositional phrases
mark the goals of his motion
18 id ... sanctumque an abstract summation of the three
preceding
entities, fides, ius iurandum, iudicia. This sounds like a direct
and harsh criticism of Sulla's reforms, but a more narrow interpretation,
and probably the one which Cicero means, is that the courts - unlike every
other part of Rome - have not yet been polluted because no court was in
session during the proscriptions. Sulla did not bother with judicial
murder.
aliquid posse the absolute use of the verb, with aliquid
an internal accusative = to have some power, to be able to accomplish
something
21 Neque ... quod verear The subjunctive is used in a negative
causal clause to introduce a reason only to deny it; it is followed by
an adversative (sed, verum) plus the real reason, give in the
indicative.
The sentence is chiastic in structure, with the negatives first:
ne quid possit repeats, in the construction after a verb of
fearing,
Chrysogonus' supposition aliquid posse
22 quod ausus est, quod speravit Here the real reason is
twofold,
although the two verbs are closely linked; in English one might say
"because
he had the audacity to expect ..." The verb spero in Latin does
not ordinarily have the same meaning as cupio or volo, but
means "to expect," "to believe that something will happen." The rhetorical
tactic here is to include the jury in Cicero's expectation that
Chrysogonus
will be thwarted, as he pretends merely to arouse their indignation at
what he characterises as an impossible attempt.
apud talis viros flattery of the judges, who are the
distinguished
("such") men in question, whom Chrysogonus, Cicero alleges,
insults.
23 aliquid ad perniciem with posse of some mss (although
posse can be supplied from context) = aliquid posse +
purpose
(ad perniciem: towards, i.e., for the destruction)
24 Idcircone echoes the repeated idcirco in §137
exspectata nobilitas The passive participle is used absolutely
as an adjective, the "long-awaited" or "welcomed" nobility; Cicero
intimates
that the citizens - or the better elements of the citizenry - waited
expectantly
for the nobility to vindicate its rights, that the rule of Marius and
Cinna
was imposed by force and unwelcome. Cf. Badian, "Waiting for Sulla." The
participle exspectatus, without further qualification, usually
indicates
that which has been looked for in a positive sense, or awaited with
excitement,
although the notion of dread may not be excluded, e.g., Dom. 16
in senatum nominatim vocabar. Veni exspectatus (cf. Dom.
58); Agr. 2.46; Caec. 39; Verr. 2.1.34; Sull.
17; Catullus 62.1-2; several times in Virgil: G. 1.225-6 sed
illos / exspectata seges uanis elusit auenis; Aen. 2.282-3
quibus
Hector ab oris / exspectate uenis?; 5.104 Exspectata dies
aderat;
6.687-9 uenisti tandem, tuaque exspectata parenti / uicit iter durum
pietas?; 8.38; 11.54 hi nostri reditus exspectatique triumphi?
25 ad libidinem suam the possessive adjective refers to the
freedmen
and slaves, the subjects of the subordinate clause
26 nobilium with bona. The other nouns (fortunas
arasque)
belong to all citizens (nostras) in common with the nobility.
Cicero
emphasises, using the word nobilium, his feeling of outrage: did
the nobility recover the state so that slaves could attack the nobility's
(lit. the nobles') property? The juxtaposition of liberti
servolique
with nobilium increases the same effect.
27 hoc the victory of the nobility
28 insanisse sc. me: one need not repeat the subject with
multiple verbs in O.O.
cum illis with the nobility; sentire cum aliquo = to feel
with (lit.), "to take the side of," "to support"
inermis Cicero did not actually fight, and is careful to keep
his passive support on the record; cf. §136.
29 sensi with the same sense as in the preceding line: he
supported
the nobility with his sentiments
ornamento atque emolumento final datives with rei publicae
populoque Romano as datives of reference in the double dative
construction
2 optimo ... cuique = omnibus bonis et nobilibus. As the
idiom requires a superlative adjective, one need look no further for the
exact meaning of nobilissimi; that is, these are not necessarily,
or only, the men with the most consular ancestors. Cf. nequissimo
cuique
in lines 5-6: all the worst people.
3 et se et causam sc. nobilium. Cicero's vocabulary and
arguments here are very like those of §140
4 is antecedent of qui ... putet
ignorat "ignore;" but means "to be ignorant of," "fail to
understand"
se ipsum probe novit Moral blackmail; an adversative clause with
no adversative particle rounds out the original chiasmus se et causam
... causam ... se; Cicero, however, appends a clause explaining in
more detail what he means about the causa and those who do not
support
it rightly, and this clause too has chiastic form: causa ...
splendidior,
resistetur, laeditur, splendore causae. The structure is so coherent
that it virtually forces acceptance of the logic.
6 ille ... fautor subject of laeditur; the pronoun is
nearly an article here. Cicero means, in a grammatical sense, no specific
person, although he may well have had one or more persons in mind. The
pronoun ille is used instead of is as antecedent of the
subject
of qui ... putat; it is curious that the verb is indicative, not
subjunctive.
7 sibi cum illo both with communicatam [esse]; sibi is
the same person as qui, illo is Chrysogonus. Communico
aliquid
(or aliquid communicatur) can be followed by a variety of
constructions
(usually, cum aliquo) to denote the person with whom something is
shared. Cicero used only the dative (of the person sharing) when someone
else sharing is already the object of the preposition cum
8 cum causal; the subject of separatur is the same
(ille)
as the subject of laeditur
splendore causae the abstract splendor (illustriousness,
honor) again, as used in §140.
ut iam ante dixi in §129
qua = oratione; object of uti. The translation
of utor depends usually upon what its object is. Here it means
"make."
10 coegit agrees with the nearest subject of the three; Cicero
puts his own feelings into the least prominent position, the middle of
the list; res publica and iniuria, coming first and last,
are more important.
11 Sex. Roscius He commences the second part of the pleading
promised in §129; he portrays Sex. Roscius as a cipher, a doormat,
a deliberate contrast of the humble request of a real Roman citizen with
the arrogance of a recently freed Greek slave.
horum neuter plural
12 nihil ... queritur nihil is internal accusative,
rather
than adverbial (he complains nothing = he makes no complaint)
imperitus morum means about the same thing as imperitus
rerum;
mores mean customs, practices, manners
13 agricola et rusticus a reminder of that portion of his
defense
where he denied that anyone as ignorant of the city as Roscius could have
commissioned a murder
ista omnia subject of facta [esse] in the next line; the
retroactive proscription, the seizure of property. In fact, if the
proscription
and the confiscation stand, the prosecution has no case.
vos the prosecutors and their putative allies, not the judges
per Sullam gesta esse dicitis not the same as a Sulla
gesta;
those whom Cicero addresses "used" Sulla as an instrument; he further
hedges
by saying that these things were alleged to have been done through Sulla.
14 more, lege, iure gentium abls. of specification; the three
terms are actually distinct in meaning, although the use of all three
together
ranks as an example of copia. Mos = what is customary; lex
= what is legislated; ius gentium = what all peoples have in
common,
e.g., sanctity of ambassadors, or slavery: "Law" in the abstract, but not
necessarily "Right."
15 a vobis grammatically, should mean the prosecutors, but may
mean the judges; a vobis discedere means to leave the court
17 Rogat oratque Roscius continues as the subject
18 si nihil ... excepit The several si-clauses are inserted for
rhetorical effect between the verbs rogat oratque and the jussive
clause (ut ... liceat) which depends on them. All of the si-clauses
refer to Roscius' cooperation in handing over his possessions, and
obliquely
answer the charge of peculation mentioned in §82.
in suam rem "into his own thing;" he made nothing which had been
his father's his own
19 optima fide abl. of manner
20 appendit weighed out, literally, as money; with
adnumeravit
refers to making an accounting of the estate
si ... tradidit Roscius is said to have handed over the clothes
which he wore and his ring (worn by all freeborn citizens; members of the
equestrian order had a gold ring) to Chrysogonus, that is, Cicero implies,
to Chrysogonus in person.
22 se ipsum nudum his own person, only, he retained out of all
his possessions, opposed to everything else (neque praeterea
quicquam)
ut sibi per te liceat innocenti innocenti attracted to
sibi; here finally is Roscius' request
23 opibus instrumental abl., with amicorum
vitam in egestate degere a pathetically modest request
Praedia ... misericordia Chiasmus of mea tu ... ego
aliena
also contains a contrast of the possessive adjective mea with the
personal pronoun tu
aliena misericordia instrumental abl.
25 concedo used absolutely; what he allows has already been
stated
as a fact. This statement of acquiescence, unlike those which follow, is
given a twofold explanation (et quod ... et quia), the one
internal,
the second external.
animus aequus est i.e., aequo animo sum; to have an even
mind means not to want to argue, to be resigned, almost, to plead nolo
contendere
26 Mea domus tibi ... mihi Again, but not in chiastic order this
time, Cicero places the possessive "my" in a clause with some form of the
pronoun "you" and a verb indicating possession. In each antithetical
clause
which follows he uses the pronoun "I" in the same case as the preceding
"you".
27 Familia ... nullum More variation: the order of the first
clause is object-attributive adj.-subject-verb, the second has
subject-object-verb-predicate
adj. Each of the adjectives maxima and nullum is placed in
emphatic position.
28 patior et ferendum puto patior = animus aequus est,
and ferendum puto, after fero of the preceding sentence,
also means patior
Quid vis amplius? Cf. §32 (also prosopopoeia) quid
vultis
amplius? Cicero writes a series of six questions, first with anaphora
(quid, ter, the sixth also with quid), varied with two
different
interrogative words or phrases (qua in re, ubi) in the fourth and
fifth members. The four occurrences of quid embrace three different
meanings: the first is "what" (with amplius), the second and third
are "why," the last is "with respect to what (= how)." After the
interrogatives,
the first three questions consist principally of a second-person verb;
the last three display a more varied structure: (4) second-person
possessive
adjective + passive verb + first-person ablative of agent, (5)
second-person
possessive adjective + first-person verb, (6) second-person pronoun +
first-person
verb.
29 voluntatem Chrysogonus' free will, his ability to do as he
wishes
laedi The last appearance of the verb in this oration. Before
the section on Chrysogonus, Cicero had used the verb in the sense of
"violating
what is proper": §37 voltu saepe laeditur pietas, §111
[fidem] qui laedit, §116 per eius fidem laeditur ... ius
offici laedimus. By extension, the verb takes on the meaning of
"violating
that which one ought not to violate," even "failing to observe political
correctness": §135 causam nobilitatis victoriamque voluisse
laedere,
§138 non laedetur causa nobilitatis, §142 se et causam
laedi putet ... Chrysogoni fautor laeditur. In this last instance
Cicero
uses the verb in the strictly limited sense of "damage," as he does here,
but the contexts in which he had previously employed it give an ironic
flavor to this sentence.
30 officio The verb, which takes the dative, has a very
different
connotation from that of the noun officium. The meaning, close to
that of obsto, has the force of the modern expression "[to do
something]
in your face."
quid tibi obsto? This is the last question spoken in Roscius'
persona; Cicero reverts to his own.
Si spoliorum causa etc. A series of suppositions (in the
indicative)
in which the apodosis contains a verbal echo of the protasis. Strictly,
only the first question contains an apodosis; in the second and third
there
is merely the rhetorical question:
31 quid quaeris amplius? a reiteration of quid vis
amplius;
the condition of which this is a part expands his original question
1 quae ... inimicitiae expansion of the second of the six
questions,
quid insequeris (as in insequi inimicum); quae sunt =
quae esse possunt. His argument here is like that which he used
against
the prosecutor Erucius in §55: it was understandable - even laudable,
perhaps - that one would try to harm an inimicus, but an attack
on a person unknown required explanation.
2 ante ... quam Often, as here, antequam is split in two
and the adverb ante appears in the clause (cuius praedia
possedisti)
which is prior in time.
3 ab eone aliquid metuis corresponds, rather loosely, to the
third question, quid oppugnas. Cicero asks whether Chrysogonus is
attacking in self-defense, or in anticipation of an attack, when his
victim
is one who cannot even defend himself.
4 sin The adversative si-clause is a disguised statement (cf.
nonne below) of Cicero's explanation of Chrysogonus' motivation.
This final condition embraces the last three questions (qua in re ...
obsto), the point of which was: how does Roscius interfere with
Chrysogonus'
enjoyment of his position?
quod an editorial addition: grammatically something is necessary
to introduce idcirco
5 tua predicate (bona ... facta sunt tua)
6 id antecedent of quod (praaeter ceteros tu metuere
non debeas) and object of vereri, in apposition with the clause
ne ... reddantur
praeter ceteros ... non debeas he ought not (i.e., it is
undutiful
for him) to fear a reversion of the confiscated property to the families
of the proscribed, because, of course, he has profited more than the rest
(ceteros), and with less justification: the victory of the nobility
was not his
8 patria = patrum
10 in eius rebus quas L. Sulla gessit The constitutional reform.
Cicero implies that Chrysogonus does not believe in the permanence or
efficacy
of his patron's arrangements, or else he would not worry about returning
goods seized from the proscribed.
11 si tibi causa nulla est a statement of (lack of) existence,
where causa means "real reason," "compelling cause"
hunc ... velis a curious way of using the verb volo;
hunc
miserum is the subject of the passive infinitive adfici. This
mode of expression (why you want him to be afflicted ...) is even more
suggestive of pointless cruelty than the active formulation
13 ne monumenti quidem causa a monument may be anything from
a keepsake to a structure or statue; cf. §23
14 per deos immortalis! etc. After the si-clauses one expects
at least one apodosis, but, as above, Cicero substitutes rhetorical
questions,
or expostulations, clothed in the grammar of questions.
15 Quis ... quis the interrogative pronoun used as an adjective,
a frequent substitution for qui with nouns referring to people.
20 oppugnas ... eum quem ... possis The statement begins with
a repetition of oppugnas (quid oppugnas previous page line
29) but repeats in reverse order the other verbs from §145:
metuere
(line 3 above), odisse (line 1 above), habere (previous page
line 31). The pronoun quem is the object of metuere and
odisse,
but subject of habere: for further variety Cicero has accompanied
each infinitive with two auxiliary verbs (potes, debes) and one
which introduces O.O. (vides).
21 reliqui neuter singular genitive; partitive with
quicquam
ei Roscius, dative of separation/disadvantage with
detrahere
22 Nisi hoc indignum putas Cicero turns from outrage to sarcasm.
vestitum sedere vestitum is the participle of
vestio;
the infinitive sedere wants a subject, eum, which, since
it is the antecedent of quem, has been omitted (as if this were
O.R.)
24 Quasi vero nescias heightened sarcasm; answers the pretended
complaint of Chrysogonus that Roscius is sitting, clothed, in court:
Chrysogonus
should have all of his clothing. This sentence, given as an answer to the
preceding one, makes the former seem no longer a supposition but a fact.
ali from alo
25 Baliarici filia, Nepotis sorore same as in §27, although
part of the line there was supplied from this one
26 cum concessive
patrem clarissimum Q. Caecilius Q.f. Q.n. Baliaricus (PW
Caecilius
82) cos. 123; triumphed in 121 for conquest of the Balearic Isles; censor
in 120.
amplissimos patruos [the very senatorial] paternal brothers,
L. Caecilius Metellus Diadematus (PW 93) cos. 117, censor 115; M.
Caecilius
Metellus [no cognomen!] (PW 77) cos. 115, proconsul of Sardinia 114-111,
celebrated a triumph for Sardinia and Corsica in 111; at this same triumph
the last brother, C. Caecilius Metellus Caprarius (PW 84) cos. 113,
proconsul
of Macedonia and Thrace 112-111, celebrated a triumph for victory in
Thrace;
the last-named was censor in 102.
27 ornatissimum fratrem Q. Caecilius Metellus Nepos (PW 95) cos.
98. The superlative adjectives indicate that Caecilia's father, paternal
uncles, and brother had all been consul; celebration of a triumph in
addition
is splendid but not necessary. It is surprising that Cicero does not name
Q. Caecilius Metellus Macedonicus (PW 94), Caecilia's paternal
grandfather,
who as praetor was in charge of the Fourth Macedonian war and the campaign
against the Achaean League in 146. He was a political opponent of the
very-
to moderately-liberal men of his age, Ti. and C. Gracchus, and Scipio
Aemilianus.
But Cicero may wish to confine his praise to generations which the living
may actually remember.
tamen, cum esset mulier tamen answers the first
"although"
(cum in line 26); Cicero then inserts another "although" to make
the point even more vehemently
28 virtute abl. of means; note placement of the masculine
quality
next to the noun mulier
quanto honore ... non minora quanto and non minora
here serve the function of correlatives: Cicero finds litotes more to his
point than a simple pattern of quanto ... tanta.The contrasted
pronouns
are arranged chiastically:
4 Mihi crede etc. Cicero is apparently self-righteously
incensed;
he does not bother to answer the last question but threatens that the
situation
ought to be worse for Chrysogonus than it is.
pro ... hospitiis et gratia pro = in return for, in
proportion
as (similarly, pro ... proque in lines 6 and 7)
5 omnes huic hospites strictly, huic is object of
adesse,
but it gains a possessive quality by its position between adjective and
noun
auderent libere defendere cf. §1 defendere ipsi ... non
audent
6 defendere sc. hunc; the object can be supplied either
from the object of adesse or from the subject of
defenderetur
which follows.
7 proque eo quod ... temptatur "and in proportion to this,
[namely]
the extent that (the republic is being assailed in the trial of this man)"
summa res publica = the highest interests of the state.
8 periculo the word actually means trial, but has acquired the
allied notion of danger or risk: in the context, a double entendre
haec (object of vindicarent): all the actions of the
prosecutors
and their backers
consistere ... vobis isto in loco non liceret Word order: the
pronoun enclosed by the verb of remaining and the place where they would
not be allowed to remain; juxtaposition of vobis and isto.
The place meant ("the place where you are") is both spatial and
figurative.
The image arises of the jury, perhaps also the corona, rising up and
chasing
away the men who occupy the prosecutors' benches.
9 ita defenditur, non sane ut ita and ut are
correlative;
the sense is ita defenditur, ut non or non ita defenditur,
ut
11 potentia instrumental abl.; refers to the accusers' assumed
objections that Roscius' powerful friends are influencing the trial and
thus obstructing justice.
per Caeciliam it is through her agency, not by Caecilia, for
of course she does not personally take care of him
12 rationem business; handling: undertaken by the primary male
patron. Cf. §22 pacis constituendae rationem.
M. Messala The family is patrician. There were two cousins named
M. Valerius Messal(l)a (PW Valerius 76 and 77), one surnamed Niger, the
other Rufus, both younger than Cicero. Messala Niger was consul in 61,
and therefore should have been born no later than 102; Messala Rufus was
consul in 53, but may have been praetor in 62 (aet. 39) and born no later
than 100, although his consulship, if held in 'his' year, indicates a
birthdate
somewhat later, in the 90's.
14 ad dicendum impedimento ad + gerund = purpose; taken
with impedimento, final dative. The participial phrase has not the
same function as the dative of reference in a double dative construction.
15 est aetas et pudor The verb (1) should be singular to be
taken
with the final dative; (2) agrees with the nearer subject, but governs
both, while the relative clause which further describes pudor further
separates
the two nouns.
aetas et pudor qui ornat aetatem almost an extended hendiadys,
if such a thing exists
16 quem Cicero; subject of cupere ac debere, which are
used absolutely, although one may supply causam dicere
17 adsiduitate etc. instrumental abls., each with a different
meaning: adsiduitas (constant attention) refers to consumption of
time, consilium requires gray matter, auctoritas comes with
Messala's name if not with his age, and diligentia is his
consumption
of energy
18 sectorum cf. §80 sectores collorum et
bonorum
19 pro hac nobilitate in particular, for the nobility as
represented
by Messala, a nobility which Cicero will describe further, in idealistic
terms
20 haec acta res est i.e., haec res acta est; an
expression
similar to id actum est, for which see §137 and note
21 ei nobiles ei is masc. nom. pl.; here it has both
considerable
demonstrative force as modifier of nobiles but also, as it
anticipates
qui in the relative clause of characteristic, means tales
23 qui ... mallent ostendere tricolon with some variation of
structure (verb + obj. acc., verb + obj. dat., verb + prepositional
phrases
and an indirect question), the second member shorter than the first, the
third the longest: one of Cicero's favorite formulations in later years
quantum possent quantum is adverbial with posse,
which, when used absolutely, means to have power
in salute ... in exitio English idiom usually prefers a gerund
to an abstract noun: "in saving," not "in the salvation."
24 quam with mallent, but precedes that which it
immediately
compares
quod si NB "which thing, if" not "but if"; quod is the
object of facerent. The condition is unreal; the nobility did not
usually oblige.
25 qui eodem loco nati sunt sc. ac Messala
et res publica ... laborarent an elegant finish to his
commentary
upon, and advice to, the nobility. The preposition ex each time
indicates cause, or origin, of trouble. The exact force of minus
is still puzzling, except perhaps for the avoidance of an absolute.
27 si a Chrysogono ... non impetramus Cicero identifies himself
with his client: I + he = we. A jussive clause follows, then more
si-clauses,
the second of which contains another formulation governing a jussive
(si
ille adduci non potest). The verb impetro (one should be able
to say 'impetrate' in English) is often used of the receipt of a
favor/request
from a more powerful person. The protasis of this simple condition has
four parts, with one apodosis:
29 nobis omnia quae nostra erant propria effective sequence,
after the dative of separation, of adjectives indicating proprietary
ownership
30 lucem ... eripere = interficere
quae communis est the common ownership of daylight balances
structurally
and antithetically the relative clause which precedes
1 satis habet Although Chrysogonus is the subject, it may be
easier to regard this as an impersonal verb, like satis est
2 unum perfugium nominative, like una spes the subject
of the following verb, and should have the same modifiers, but spes
has taken over as the nearer subject, thus reliqua and
eadem
3 eadem quae i.e., eadem spes quae relicta est rei
publicae
4 pristina with both nouns which follow: "pristine" is, in
general,
old-fashioned, and in particular, anteSullan.
Quae si manet = et si ea manet, meaning both
bonitas
and misericordia
5 salvi ... esse possumus Cicero continues to identify himself
with Roscius
6 versata est versor is sometimes hard to translate; "held sway"
or "has been usual" is meant here
7 reddit factitive verb: takes two accusatives
8 actum est "it's all over"
inter feras ... in hac tanta immanitate cf. §63 on the
character
of a parricide: qui tantum immanitate bestias vicerit ... cum etiam
feras ... Cicero has turned his earlier description of the singular
depravity of the rare person who could kill his parent to a general
description
of life at Rome during the past two (or more) years.
10 ut eos condemnaretis etc. cf. §29 quem ipsi, cum
cuperent,
non potuerunt occidere, eum iugulandum vobis tradiderunt
11 hoc explained by the substantive clause ut ...
conlocent
12 imperatores Strictly speaking, an imperator is a general who
has led an army to victory and whom the soldiers have recognized as
successful:
even Cicero himself, many years later, found himself hailed Imperator by
the bit of an army which he had in Cilicia. More generally, an imperator
is he who holds the imperium.
12 in eo loco quo eo and quo (where) are
correlative
13 arbitrentur milites conlocent imperatores is the
subject
of both verbs; milites is the object of the second
in quos milites; with de improviso incidant
(relative
final clause). Any who flee from battle (si qui ex acie fugerint)
will fall in with - not attack - the soldiers placed in ambush.
14 de improviso from the point of view of the persons arriving
on the scene (men fleeing battle), the appearance of the men lying in wait
is unexpected, although normally when this expression is used the persons
arriving are those who will surprise those who are at rest, or, the men
in ambush leap out de improviso
15 arbitrantur ... vos hic ... sedere parallels quo fugam
... fore arbitrentur
bonorum emptores paronomasia: sounds a lot like boni
imperatores
16 qui excipiatis relative final clause; the judges are meant
to catch anyone who escaped the proscriptions
suis the emptores, subject of the main verb
17 ne with prohibeant, like ne after a verb of
fearing
hoc predicate with praesidium, as quod is with
consilium publicum; vocari and existimetur are both
factitive verbs
20 liberi ... tollantur Cicero wishes his listeners to believe
that there is a general danger to all surviving children of the
proscribed;
he had mentioned above (§145) that Chrysogonus and his ilk feared
that at some point civil rights, and property, would be restored to these
people.
quavis ratione by any means at all
eius rei elimination of the children of the proscribed
21 in vestro iure iurando lit. "in your oath," but he means in
their verdict, given under oath
22 Dubium est as a question = Num dubium est
ad quem maleficium pertineat cf. § 102 ad quem
maleficium
pertineret
23 ex altera parte spatial as well as figurative: T. Roscius
Magnus (eundemque accusatorem) sat in court with the
prosecution
25 probatum suis the pronoun is dative with the participle:
Roscius
was proven to his family and friends, not approved by them; his associates
are affected, but are not agents
non modo culpa nulla sed ne ... quidem another alternative to
the form non modo (non) sed ne ... quidem, here Cicero modifies
the first noun with a negative adjective
26 Numquid ... aliud ... nisi alternative for nihil aliud
nisi
1 profitemini profess, in the sense of proclaim, not merely
confess
sedetis absolute
ut ... liberi i.e., for judicial condemnation. Note the strange
word order (which makes the sense clear): the antecedent of quorum
is eorum, not liberi. Same odd order in §151 sedere
qui excipiatis eos qui de suis manibus effugerint. Normally, relative
clauses begin with a relative pronoun, or a preposition to govern one,
and end with the first finite verb thereafter.
2 cavete apodosis of this simple condition; a relief after the
triple protasis (two ifs and three verbs, all meaning the same thing)
3 per vos with the judges as instruments, not agents
4 Illam priorem sc. proscriptionem; object of
suscipere
5 potuerunt Although the proscribed had the potential, or the
ability, to take up arms against Sulla, many did not
tamen emphatic, at the beginning of a clause = "although" and
perhaps best translated here as "for all that the senate did not want ..."
Cicero distances the senate from the proscriptions which accompanied
Sulla's
victory, a victory afterwards described as the senate's. His affirmation
that the senate deplored the proscriptions even against potentially armed
and dangerous opponents is meant to give the jury of senators an
additional
impetus to thwart attempts to institute what he threatens will be a new
kind of proscription.
6 acrius quam ... comparatum Occasional assassinations - and
the revenge of Marius and Cinna - aside, Republican history had no
precedent
for the manner of political cleansing practiced by Sulla and his
partisans.
Even the followers of the Gracchi were given a species of a trial,
although
Cicero will not use that example of kangaroo court in his argument here,
as optimate political correctness required that those persecutions be
regarded
as necessary and proper (cf. Cat. 4.13). Cicero as consul heard
a similar objection raised against the execution without trial of
Catiline's
co-conspirators, if Sallust is an accurate reporter of Caesar's arguments:
Cat. 17 sententia [Silani] ... aliena a re publica nostra
videtur.
... 27 novom illud exemplum ab dignis et idoneis ad indignos et
non idoneos transfertur. ... 32-3 victor Sulla quom Damasippum et
alios eius modi ... iugulari iussit, quis non factum eius laudabat? ...
Sed ea res magnae initium cladis fuit. ... 35-6 Atque ego haec non in M.
Tullio neque his temporibus vereor ... quis illi finem statuet aut quis
moderabitur? 40 Postquam res publica adolevit et multitudine civium
factiones valuere, circumveniri innocentes, alia huiusce modi fieri
coepere,
tum lex Porcia aliaeque leges paratae sunt, quibus legibus exilium
damnatis
permissum est. Cicero's response to Caesar, from which Caesar's actual
remarks can best be reconstructed, contains mention of the Sempronian law
(Cat. 4.10), which obtained for Roman citizens: qui autem rei
publicae sit hostis eum civem esse nullo modo posse - a nice
constitutional
issue never satisfactorily decided in 63, and Cicero does raise the issue
of precedent (Cat. 4.13) Vereamini minus censeo ne in hoc
scelere
tam immani ac nefando aliquid severius statuisse videamini.
publico consilio opposed to privato consilio, which might
be as harsh as you please; one should never, he argues, make murder a
matter
of official public policy, even if it is private reality.
7 hanc sc. proscriptionem, the one which Cicero says is
being instituted at Roscius' trial
eorum the proscribed (or perhaps merely those whose property is
sold at public auction for whatever reason), the same as eos of
line
4 8 ad infantium puerorum incunabula pathetic, and exaggerated:
young children, to be sure, had been deprived of property and rights, but
there was no reason to think that any would actually be haled into court.
Roscius was an adult.
hoc iudicio instrumental
9 a vobis spatial: away from yourselves. Although L&S s.v.
aspernor I cite this passage, the prepositional phrase is a normal
construction
only with the first verb.
videte, per deos immortalis! The repetition, so soon after
cavete,
per deos immortalis! above, indicates that Cicero means to be
extremely
agitated.
10 quem in locum i.e., into what condition
ista that authority and power of yours (which you have as
judges)
12 qua vos estis sc. praediti
ex quibus rebus ex for cause, source; the relative clause
is proleptic: the antecedent (eis [rebus] maxime mederi convenit)
follows. In the next sentence Cicero reduces these "things" to one: hoc
tempore domestica crudelitate laborare.
14 quondam exact date and circumstances left unspecified: there
were occasions, much bruited in later years, when the leaders of the Roman
state refrained from excessive violence, e.g., in the treatment of Rhodes
after the Third Macedonian war, but as the Rhodians' fault had been the
presumption of offering arbitration between Perseus and the senate, an
unprejudiced observer might opine that any retaliation by the Romans was
excessive. The history of the Republic offers many examples of outrageous
behavior, beginning even earlier than the treatment of Agrigentum in the
First Punic war, but
it is the part of arrogance to call leniency anything which falls short
of total destruction. Cicero himself recognised the principle when he
noted
that M. Antonius bragged of having put him under obligation only because
he refrained from murder (Phil. 2.5). Reality notwithstanding,
Roman
propaganda embraced the notion of Roman mercy.
in hostis lenissimus ... domestica crudelitate nicely worked
antithesis, with the noun in each case opposed to the adjective of the
other
17 id ... mali viz., quod sustulit ... ademit. Cicero's
explanation of the evil is strongly worded, especially the
characterisation
of the recent deaths of citizens with the adverb atrocissime
18 hominibus lenissimis dat. of separation; Cicero uses the same
adjective lenissimus to equate the Romans as they once were with
the Romans as they had been until very recently.
20 cum omnibus horis ... videmus aut audimus Although it may
well have been the case, not many months before, that multiple new reports
of murders and atrocities came in every day, the present tense is not for
present time, but a statement of general truth. These last two sentences
of the oration owe much to Thucydides, who was the first (whose works are
extant) to describe the effect of traumatic events on the human spirit,
especially in his accounts of the plague at Athens and the stasis at
Corcyra:
2.52.3, 2.53.1-4, 3.82.2.
22 sensum omnium humanitatis Cicero uses humanitas
frequently
in different senses. Of the three earlier instances in this oration, two
(§§46, 63) indicate a quality which may be expressed as "being
a member of the human race (as opposed to being some other sort of
animal),"
while the one at §121 has rather the sense of "culture"- or at least
education sufficient to distinguish one type of slave from a mere drudge.
§§136-142
The remarks about the proper and improper
uses of the nobility's victory are lengthy but preserve an integrated
chiastic structure: Cicero begins by stating what he thought the victory
meant (§§136-137), and what he fears it might be (§137
Sin id actum est); he continues, after some exhortation to and
manipulation of the jury (§§138-141), by stating that victory
ought not to be abused (§142 Si id actum est), and his pious
hope that it will not be (§142 Sin autem).
§136
The first sentence is not gainly, as Cicero interposes two disclaimers
between Sciunt ... me and the rest of the statement in O.O.: "Those
who know me know that I - not that I have any influence, and anyway what
I really wanted was ... - firmly supported the winning side."
§137
Quod "that," "the fact that," with animadversum est in
eos.The
impersonal passive avoids naming the agents of the animadversio. Parallel
construction in quod ... habitus est lines 12-13.
§138
Verum ... iudices He dissolves the threat by the old trick of
stating
the worst possible case and subsequently either denying that it is true
or denying that he believes it is the case, although there may be others
who think so.
§139
unus omnia poterat Yet again, cf. §22 unus omnia
gubernet;
the construction here is somewhat different: omnia with the
adverbial
sense of "in everything;" poterat "had power" (note past tense)
§140 The exhortation to the senate; thrice-repeated desinant followed
by (a single) videant.
9 aliquando with jussive subjunctives = tandem (cf. L&S
s.v. II.E)
§141
Hicne ... hic<ne> With his emphasis on the location ("even
here?")
Cicero reminds the jury of their prerogatives in a state to which law and
order have returned. Clark adds the enclitic particle to the second hic
etiam, to make the anaphora correspond in all respects, but I am not
sure that it is necessary; indeed, it sounds rather better without.
a) this is not the reason for my feeling indignant
b) the reason which does not obtain
b) the real reason(s)
a) this is what I complain about
§142
Si id actum est See note to §137 Sin autem id actum
est;
this passage refers back to that one. There the abuse of victory is given
as the second, and worse, alternative; here it is the first (a
long-distance
chiasmus).
§143
haec omnis oratio He means only §§130-142, not the whole
speech.
§144
Si ... careat ... se carere ... dicit Cicero uses the same verb
in both its figurative (suspicione) and literal (commodis)
senses. Chiasmus.
§145
Praedia mea ... obsto Prosopopoeia: Cicero speaks is if he were
Roscius (cf. §32). This section is deliciously elegant, better, in
its way, than a really good chocolate truffle. It is divided into four
parts, the first three of which have three divisions each, the last has
four: (1) three statements of fact containing antithesis with different
forms of meus/tu/ego + first person verb of acquiescence in
asyndeton
(see next note) (lines 24-28); (2) three short questions regarding
Chrysogonus'
motivation, each with quid and a second-person verb (lines 28-29);
(3) three longer questions regarding matters of fact (lines 29-30: see
note to line 30); (4) three simple conditions (si-clauses) on matters of
motivation, with a fourth antithetical clause (sin) (lines 30-next
page line 8). The si-clauses answer, and the rhetorical questions appended
to each echo, the three short questions in part 2.
(1) Si spoliorum causa ... spoliasti
(2) si inimicitiarum [causa] ... inimicitiae
(3) si metus [causa] ... metuis
§146
spem emptionis i.e., expectation of keeping what he got by purchase
§147
Scis hunc nihil habere etc. anaphora: nihil + infinitive
four times; only the fourth substantive clause is longer than two words.
Cicero returns to his original questions, and answers them once again.
quanto honore ipsa ex illorum dignitate adficeretur
non minora illis ex sua laude redderet
Caecilia's accomplishments, however, embrace the male relatives (non
minora illis ornamenta), while theirs are clearly apart from her.
§148
An, quod diligenter defenditur After the aside in praise of
Caecilia,
Cicero returns to his questioning of Chrysogonus with an alternative
explanation
for the freedman's putative sense of outrage. His characterisation of the
vigorous defense as indignum facinus (cf. indignum in
§147)
raises the rhetorical ante.
§149
Quae domi gerenda sunt The feeding and clothing of the defendant,
as he stated in §147.
§150
Cicero commences the final appeal to the judges, and warns them again of
the political consequences of this trial.
si a Chrysogono, iudices, non impetramus
ut pecunia nostra contentus sit,
vitam ne petat,
si ille adduci non potest
ut
cum ademerit nobis omnia
quae nostra erant propria,
ne lucem quoque hanc
quae communis est
eripere cupiat,
si non satis habet
avaritiam suam pecunia explere,
nisi etiam crudelitati sanguis praebitus sit,
unum perfugium, iudices, una spes reliqua est Sex. Roscio eadem
quae rei publicae, vestra pristina bonitas et
misericordia
§151
Ad eamne rem etc. anaphora
§152
An vero ... non almost = nonne
§153
id ... eam ad rem ... idcirco all three indicate the same purpose
or undertaking, explained by the substantive clause ut ... liberi
§154
Homines sapientes ... praeditos subj. acc. of mederi
Last updated: 7 December 2008
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Rodgers
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