Pro S. Roscio Amerino

CH. XXVI.] NOTES. 97
XXVI., §§ 71-73. Argument.— Our ancestors devised the punishment
of the sack so as to cut off parricides from the source of thinga,
and leave them no share even in objects that are most common and
worthless. You cannot, Erucius, without alleging motives, prove to the
satisfaction of such men as the jury a charge involving so hehious a
crime.
Ch. XXVI.— 1. sapientiam : aeeusative of exclamation, really the
object of some verb moie or less vaguely understood. Here we
might understand videte, " eonsider."
2. remm natura : " the natural world. " cui : dative of indirecfc
objecfc, with a verb of "taking away"; ex above (line 2) has its
fuU sense of " out of."
3. ademerint : subjunctive in causal relative clause. It may also
be regarded as subjunctive of reported definition.
4. necasset : consecutive subjuncfcive. unde = a quo or ex quo,
"from whom," a colloquial idiom. natus essefc : subjunctive in a
clause dependent on the dependent subjunctive elause qui eum
necasset.
5. dicunfcur : indicative, although the clause is grammatically
dependent ou a subjunctive clause. Tlie indicative is here used
because the clause merely defines, and the definition is not represented
as having been present in the minds of the maiores.
6. scelus: " abomination " ; it is not used here for scelestus, as is
generally maintained.
7. attigissent : subjunctive in causal relative clause. immanioribus
: predicative with uteremur; "lest we might find the very
beasts made more savage." sic : with nudos, "naked as they were."
Some refer sic to tantum scelus, with the meaning "since they were
so wicked" ; but the separation in sense of sic from nudos is very
harsh.
8. deicere : sc. voluerunt.
11. reliquerinfc: subjunetive in consecutive relative clause ; cuius
= ut eius. quid . . . tam commune : "what boon so universal."
Cicero in his Orator (Ch. 30, § 107) quotes lines 11-17 of this chapter ;
he states that they were reeeived with loud applause, and confesses
that even in his old age he still feels their fiery energy.
14. ut eorum ossa terra non fcangat : the aneients believed that
the spirits of those who lay unburied eould not enter the next
world. Hence, if a man eame upon an unburied corpse, he tlurew
at least three handfuls of earth upon it ; and this was considered
equivalent to a burial.
19. talibus viris : dative of person judging : " to the satisfaetion
of men like these."
21. paratius: Cicero generally uses the adjective paratus with
venire ; here the adverb is used to correspond with diligentius, which
is a loose expression for diligentius meditatus, "having more carefullv
thought the matter out."
22 venisses : the subjunctive is jussive ("you oughfc fco have
CIC. EOSC. 7