Pro S. Roscio Amerino

98 CICERO : PRO ROSCIO. [CH. XXVI.
come "), the imperfect and pluperfect being used to denote what
ought to have been done ; it also forms the apodosis of the conditional
sentence of which si . . . accusares . . . praeesset is the
protasis.
XXVII., §§ 73-75. Argument.—I noiv asJc ymi, Erucius, since you
cannot allege any motive, by what means did Sex. Hoscius hill his
father? Was it hy slaves or byfreemen ? If by the latter, were they
from Ameria orfroni Rome, and by whose means did he bribe them ? I
pass over the point that it is a city life, not a country life, that produces
atrocities of this description.
Ch. XXVII.—1. esto : " Good ! " Cicero here passes from the discussion
of motives to that of means, and inquires, not why Roscius
should have killed his father, but how Roscius could have killed his
father.
2. vicisse debeo : lit. "I am in duty bound to have won," i.e. "I
ought to be considered as the winner." The perfect infinitive is
often used to describe an action as completed and ready, where in
English the present is normally used. de meo iure decedam : "I
will withdraw from my rightful claim."
6. meo loco : i.e. minc cum meus sit dicendi locm. Cicero considers
the present portion of Erueius' case to be so weak that he
offers to allow the altercatio or eross-examination, which generally
came at the close of the counsel's speech, to take place during the
time actually allotted for that speech.
9. occidendum : sc. eum. The gerundive is here used predieatively,
and with eu7n forms a phrase concrete in forra but of abstract
nieaning ; "did he entrust the killing of him to others?" In this
and the following questions, down to quantum dedit in line 17,
Cicero colleets together in the form of a dilemma all the possible
cases. ipsum : sc. percussisse.
10. Romae non fuit : =
respondes eum Romae nonfuisse.
11. fsi per liberos: not in the MSS. but required by the sense,
as one member of the statement {i.e. the major premiss) of the
dilemma must be mentioned here ; the other member (per servos)
follows in 28, 13.
12. Ameria: ablative of origin, a form of the ablative of "place
whence.
"
13. unde : "from what source."
14. multis annis : ablative expressing the amount of time from,
or since, when something has not happened.
15. qui: an old ablative of manner ; " How did he confer with
them ?" {i.e. whether personally or by means of agents?). Supply
cum eis from eos in lines 13 and 15.
17. unde . . . dedit : = a quo dedit, "on whom did he draw?"
The Romans seldom made payments in cash ; as a rule they paid, as
in modem times, by a draft on a banker {argentarius) with whom