Pro S. Roscio Amerino

Ca. XXIX.] NOTES. 101
19. tina mercede duas res adsequi : lit. "to obtain two articles
for one payraent" ; the corresponding Englisli proverb is "to kill
two birds with one stone." fnos iudicio pertundere : "to strike
at us through the verdict." The MSS. read perfundere, which
seems to have no point here. Pessundare, pervertere, confimdere,
percutere have been suggested. Pertundere (a conjecture of G.
Ammon) is a synonym of percutere (which expresses the meaning
well) and has the advantage of being closer to the reading of the
MSS. than any other emendation. The infinitives pertundere and
accusare, which should depend on adsequi velle, are loosely connected
with videris velle.
22. secfcoribus : the property of a proscribed person was sold by
public auction [suh hasta, the spear being the symbol of booty
taken in war). Such a sale was called sectio and the purchaser was
called sector. The word seems to be derived from secare, " to cut,"
but the name was certainly not given because the purchasers of a
property (which was alwaj^s sold to a single person) parcelled it out
into small lots with the purpose of selling it again. It is probable that
sectio was originally used to designate that part of the booty which
was "cut off" or set apart for the State, as distinguished from the
shares of the general and the soldiers. The word was then transferred
from the sale of booty taken in war to the sale of coniiscated
property. Thus though sectio still has some of its original meaning,
sector in this derived sense has none. In tlie same way the holder of
an '
' open scholarship " at the universities is called an " open scholar."
23. eosdem . . . coUonun et bonorum : the play on the word sector
may be represented in English by " those same brokers were
generally tlie men who broke necks."
24. denique : expresses the speaker's indignation, "shall it be
that ...•>."
25. concursabant : = circumcursahant.
26. adsidui : = adsidue, "continually."
29. crimini : predicative dative, aceompanied by huic as dative
of indirect object; "is to be a ground of accusation against my
client."
34. disseram : present subjunctive rather than future indicative
here.
30. dissoluta est : the regular word for the unravelling of deceptive
and sophistical questions ; it is here used of the refutation of
charges for the adequate reply to which dialectical acumen is needed,
See also diluam in line 36.
36. de peculatu : "about the embezzlement of State property."
Erueius must have insinuated that Roscius had secretly kept back
some of his father's confiscated property.
38. declamare . . . commentari : technical expressions ; commentari
refers to the mental preparation or " getting up" of a speech ;
declamare refers to the private "practising" of it aloud, before the
public delivery ; the word conveys no notion of "bawling," as some
suppose.