Pro S. Roscio Amerino

^
110 CICERO : PRO ROSCIO. [CH. XXXT.
27. gravitatem: " weighty personality."
28. ad eius testimonium . . . accommodetis : i.e. his character is
so very good tliat, though you are on your oath, you will allow your
verdict to be regulated and determined by his e\adence.
XXXVI., §§ 102-105. Argument.— Copiio is about togive evidence
against Sextus Roscius. Even men of the greatest renown were hy the
custom o/ our ancestors not allowed to give evidence in their own cause
yet here we have the very man who bought the property and contrived
the murder about to comeforward as a witness!
[Consult the Index for Scipio (i).]
Ch. XXXVI.— 1. alter : «.e. Titus RosciusMagnus. exipsacaede:
"straight from the murder" ; ex has here both a local and a temporal
significance. volucrem nuntium : referred to as "Automedon
" in 35, 8 ; here also there is a mythological reminiscence
either of the winged Mercury, or of the eagle as Jove's "winged
messenger."
2. socium . . . magistrum : Capito was the partner of Magnus in
the distribution of the spoil, his master in the art of murder.
4. apertum : with poneret. poneret : potential as well as consecutive,
"sothat he himself could have niade hisown crime visible."
5. alter : i.e. Titus Roscius Capito.
7. is : subject of dixerit ; it is separated from its verb so that
quod dixerit may be contrasted with qiLod fecerit. credendum : sc.
sit, which is not of ten omitted, though tlie omission of est is common.
utrum . . . ac non : "wliether . . . and not rather," sc. icJ agra^Mr
utrum.
est.
8. vindicandum sit : so. necne. comparatum est : =
;
institutum
9. ut in minimis rebus . . . de sua re non dicerent : the usual
expression would be ut ne in minimis quidem rebus . . . de sua re
dicerent, but the simple non has often as much negative force as
ne . . . quidem ; thus verbum non facere = ne verbum quidem facere,
pedem ncni discedere = ne pedein quidem discedere. homines amplissimi
: to say nothing of people with a record so bad as was that
of Capito.
jH , 10. Africanus : see Index, s.v. Scipio (i).
^ 11. tertiam partem orbis : «. e. Africa, according to the traditional
./ division of the woild into Europe, Asia, and Libya or Africa. As a
I matter of fact the territory of Carthage, out of which the province
I of " Airica" was fornied, occupied only a small part of the north
coast of Africa as we know it.
;
12. diceret : contemporaneous with ageretur ; the condition is one
unfulfilled in the present " : if his own interests were now at stake,
he would not be giving evidence." Diceret is not a past potential,
denoting a possible case in the past (as is poneret, line 4 above).
14. crederetur : sc. ei ; crederetur is impersonal.