Pro S. Roscio Amerino

118 CICERO : PRO ROSCIO, [CH. XLIII.
13. tsi enim haec audientur ac libere dicentur : tliis is the reading
of the MSS., in place of which several needless conjectures have
been proposed. Translate " : for if the time comes when people
will listen to these complaints and they can be freely discussed."
Cicero means that when that time comes,—and the "reign of
terror " is too fresh in men's memories for it to come yet awhile,
the cases of the more important victims of the proscriptions will be
taken before that of Sex. Roscius ; all that is now asked is, how
could the property of Sex. Roscius be sold contrary to thc express
wording of the hxw ?
t 16. qui: adverb, "how." ista ipsa lege, quae de proscriptione est,
'; sive Valeria sive Cornelia : the lex Gcyrmlia de proscriptione seems to
\ have beeii' a kind orproclamation issued by SuUa at the tirae of the
Ipublication of the proscription list, which laid down rules about
i the property of the proscribed, etc. It was thus a lex data or
l magisterial enactment, not a lex rogaia, or utterance of the people
in their comitia [ ; and since SuUa was not yet dictator, and the con-
I stitution was not yet suspended, such an act would have no binding
» force. The lex Valeria (see Introd., § 2), which conferred dictatorial
fpowers on Sulla, was on the other hand a lex rogata, one duly passed
)\>y the comitia centuriata. Since it was retrospective in its naturo
land ratified all the acts which SuIIa had done, his lex Cornelia de
\proscriptione would among his other acts be made legally valid.
ICicero is therefore here justified in his expression of ignorance as to
; which of the two leges should be cited as regulating the proscrip-
:tions,—for the Lex Gornelia laid down the actual regulations, while
'the Lex Valeria gave validity to the Lex Gonielia. Cicero also
seems to imply that, since both enactments were really the work of
the all-powerful Sulla, they could not be distinguished by means of
'different names,—they were both in a sense Leges Corneliae.
19. scriptum enim ita dicunt esse : Cicero here (and also in
44, 10), somewhat ironically professes not to know the exact terms
of the Lex Cornelia, since it had not been brought before the people ;
and though the Lex Valeria, which gave it formal validity, was
ratified by the people, yet this ratification was but the " mockery
of a free choice," for the people dared not refuse to ratify an appointment
which Sulla had practically ordered the Senate to make.
21. quo in numero : i.e. in quorum numero.
2.3. fuerunt : perfeet, as du7n="so long as," not "during the
time that."
25. si lege : sc. occisus est.
27. veteres leges : according to the old leges sacratae a man wlio
was declared accursed {sacer) was cut off from the fire and water of
his tribe (aquae et igni interdictus) and any one could slay such an
outlaw with impunity. SuIIa applied this mode of punishment to
his political opponents, by meting out rewards to those who slew,
: and
punishments to those who harboured, proscribed persons. The
? reference in novae leges is especially to the Lex Cornelia de proscriptione.
occisum esse : sc. eum as subject.
—