Pro S. Roscio Amerino

CICERO
PEO SEXTO EOSCIO AMEEINO.
A TBANSLATION.
Bj F. Gr. Plaistowb, M.A.
1. Gentlemen of tlie Jurj, I believe you are wondering
what is tlie reason that wlien there remain seated so many
excellent speakers and well-known men, I of all otliers
have stood up, though in years and ability and infiuence
I am not fit to be compared with these gentlemen who
remain seated. All these gentlemen whom you see present
here think that in this case some defence ought to be made
against a wrong occasioned by an unprecedented crime, but
tliey dare not undertake the defence themselves owing to
the perilous nature of the times. Thus it comes to pass
that tliey are here simply because they are foUowing up
their duty, wliile they are sileut precisely because they
shrink from the peril.
2. What then? Am I the boldest of them all ? Far
from it. But have I a so much keener sense of duty ? I
am not so eager even for that merit as to wish to have it
snatched away from others. Then what object can have
driven me beyond the rest to undertake the case of Sextus
Eoscius ? It is because, if a word had fallen from any one
of these men, who possess the higliest influence and dignity,
if a word had been uttered touching pubUc affairs, a thiug
that must necessarily happen in this case, the speaker
would be believed to have said far more than he had said ;
(3) and because in my case, even though I say without
CIC. ROSC. 12