Pro S. Roscio Amerino
Pro S. Roscio Amerino
Pro S. Roscio Amerino
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eserve all that cau be said, luy speecli nevertheless will<br />
fail to get abroad aud make its -way to the public iu by<br />
any uieaus the sauie degree ; aud lastly because uo utterance<br />
of the rest cau remain in obscurity owiug to their<br />
wide reputation aud high staudiug, aud owiug to their age<br />
aud practical wisdom no allowauce can be made for auy<br />
chance utterauce. Ou the contrary if I say anythiug that<br />
is too free it can be kept coucealed on the grouud that I<br />
have not yet eutered upou public life, or pardou cau be<br />
grauted to my youth ; although uot ouly the old method<br />
of leuieut judgmeut but eveu the custom of makiug an<br />
inquiry has now beeu abolished from our state.<br />
4. Besides these there is also the foUowiug reason, that<br />
possibly the request to plead has beeu made to the rest in<br />
such a way tliat they thought they might adopt either<br />
alteruative without a breach of friendly obhgatiou : whereas<br />
I have been earuestly eutreated by gentlemen who have<br />
very weighty influence with me owing to their friendship<br />
and services to me aud their high positiou; aud I was<br />
bound not to close my eyes to the kiuduess of such men<br />
towards me, and not to regard their iufluence lightly, and<br />
not to be careless of their goodwill.<br />
5. For these reasous I have come forward to take<br />
charge of this case, not selected as the one mau who could<br />
plead with the greatest ability, but left over from the rest<br />
as the man who could plead with the least dauger ; not that<br />
Sextus Eoscius might feel liimself defeuded by a fairly<br />
reliable bulwark, but that he might not be absolutely<br />
abandoued. Tou may perhaps be askiug what is the<br />
uature of that fear amoug you aud that pauic terror, which<br />
hiuders so mauy excellent men from cousenting to plead a<br />
cause on behalf of auother's status aud property as they<br />
have beeu accustomed to do. And it is uot astouishing<br />
that you do not kuow this, seeing that the prosecutors<br />
have purposely avoided meutioniug the real motive that<br />
occasioned this triah<br />
6. What is that motive? It is the property of the<br />
father of my chent Sextus Eoscius, which is worth six<br />
millious of sesterces, aud which Lucius Cornehus Chrysogonus,<br />
who despite his youth is perhaps the most powerful
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