Pro S. Roscio Amerino

6
CTCERO
15. Sextus Roscius, my clienfs fatlier, "was a burglier of
Ameria wlio iu birth, reputation, and wealtli was facile
princeps in tbe country round, to say nothing of his native
town, and moreover be enjoyed the advantage of the influence
and guest-friendship given to him by men of the
highest rank. For he was on terms not only of guestfriendship,
but even of intimate aud familiar acquaintance
with the Metelli, the Servilii and the Scipios—houses that
I name, as is fair, to acknowledge their good repute and
their distinction : and so this is the ouly one of all his
advantages that he left his son : for brigands of his own
family are in possession of the inheritance that they wrested
from him by force, while despite his innocence his father's
guest-friends and acquaintances have to take up the defencp
of his life and reputation.
16. He had always been a supporter of the aristocratic
party, and especially in the recent disturbances, and when
the position and the lives of all men of note were brought
into the utmost danger he surpassed the others in tliat
locality in his defence of that party's cause by his efforts,
his energy, and his influence ; for he thought it right that
he should fight for the honour of those from whom he
derived his claim to be reckoned the most honourable man
among his own kin. As soon as their success had been
firmly established and we had quitted the field, when
people were being proscribed and such as were thought to
be enemies were being taken prisoners in every district, he
was constantly at Eome, and daily appeared in the forum
and before the public eye, so that he seemed rather to be
rejoicing in the success of the aristocracy than to fear that
any disaster would befall himself as a result of that success.
17. He had a long-standing feud with the two Eoscii of
Ameria, one of whom I see sitting in the prosecutors'
benches, the other I am told is in possession of three of
his estates. And had his caution with regard to tliis feud
been as great as his fear he would be alive to-day. Nor
indeed was his fear groundless, seeing that those two Titi
Roscii, the surname of one of whom is Capito, while the
oue yonder, who is present, is called Magnus, are men of
the following character,—one of them is regarded as an