Pro S. Roscio Amerino
Pro S. Roscio Amerino
Pro S. Roscio Amerino
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22 CICEKO<br />
public ; tlie conspiracy is being very rouglily handled ; his<br />
powerful influence is being treated liglitly ; tlie jurymen<br />
are paying careful attention ;<br />
scandal.<br />
the people think the case a<br />
61. Since these things have escaped your notice, Erucius,<br />
and since you see that all is changed, that Sextus Koscius'<br />
cause is being pleaded, if not satisfactorily, yet at least<br />
outspokenly ; that the man you thought was being handed<br />
over to you is being defended ; that those you expected<br />
would betray him are judgiug the case ; give us back now<br />
if ever your old and famous cunning and skill, or confess<br />
that you came here with the expectation that this would<br />
not be a process at law but a process of spohation.<br />
tlie accuser has given<br />
I am pleadmg a case of parricide :<br />
no reason why the son mm-dered the father. (62) Erucius<br />
does not think it his duty in a case of parricide to make<br />
any inquiry into the motive of the crime, though sucli an<br />
inquiry is made as of chief and primary importance in<br />
dealing with the smallest offences and the less serious<br />
illegaUties we know of, which are of still more frequent<br />
and now almost daily occurrence. In the case of parricide,<br />
gentlemen, even when many motives seem to have converged<br />
to one centre and to be mutually consistent, yet<br />
the charge is not believed without due cause, nor is it<br />
weighed by careless guessing, nor is a doubtful witness<br />
Hstened to, nor is the case decided by the accuser's abiUty.<br />
Not only the previous commission of many crimes and an<br />
utterly abandoned life, but an unexampled recklessness<br />
must needs be proved in the case of the prisoner, and not<br />
merely recklessness but absolute madness and frenzy,<br />
Though all this be present, nevertheless the traces of the<br />
crime must stand out in clear rehef, the scene, the plan,<br />
and the abettors of the crime, and the time at which it<br />
was committed ; and unless these are numerous and clearly<br />
proved, surely a crime so foul, so heinous, so atrocious<br />
cannot be beheved.<br />
63. For great indeed is the power of human nature<br />
strong too the force of common ties of blood: Nature<br />
herself cries out against suspicions of the sort you entertain<br />
; it is a prodigy and an indubitable marvel that there
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