Pro S. Roscio Amerino

PRO SEX. Eoscio, §§ 98—105. 37
if all tlie woiid liad wanted to conceal the fact tliat tliey
knew whose was tlie guilt, he himself would liave made his
own crime evident before tlie eyes of them all ; the other,
if such be the will of the immortal gods, is to give evidence
against Sextus Eoscius : as if indeed the question now at
issue were whether his statements are to be believed, and
not rather whether his deed is to be punished. Therefore
through the customaiy practice of our ancestors it has
become a principle that even in the smallest matters men
of the highest distinction should not give evidence about a
matter involving their own interests.
103. Africanus, who by his title proclaims that he conquered
one-tliird of the world, would nevertheless not be
giving evidence if his own interests were now at stake ; I
do not venture to saj this about so famous a hero, that if
he were to give evidence he would not be believed. Observe
now how changed and altered for the worse all things are.
In the present trial concerning property and murder he
who is both a broker and an assassin is to give evidence,
that is to say the man who is the purchaser and owner
of the very property in question, and has taken care that
the man whose murder we are inquiring into should be
kiUed.
104. What would you, my excellent sir ? Have you
anything to say ? Listen to me : see that you look after
yourself ; you too have great interests at stake. Tou have
done many guilty, many reckless, many iniquitous deeds
but one of them was utterly foolish, done no doubt of your
own free will without Erucius' advice ; there was no need
for you to take jowc seat there ; for nobody ever employs a
dumb accuser nor a witness who rises fi'om the accuser's
bench. Moreover there was the fact that your partisanship
was after all somewhat more covert and concealed
than is usual. But as it is, what is there that any one of
you wishes to hear when you act so strangely that you
seem to act of set purpose for our interests and against
your own ?
105. Come, gentlemen, let us now look at the events
that immediately followed : news of Sextus Eoscius' death
was brought to Clirysogonus in the camp of Lucius Sulla