Pro S. Roscio Amerino

CH. XI.] NOTES. 83
17. quoniam . . . Bemel : "when once." quidem : adversative,
"still." hercules : nominative ; the fuU phrase is nieAercii/fs, whieli
is short for me Hercules adiuvet. Hercules here belongs really to the
main verbs succurramandsuhibo ; in colloquial language thespeaker
often anticipates a word of asseveration.
20. dicere .
deliberatumque.
. . dicere : infinitives used as subjects oi cerlum est
21. tanta exsistet " : will arise of such weight."
22. vim mihi maiorem adhibere " : to exereise more
npon me
influence
" ; vim adhibere = vim adferre.
23. animo : ablative of description.
24. videat : subjunctive in dependence on the consecutive subjunctive^ossii.
patrem meixm . . . me . . . patrimomum meum
Cicero here identifies hiraself with liis client. The editors call
this an instance of the figure of speeeh known as prosopopoeia, or
" personification " (e.g. crudelitatis mater avaritia est, pater furor).
But there is, strictly speaking, no personification here, i.e. nothing
without life is here endowed with life.
29. condemnetis " : get him condemned " ; condemno is often used
of the accuser who brings about a condemnation.
XII., §§ 33-34. Argument.—This shameful accusation resembles
the case of Fimbria, who wounded that great 77ian Q. Scaevola, and
ihen brought an action against him because he had not qiiite succeeded
in his attempt to kill him. In the same way you accuse Roscius
because he escaped you when you tried to murder him.
[Consult the Index for Fimbria, Marius, Scaevola.]
Ch. XII.—2. nisi : as though the sentence were negative {quod
nemo negat nisi ii qui, etc).
5. vir sanctissimus : since he was Pontifex Maximus.
7. tamen : sc. etiamsi hic locus esset.
8. diem . . . dixit : in the trials before the people (the iudicia
pojndi which preceded the iudicia publica or quaestiones perpetuae)
prosecutions were undertaken by tribunes or other magistrates,
whose first step was, with the consent of the urban praetor, to name
a day {diem dicere) for the Comitia to meet for the hearing of the
case. Scaevolae : dative of "disadvantage."
9. posse vivere : " that he might possibly come off with his life."
quid : aceusative of the extent of the action of the verb (accusaturua
esset), a variety of the aecusative of the internal object ; "what
charge he meant to bring against that man," " what he was going
to accuse that nian of."
11. ut erat furiosus " : like a madman as he was "
; for the indica-
tive see note on 5, 14.
12. telum . . . recepisset : an expression from the gladiatorial
combats. When a gladiator was defeated he was forced to receive
the death-stroke without fliuching when the spectators called out
" recipe ferrum."
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