Pro S. Roscio Amerino

K.&,
CH. XIX.]
expressed by the main verb is the same as that expressed by the
verb in the dependent clause. In such cases the same tense is
that they have no exist-
employed in both clauses. nuUa esse : "
ence."
16. ut ne : =
ne.
18. inludere: epexegeticinfinitive, explainingid/acere; "namely
to mock at . . . ."
20. non : this use of non in answers, meaning "no," is rare in
good prose.
22. ad libidinem : "at one's eaprice."
24. possis . . . coneris : consecutive subjunctives.
28. quid ergo est ? " : what then foUaws from this ? "
I 29. legem Remmiam : by this law anyone who was convicted of
/ calumnia, or fraud in the conduct of a prosecution (see Introd., § 7),
I
was punished by having the letter K (Kalumniator, the old form of
Calumniator) branded on his forehead. In the time of Cicero this
law was rarely enforced. Calumnia was now dealt with under the
special law which establislied the particular quaestio, and was
decided in the course of the trial, after the main verdict had been
given.
oO. putares : subjunetive in a consecutive clause restrietive of a
preceding statement ; the principal sentence often (as here) has ita.
XX., §§ 55-57. Aegument.—A multitude of accusera ia a good
thing, since it is better that an innocent man be tried and acquitted
than that a guilty man should not be tried at all. But the activities ot
accusers must be kept within due bounds ; they must at least be able to
bringforward some grounds for suspicion.
[Consult the Index for Capitolium.]
Ch. XX. —2. ut ne : almost equivalent to ut caveatur ne, "provided
that we are not " (caveatur being consecutive subjunctive).
5. tametsi . . . ignoscere : in sense, though not in form, this is
the apodosis of the virtually conditional clause innocens . . . non
caret.
6. possim : potential subjunctive, for which in this verb possum
is more usual. Cf. 19, 6, note.
7. criminose ac suspiciose " : in such a way as to bring a charge
and arouse suspicion."
8. calumniari : see Introd., § 7, and note on legem Remmiam,
19, 29.
10. nisi accusatus fuerit : there were no public or official prosecutors
in the ordinary criminal procedure before the quaestiones perpetuae
; the bringing of the indictment was left to any member of
the comraunitj'.
12. causam dicere : = reumferi.
i 13. anseribus cibaria publice locantur: thegeese were fed at the
t public expense in memory of the days of old when the Gaula
91