Matheson Collection > Pro S. Roscio Amerino

12 INTRODUCTION.
In the first place, Cicero bad the Metelli at his baclc,
and in Sulla's better moments the influence of his dead
wife's relatives would surely prove more poAverful thau
that of the pampered freedman. In the second place, it
may well be that Sulla himself would not be very sorry if
the power of his favourite, which had grown to such exces-
sive proportions, should meet with a check, especially as the
coudoning of such an outrage as that to which Chiysogonus
had been a party would tend to shake the position of the
nobility, and imperil the stability of his new constitution.
§ 5. Analysis and Result of the Speech. After an
exordium (Ch. I.-V.) Cicero narrates the circumstances of
the case (Ch. VI. -XII.), showing that in the events which
preceded and foUowed the mui-der there was much that
told in favour of the accused and against the accusers.
He then begins his argumentatio, or " adducing of proofs,"
with which the remainder of the speech, with the exception
of a brief appeal to th« jury (Ch. LIII.), is taken up.
The argumentatio falls into three main divisions. In the
first part (Ch. XIII.-XXIX.) the orator convincingly
refutes the feeble arguments by which Erucius had
endeavoured to establish the charge of parricide. In the
second part (Ch. XXX.-XLII.) Cicero passes from de-
fence to attack and seeks to bring the crime home to the
Eoscii themselves, supporting his view by arguments
drawn partly fi-om the life and character of the two
associates, partly from the proceedings which followed the
murder. In the third part (Ch. XLIII.-LII.) he makes
a direct attack upon Chiysogonus, and shows how
criminally he had abused his position by his purchase of
Roscius' estate, and by his heartless behaviour towards the
accused. We learn from Plutarch that Koscius was
acquitted. With this result the friends of the persecuted
man were well content, and it is not probable that the
verdict was followed by restitution of the property, or by
any further charge against the two Roscii.
§ 6. Style and Character of the Speech. Cicero's
successful defence of Eoscius won for him, as he himself