Matheson Collection > Pro S. Roscio Amerino

INTEODTJCTION. 13
tells Tis in tds Brutus, " so great a reputation, tliat there
was no case wliich was considered beyond my powers as a
pleader." In liis later years he looked back with a kind
of mingled triumph and affection to this product of his
generous and vigorous youth. " Amid what shouts of
applause," he says in his Orator (a work composed thirty-
four years after the Pro Boscio), "did I, while quite a
youth, deliver those words ou the punishment of parricides;
long afterwards I still felt that tlie fire of those words was
by no means cool." He then quotes the highly wrought
passage in Ch. XXVI., lines 11-17, with this criticism :
" All those expressions bear the stamp of youth, — youth
that is commended for hopeful promise rather than for
ripe performance." He adds : " even that youthful
exuberance is tempered with much that is subdued, and
with some passages that are even somewhat genial."
This criticism of his own early defects is a just one.
The style of the speech is in many places florid and re-
dundant, and the periods are not marked by that rounded
fulness, or the transitions by that ease and naturalness
which are characteristic of his riper work. There is also
at times a striving after rhetorical eifect which results in
many peculiarities of expression not found in later
But these and other blemishes sink into insignificauce
when we consider the speech as a whole. Not only does
it abound with really splendid passages, but the geueral
impression made upon the reader is one of dignified in-
dependence and high moral tone. The youthful orator
was thoroughly convinced that his cause was a righteous
one, and this conviction lends a liveliness and elevation to
the entire speech. The manly courage with which he
confronted the powers of evil arrayed against him com-
mands our admiration ; it is only equalled by the
moderation of the speaker, and the marvellous skill
with which he avoided giving offence to the all-powerful
Dictator.
§ 7. Criminal Jurisdiction at Rome. The ludicia Populi.
In the earhest period of Roman history both civil and