1As soon as this man perceived it, on the advice of his friends and relatives he fled to Rome and betook himself to Caecilia, sister of Nepos and daughter of Balearicus, whom I name with respect, with whom his father had been on the closest terms; 1in this woman, judges, even now, as everyone has always judged, traces of the old sense of duty remain, as if for the sake of an example. 1She took Sextus Roscius into her house, destitute, thrown out of his home and driven from his property, fleeing from the weapons and threats of brigands, and she came to the aid of her guest when he was already crushed and given up by everyone.
1Through her courage, good faith and care it came about that this man was entered on the list of defendants alive rather than on the list of the proscribed as a murdered man. 28For after these men realised that the life of Sextus Roscius was being guarded with the greatest care, and that no opportunity of committing murder was given them, they formed a plan full of wickedness and recklessness: to charge him with parricide, to procure for that purpose some veteran accuser who could say something on the matter, even where no suspicion lay beneath it, and finally, since they could not fight with a charge, to fight with the times themselves.
28This is how men talked: 'Since there had been no trials for so long, the first man brought to trial ought to be condemned; 28and advocates would be lacking for him because of Chrysogonus' influence; 28no one would say a word about the sale of the property and about that partnership; 28by the very name of parricide and the atrocity of the charge it would come about that this man would be put out of the way without any trouble, since he would have been defended by no one.' 29Driven by this plan, or rather by this madness, they have handed over to you to have his throat cut the man whom they could not kill themselves, though they wished to.