1We had lately in our state a man by far the most reckless, Gaius Fimbria, and, as is agreed among everyone except those who are themselves mad as well, the maddest. 1When at the funeral of Gaius Marius he had arranged for Quintus Scaevola to be wounded, the most upright and most distinguished man in our state, about whose merits this is not the place for much to be said, nor indeed can more be said than the Roman people retains in its memory, he served a summons on Scaevola after he discovered that he could live. 1When he was asked what on earth he was going to accuse a man of whom no one could even praise adequately as his worth deserved, they say that the fellow, raving as he was, replied: 'That he had not taken the whole weapon into his body.' 1The Roman people saw nothing more outrageous than this, except the death of that same man, which had such power that by being killed he ruined and laid low everyone; 1for, because he wished to save them by a settlement, he was himself destroyed by them.
34Is this not very like that saying and that deed of Fimbria? 34You accuse Sextus Roscius. 34Why so? 34Because he has escaped from your hands, because he has not allowed himself to be killed. 34The one seems more outrageous because it was done to Scaevola; the other is not to be borne because it is being done by Chrysogonus. 34For, by the immortal gods! 34what is there in this case that needs defending? 34what point requires the talent of an advocate, or calls greatly for an orator's eloquence? 34Let us unfold the whole case, judges, and consider it laid out before our eyes; 34in this way you will most easily understand what matter the whole trial turns on, what subjects we ought to speak about, and what course it is fitting for you to follow.