Rosc. Am. 14.1Patrem occīdit Sex. Roscius.Sextus Roscius killed his father. Rosc. Am. 14.1Quī homō?What sort of man? Rosc. Am. 14.1adulēscentulus corruptus et ab hominibus nēquam inductus?a corrupted young lad, led astray by worthless men? Rosc. Am. 14.1Annōs nātus maior quadrāgintā.He is more than forty years old. Rosc. Am. 14.1Vetus vidēlicet sīcārius, homō audāx et saepe in caede versātus.An old assassin, no doubt, a reckless man, often engaged in bloodshed. Rosc. Am. 14.1At hoc ab accūsātōre nē dīcī quidem audīstis.But you have not heard this even said by the accuser. Rosc. Am. 14.1Luxuriēs igitur hominem nīmīrum et aeris aliēnī magnitūdō et indomitae animī cupiditātēs ad hoc scelus impulērunt.Then extravagance, of course, and the size of his debts and the untamed desires of his mind drove the man to this crime. Rosc. Am. 14.1Dē luxuriā pūrgāvit Erucius, cum dīxit hunc nē in convīviō quidem ūllō ferē interfuisse.Of extravagance Erucius cleared him, when he said that he had hardly ever been present even at any banquet. Rosc. Am. 14.1Nihil autem umquam dēbuit.Moreover, he has never owed anything. Rosc. Am. 14.1Cupiditātēs porrō quae possunt esse in eō quī, ut ipse accūsātor obiēcit, rūrī semper habitārit et in agrō colendō vīxerit?Further, what desires can there be in a man who, as the accuser himself charged against him, has always lived in the country and spent his life farming the land?
Rosc. Am. 14.1quae vīta maximē disiūncta ā cupiditāte et cum officiō coniūncta est.a life which is most remote from desire and most closely joined with duty. Rosc. Am. 14.40Quae rēs igitur tantum istum furōrem Sex. Rosciō obiēcit?What, then, drove Sextus Roscius to such great madness? Rosc. Am. 14.40"Patrī" inquit "nōn placēbat."'He did not please his father,' he says. Rosc. Am. 14.40Patrī nōn placēbat?He did not please his father? Rosc. Am. 14.40quam ob causam?for what reason? Rosc. Am. 14.40necesse est enim eam quoque iūstam et magnam et perspicuam fuisse.for that reason too must necessarily have been just and great and plain. Rosc. Am. 14.40Nam ut illud incrēdibile est, mortem oblātam esse patrī ā fīliō sine plūrimīs et maximīs causīs, sīc hoc vērī simile nōn est, odiō fuisse parentī fīlium sine causīs multīs et magnīs et necessāriīs.For just as it is incredible that death was brought on a father by his son without very many and very great reasons, so it is not likely that a son was hateful to his parent without many, great and compelling reasons. Rosc. Am. 14.41Rūrsus igitur eōdem revertāmur et quaerāmus quae tanta vitia fuerint in ūnicō fīliō quā rē is patrī displicēret.Let us go back, then, to the same point and ask what great vices there were in an only son that he should displease his father.
Rosc. Am. 14.41At perspicuum est nūllum fuisse.But it is plain that there were none. Rosc. Am. 14.41Pater igitur āmēns, quī ōdisset eum sine causā quem prōcreārat?Was the father, then, insane, to hate without reason the son he had begotten? Rosc. Am. 14.41At is quidem fuit omnium cōnstantissimus.But he, indeed, was the most steadfast of all men. Rosc. Am. 14.41Ergō illud iam perspicuum profectō est, sī neque āmēns pater neque perditus fīlius fuerit, neque odī causam patrī neque sceleris fīliō fuisse.Therefore this at least is now surely plain, that if the father was not insane nor the son depraved, the father had no reason for hatred nor the son for crime.