1Very well, you cannot put forward a motive. 1Although I ought to have won at once, I shall still give up my right and grant you in this case what I would not grant in another, relying on this man's innocence. 1I do not ask you why Sextus Roscius killed his father; I ask how he killed him. 1So I ask you, Gaius Erucius: how? And I shall deal with you in such a way as to give you, in my own time, the opportunity of answering or interrupting, or even, if you like, of asking questions. 74How did he kill him? 74did he strike the blow himself, or give him to others to be killed?
74if you charge that he did it himself, he was not in Rome; 74if you say he did it through others, I ask, whom? 74Slaves or free men? 74if free men, what men? 74from the same place, Ameria, or these assassins from the city? 74if from Ameria, who are they? 74why are they not named? 74if from Rome, how did Roscius know them, when he had not come to Rome for many years and never stayed more than three days? 74where did he meet them? 74how did he talk with them? 74how did he persuade them? 74'He paid them'; 74to whom did he pay it? 74through whom did he pay it?
74where did he get it, or how much did he pay? 74Is it not by such traces that one usually arrives at the source of a crime? 74And at the same time be sure to remember how you painted this man's life; 74that he was a wild and boorish man, never talked with anyone, never stayed in a town. 75In this I pass over what could have been very strong evidence for his innocence, that in rustic ways, in plain fare, in this rough, uncultivated life, crimes of that kind are not usually born. 75Just as you cannot find every crop or tree in every field, so not every crime springs up in every way of life.
75In the city luxury is created; from luxury greed must arise, from greed audacity must break out, and from that all crimes and misdeeds are born; 75but this country life, which you call boorish, is the teacher of thrift, diligence and justice.