Rosc. Am. 31.1In hāc enim causā cum vidērent illōs amplissimam pecūniam possidēre, hunc in summā mendīcitāte esse, illud quidem nōn quaererent, cui bonō fuisset, sed eō perspicuō crīmen et suspīciōnem potius ad praedam adiungerent quam ad egestātem.For in this case, when they saw that those men possessed a vast fortune while my client was in the utmost beggary, they would not indeed ask whose advantage it had been, but, that being obvious, would connect the charge and the suspicion with the plunder rather than with the poverty. Rosc. Am. 31.1Quid sī accēdit eōdem ut tenuis anteā fuerīs?What if there is added to this that you were formerly poor? Rosc. Am. 31.1quid sī ut avārus?what if, that you are greedy? Rosc. Am. 31.1quid sī ut audāx?what if, that you are reckless? Rosc. Am. 31.1quid sī ut illīus quī occīsus est inimīcissimus?what if, that you were the bitterest enemy of the man who was killed? Rosc. Am. 31.1num quaerenda causa quae tē ad tantum facinus addūxerit?need we look for a motive that drove you to so great a deed? Rosc. Am. 31.1Quid ergō hōrum negārī potest?Which of these things, then, can be denied?
Rosc. Am. 31.1Tenuitās hominis eius modī est ut dissimulārī nōn queat atque eō magis ēlūceat quō magis occultātur.The man's poverty is such that it cannot be concealed, and shines out the more, the more it is hidden. Rosc. Am. 31.87Avāritiam praefers quī societātem coierīs dē mūnicipis cognātīque fortūnīs cum aliēnissimō.You display your greed, you who formed a partnership with a total stranger over the fortunes of your own townsman and kinsman. Rosc. Am. 31.87Quam sīs audāx, ut alia oblīvīscar, hinc omnēs intellegere potuērunt quod ex tōtā societāte, hoc est ex tot sīcāriīs, sōlus tū inventus es quī cum accūsātōribus sedērēs atque ōs tuum nōn modo ostenderēs sed etiam offerrēs.How reckless you are, to pass over other things, all could understand from this, that out of the whole partnership, that is, out of so many assassins, you alone were found to sit with the accusers, and not only to show your face but even to thrust it forward. Rosc. Am. 31.87Inimīcitiās tibi fuisse cum Sex. Rosciō et magnās reī familiāris contrōversiās concēdās necesse est.That you had a quarrel with Sextus Roscius and great disputes over property you must concede. Rosc. Am. 31.88Restat, iūdicēs, ut hoc dubitēmus, uter potius Sex. Roscium occīderit, is ad quem morte eius dīvitiae vēnerint, an is ad quem mendīcitās, is quī anteā tenuis fuerit, an is quī posteā factus sit egentissimus, is quī ārdēns avāritiā ferātur īnfestus in suōs, an is quī semper ita vīxerit ut quaestum nōsset nūllum, frūctum autem eum sōlum quem labōre peperisset, is quī omnium sectōrum audācissimus sit, an is quī propter forī iūdiciōrumque īnsolentiam nōn modo subsellia vērum etiam urbem ipsam refōrmīdet, postrēmō, iūdicēs, id quod ad rem meā sententiā maximē pertinet, utrum inimīcus potius an fīlius.It remains, judges, for us to consider which of the two is more likely to have killed Sextus Roscius: the one to whom riches came by his death, or the one to whom beggary came; the one who was poor before, or the one who afterwards became utterly destitute; the one who, burning with greed, is carried in hostility against his own kin, or the one who has always lived in such a way that he knew no gain, but only the fruit he had produced by his labour; the one who is the most audacious of all the buyers of confiscated property, or the one who through unfamiliarity with the forum and the courts dreads not only the benches but the city itself; finally, judges, and this in my opinion is most to the point, whether an enemy or a son.