1One of them, straight from the murder itself, sent a winged messenger to Ameria to his partner, or rather his master, so that, even if all wished to conceal that they knew to whom the crime belonged, he himself nevertheless set his crime openly before the eyes of all. 1The other, if it please the immortal gods, is even about to give evidence against Sextus Roscius; 1as if indeed the question now were whether what he has said should be believed, and not whether what he has done should be punished. 1Thus it was established by the custom of our ancestors that, even in the smallest matters, men of the highest standing did not give evidence in their own cause.
103Africanus, who declares by his surname that he subdued a third part of the world, would nevertheless not give evidence if his own interest were at stake; 103for I do not dare to say this of such a man: if he gave it, he would not be believed. 103See now how everything has been overturned and changed for the worse. 103When the case concerns property and murder, the man about to give evidence is one who is both a buyer of confiscated goods and an assassin, that is, one who is both the purchaser and possessor of the very property in question and who arranged the killing of the man whose death is being investigated.
104Well? 104you, most excellent man, have you anything to say? 104listen to me: see that you do not fail yourself; 104your own interest too is very much at stake. 104You have done many things wickedly, many audaciously, many dishonestly, one thing most foolishly, and surely of your own accord, not on Erucius' advice: there was no need at all for you to sit there. 104For no one makes use of a dumb prosecutor, nor of a witness who rises from the prosecutor's bench. 104Add to this that your greed would at least have been a little more hidden and concealed. 104As it is, what is there that anyone could wish to hear from you, when what you are doing is of such a kind that you seem to be doing it on purpose, on our side, against your very selves?
104Come now, gentlemen, let us look at what followed immediately. 105The death of Sextus Roscius is reported to Chrysogonus in Lucius Sulla's camp at Volaterrae within four days of his being killed.