Rosc. Am. 52.1Vērum sī ā Chrȳsogonō, iūdicēs, nōn impetrāmus ut pecūniā nostrā contentus sit, vītam nē petat, sī ille addūcī nōn potest ut, cum adēmerit nōbīs omnia quae nostra erant propria, nē lūcem quoque hanc quae commūnis est ēripere cupiat, sī nōn satis habet avāritiam suam pecūniā explēre, nisi etiam crūdēlitātī sanguis praebitus sit, ūnum perfugium, iūdicēs, ūna spēs reliqua est Sex. Rosciō eadem quae reī pūblicae, vestra prīstina bonitās et misericordia.But if, judges, we cannot obtain from Chrysogonus that he be content with our money and not seek our life, if he cannot be induced, when he has taken from us everything that was our own, not to desire to snatch away this light as well, which is common to all, if he does not think it enough to sate his greed with money unless blood is also offered to his cruelty, then one refuge, judges, one hope is left to Sextus Roscius, the same as to the commonwealth: your old goodness and compassion. Rosc. Am. 52.1Quae sī manet, salvī etiam nunc esse possumus;If that remains, we can be saved even now; Rosc. Am. 52.1sīn ea crūdēlitās quae hōc tempore in rē pūblicā versāta est vestrōs quoque animōs — id quod fierī profectō nōn potest — dūriōrēs acerbiōrēsque reddit, āctum est, iūdicēs;but if the cruelty which has been rife in the commonwealth at this time makes your minds too — a thing which surely cannot happen — harder and more bitter, it is all over, judges; Rosc. Am. 52.1inter ferās satius est aetātem dēgere quam in hāc tantā immānitāte versārī.it is better to spend one's life among wild beasts than to live amid such enormous savagery.
Rosc. Am. 52.151Ad eamne rem vōs reservātī estis, ad eamne rem dēlēctī ut eōs condemnārētis quōs sectōrēs ac sīcāriī iugulāre nōn potuissent?Is it for this that you have been kept, for this that you have been chosen, to condemn those whom the buyers of goods and the assassins had not been able to butcher? Rosc. Am. 52.151Solent hoc bonī imperātōrēs facere cum proelium committunt, ut in eō locō quō fugam hostium fore arbitrentur mīlitēs conlocent, in quōs sī quī ex aciē fūgerint dē imprōvīsō incidant.Good generals are accustomed to do this when they join battle: they station soldiers in the place where they judge the enemy's flight will be, so that any who flee from the battle line may fall upon them unexpectedly. Rosc. Am. 52.151Nīmīrum similiter arbitrantur istī bonōrum ēmptōrēs vōs hīc, tālīs virōs, sedēre quī excipiātis eōs quī dē suīs manibus effūgerint.No doubt in the same way these buyers of goods suppose that you, men of such character, sit here to catch those who have escaped from their hands. Rosc. Am. 52.151Dī prohibeant, iūdicēs, nē hoc quod maiōrēs cōnsilium pūblicum vocārī voluērunt praesidium sectōrum exīstimētur!May the gods forbid, judges, that this body, which our ancestors wished to be called the public council, should be thought a garrison for the buyers of goods!
Rosc. Am. 52.152An vērō, iūdicēs, vōs nōn intellegitis nihil aliud agī nisi ut prōscrīptōrum līberī quāvīs ratiōne tollantur, et eius reī initium in vestrō iūre iūrandō atque in Sex. Roscī perīculō quaerī?Or do you not understand, judges, that nothing else is being pursued but that the children of the proscribed should be removed by any means whatever, and that the beginning of this is being sought in your oath and in Sextus Roscius' peril? Rosc. Am. 52.152Dubium est ad quem maleficium pertineat, cum videātis ex alterā parte sectōrem, inimīcum, sīcārium eundemque accūsātōrem hōc tempore, ex alterā parte egentem, probātum suīs fīlium, in quō nōn modo culpa nūlla sed nē suspīciō quidem potuit cōnsistere?Is it doubtful to whom the crime belongs, when you see on one side a buyer of goods, an enemy, an assassin, and the same man now the accuser, and on the other side a needy man, a son approved by his family, on whom not only no guilt but not even suspicion could fasten? Rosc. Am. 52.152Numquid hīc aliud vidētis obstāre Rosciō nisi quod patris bona vēniērunt?Do you see anything else here standing in Roscius' way except that his father's goods have been sold?