Rosc. Am. 9.1Quod Amerīnīs ūsque eō vīsum est indignum ut urbe tōtā flētus gemitusque fieret.This seemed so outrageous to the people of Ameria that there was weeping and lamentation throughout the whole town. Rosc. Am. 9.1Etenim multa simul ante oculōs versābantur, mors hominis flōrentissimī, Sex. Roscī, crūdēlissima, fīlī autem eius egestās indignissima, cui dē tantō patrimōniō praedō iste nefārius nē iter quidem ad sepulcrum patrium relīquisset, bonōrum ēmptiō flāgitiōsa, possessiō, fūrta, rapīnae, dōnātiōnēs.For many things at once were passing before their eyes: the most cruel death of a most prosperous man, Sextus Roscius, and the most undeserved poverty of his son, to whom this wicked robber had not left, out of so great a patrimony, even a right of way to his father's tomb, the shameful purchase of the property, the occupation, the thefts, the plundering, the gifts. Rosc. Am. 9.1Nēmō erat quī nōn ārdēre omnia māllet quam vidēre in Sex. Roscī, virī optimī atque honestissimī, bonīs iactantem sē ac dominantem T. Roscium.There was no one who would not rather have seen everything burn than see Titus Roscius swaggering and lording it over the property of Sextus Roscius, an excellent and most honourable man.
Rosc. Am. 9.25Itaque decuriōnum dēcrētum statim fit ut decem prīmī proficīscantur ad L. Sullam doceantque eum quī vir Sex. Roscius fuerit, conquerantur dē istōrum scelere et iniūriīs, ōrent ut et illīus mortuī fāmam et fīlī innocentis fortūnās cōnservātās velit.And so a decree of the town councillors is at once passed that the ten leading men should set out to Lucius Sulla and inform him what kind of man Sextus Roscius had been, complain of the crime and wrongs of these men, and beg him to be willing to preserve both the good name of the dead man and the fortunes of his innocent son. Rosc. Am. 9.25Atque ipsum dēcrētum, quaesō, cognōscite.And now, please, hear the decree itself. Rosc. Am. 9.25DĒCRĒTVM DECVRIŌNVM.THE DECREE OF THE TOWN COUNCILLORS. Rosc. Am. 9.25Lēgātī in castra veniunt.The envoys come to the camp. Rosc. Am. 9.25Intellegitur, iūdicēs, id quod iam ante dīxī, imprūdente L. Sullā scelera haec et flāgitia fierī.It becomes clear, judges, as I have already said, that these crimes and outrages were being committed without the knowledge of Lucius Sulla. Rosc. Am. 9.25Nam statim Chrȳsogonus et ipse ad eōs accēdit et hominēs nōbilīs adlēgat quī peterent nē ad Sullam adīrent, et omnia Chrȳsogonum quae vellent esse factūrum pollicērentur.For at once Chrysogonus both approaches them himself and sends men of noble birth to ask them not to go to Sulla, and to promise that Chrysogonus would do everything they wished.
Rosc. Am. 9.26Vsque adeō autem ille pertimuerat ut morī māllet quam dē hīs rēbus Sullam docērī.He had become so thoroughly afraid that he would rather have died than that Sulla should be informed about these matters. Rosc. Am. 9.26Hominēs antīquī, quī ex suā nātūrā cēterōs fingerent, cum ille cōnfirmāret sēsē nōmen Sex. Roscī dē tabulīs exēmptūrum, praedia vacua fīliō trāditūrum, cumque id ita futūrum T. Roscius Capitō quī in decem lēgātīs erat appromitteret, crēdidērunt;Men of the old school, who imagined others to be like their own nature, believed him when he assured them that he would remove the name of Sextus Roscius from the lists and hand over the farms vacant to the son, and when Titus Roscius Capito, who was among the ten envoys, guaranteed that it would be so; Rosc. Am. 9.26Ameriam rē inōrātā revertērunt.they returned to Ameria with their plea unspoken. Rosc. Am. 9.26Ac prīmō rem differre cōtīdiē ac prōcrāstināre istī coepērunt, deinde aliquantō lentius nihil agere atque dēlūdere, postrēmō, id quod facile intellēctum est, īnsidiās vītae huiusce Sex. Roscī parāre neque sēsē arbitrārī posse diūtius aliēnam pecūniam dominō incolumī obtinēre.And at first these men began to put the matter off and delay from day to day, then, somewhat more slowly, to do nothing and to make fools of them, and finally, as was easily understood, to lay a plot against the life of this Sextus Roscius, thinking that they could no longer keep another man's fortune while its owner was unharmed.