ceased, and that if he had come to his death, as they now pretended, by the parricidal machinations of his own son, his goods could not be liable to confiscation as those of a proscribed person. They calculated that this side of the story would never come out in court. No advocate, they thought, would venture to say a word of the Proscription, of the confiscation of the property, and of its purchase for an old song by Chrysogonus. How could any one insist on these points without openly attacking the Dictator's favourite? and to attack the favourite was to brave the displeasure of his terrible master.
This was Cicero's opportunity. While all Rome lay crushed and silent at Sulla's feet, this young advocate alone dared to set himself in opposition to the Regent's pleasure. In the first five minutes of his speech Cicero had cast away all disguise, and grappled openly with Chrysogonus.
"Chrysogonus asks you, gentlemen of the jury, that forasmuch as he has made himself master of so ample a fortune, which belongs by right to another man, and forasmuch as he is hindered and hampered in the enjoyment of that fortune by the fact that Sextus Roscius lives, he asks you, I say, to relieve his mind from every shade of doubt and anxiety. While Roscius is a citizen, he does not think that he can keep hold of Roscius' rich and splendid inheritance; if only Roscius be condemned and cast forth from society, then he hopes that he may be able to squander in luxury and profusion that which he has won by crime. He begs you, gentlemen, to pluck from his bosom this rooted
