For Sextus Roscius of Ameria (M. Tullius Cicero)

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	For Sextus Roscius of Ameria Author: M. Tullius Cicero	Translator: C. D. Yonge
49	at enim , cum duos filios haberet , alterum a se non dimittebat , alterum ruri esse patiebatur . quaeso , Eruci , ut hoc in bonam partem accipias ; non enim exprobrandi causa sed commonendi gratia dicam .	Oh but, when he had two sons, he never let one be away from him, and he allowed the other to remain in the country. I beg you, O Erucius, to take what I am going to say in good part; for I am going to say it, not for the sake of finding fault, but to warn you.
50	si tibi fortuna non dedit ut patre certo nascerere ex quo intellegere posses qui animus patrius in liberos esset , at natura certe dedit ut humanitatis non parum haberes ; eo accessit studium doctrinae ut ne a litteris quidem alienus esses . ecquid tandem tibi videtur , ut ad fabulas veniamus , senex ille Caecilianus minoris facere Eutychum , filium rusticum , quam illum alterum , Chaerestratum ? — nam , ut opinor , hoc nomine est — alterum in urbe secum honoris causa habere , alterum rus supplici causa relegasse ?	If fortune did not give to you to know the father whose son you are, so that you could understand what was the affection of fathers towards their children; still, at all events, nature has given you no small share of human feeling. To this is added a zeal for learning, so that you are not unversed in literature. Does that old man in Caecilius, (to quote a play,) appear to have less affection for Eutychus, his son, who lives in the country, than for his other one Chaerestratus? for that, I think, is his name; do you think that he keeps one with him in the city do him honour, and sends the other into the country in order to punish him?
51	' quid ad istas ineptias abis ?' inquies . quasi vero mihi difficile sit quamvis multos nominatim proferre , ne longius abeam , vel tribulis vel vicinos meos qui suos liberos quos plurimi faciunt agricolas adsiduos esse cupiunt . verum homines notos sumere odiosum est , cum et illud incertum sit velintne ei sese nominari , et nemo vobis magis notus futurus sit quam est hic Eutychus , et certe ad rem nihil intersit utrum hunc ego comicum adulescentem an aliquem ex agro Veienti nominem . etenim haec conficta arbitror esse a poetis ut effictos nostros mores in alienis personis expressamque imaginem vitae cotidianae videremus .	Why do you have recourse to such trifling? you will say. As if it were a hard matter for me to bring forward ever so many by name, of my own tribe, or my own neighbours, (not to wander too far off,) who wish those sons for whom they have the greatest regard, to be diligent farmers. But it is an odious step to quote known men, when it is uncertain whether they would like their names to be used; and no one is likely to be better known to you than this same Eutychus; and certainly it has nothing to do with the argument, whether I name this youth in a play, or some one of the country about Veii. In truth, I think that these things are invented by poets in order that we may see our manners sketched under the character of strangers, and the image of our daily life represented under the guise of fiction.
52	age nunc , refer animum sis ad veritatem et considera non modo in Umbria atque in ea vicinitate sed in his veteribus municipiis quae studia a patribus familias maxime laudentur ; iam profecto te intelleges inopia criminum summam laudem Sex . Roscio vitio et culpae dedisse .	Come now; turn your thoughts, if you please, to reality, and consider not only in Umbria and that neighbourhood, but in these old municipal towns, what pursuits are most praised by fathers of families. You will at once see that, from want of real grounds of accusation, you have imputed that which is his greatest praise to Sextus Roscius as a fault and a crime.
53	ac non modo hoc patrum voluntate liberi faciunt sed permultos et ego novi et , nisi me fallit animus , unus quisque vestrum qui et ipsi incensi sunt studio quod ad agrum colendum attinet , vitamque hanc rusticam , quam tu probro et crimini putas esse oportere , et honestissimam et suavissimam esse arbitrantur .	But not only do children do this by the wish of their fathers, but I have myself known many men (and so, unless I am deceived, has every one of you) who are inflamed of their own accord with a fondness for what relates to the cultivation of land, and who think this rural life, which you think ought to be a disgrace to and a charge against a man, the most honourable and the most delightful.
54	quid censes hunc ipsum Sex . Roscium quo studio et qua intellegentia esse in rusticis rebus ? Vt ex his propinquis eius , hominibus honestissimis , audio , non tu in isto artificio accusatorio callidior es quam hic in suo . verum , ut opinor , quoniam ita Chrysogono videtur qui huic nullum praedium reliquit , et artificium obliviscatur et studium deponat licebit . quod tametsi miserum et indignum est , feret tamen aequo animo , iudices , si per vos vitam et famam potest obtinere ; hoc vero est quod ferri non potest , si et in hanc calamitatem venit propter praediorum bonitatem et multitudinem et quod ea studiose coluit , id erit ei maxime fraudi , ut parum miseriae sit quod aliis coluit non sibi , nisi etiam quod omnino coluit crimini fuerit .	What do you think of this very Sextus Roscius? How great is his fondness for, and shrewdness in rural affairs! As I hear from his relations, most honourable men, you are not more skillful in this your business of an accuser, than he is in his. But, as I think, since it seems good to Chrysogonus, who has left him no farm, he will be able now to forget this skill of his, and to give up this taste. And although that is a sad and a scandalous thing, yet he will bear it, O judges, with equanimity, if, by your verdict, he can preserve his life and his character; but this is intolerable, if he is both to have this calamity brought upon him on account of the goodness and number of his farms, and if that is especially to be imputed to him as a crime that he cultivated them with great care; so that it is not to be misery enough to have cultivated them for others not for himself, unless it is also to be accounted a crime that he cultivated them at all.
55	ne tu , Eruci , accusator esses ridiculus , si illis temporibus natus esses cum ab aratro arcessebantur qui consules fierent . etenim qui praeesse agro colendo flagitium putes , profecto illum Atilium quem sua manu spargentem semen qui missi erant convenerunt hominem turpissimum atque inhonestissimum iudicares . at hercule maiores nostri longe aliter et de illo et de ceteris talibus viris existimabant itaque ex minima tenuissimaque re publica maximam et florentissimam nobis reliquerunt . suos enim agros studiose colebant , non alienos cupide appetebant ; quibus rebus et agris et urbibus et nationibus rem publicam atque hoc imperium et populi Romani nomen auxerunt .	In truth, O Erucius, you would have been a ridiculous accuser, if you had been born in those times when men were sent for from the plough to be made consuls. Certainly you, who think it a crime to have superintended the cultivation of a farm, would consider that Atilius, whom those who were sent to him found sowing seed with his own hand, a most base and dishonourable man. But, forsooth, our ancestors judged very differently both of him and of all other such men. And therefore from a very small and powerless state they left us one very great and very prosperous. For they diligently cultivated their own lands, they did not graspingly desire those of others; by which conduct they enlarged the republic, and this dominion, and the name of the Roman people, with lands and conquered cities, and subjected nations.
56	neque ego haec eo profero quo conferenda sint cum hisce de quibus nunc quaerimus , sed ut illud intellegatur , cum apud maiores nostros summi viri clarissimique homines qui omni tempore ad gubernacula rei publicae sedere debebant tamen in agris quoque colendis aliquantum operae temporisque consumpserint , ignosci oportere ei homini qui se fateatur esse rusticum , cum ruri adsiduus semper vixerit , cum praesertim nihil esset quod aut patri gratius aut sibi iucundius aut re vera honestius facere posset .	Nor do I bring forward these instances in order to compare them with these matters which we are now investigating; but in order that that may be understood: that, as in the times of our ancestors, the highest and most illustrious men, who ought at all times to have been sitting at the helm of the republic, yet devoted much of their attention and time to the cultivation of their lands; that man ought to be pardoned, who avows himself a rustic, for having lived constantly in the country, especially when be could do nothing which was either more pleasing to his father, or more delightful to himself, or in reality more honourable.
57	odium igitur acerrimum patris in filium ex hoc , opinor , ostenditur , Eruci , quod hunc ruri esse patiebatur . numquid est aliud ? ' immo vero ' inquit ' est ; nam istum exheredare in animo habebat .' audio ; nunc dicis aliquid quod ad rem pertineat ; nam illa , opinor , tu quoque concedis levia esse atque inepta : ' convivia cum patre non inibat .' quippe , qui ne in oppidum quidem nisi perraro veniret . ' domum suam istum non fere quisquam vocabat .' nec mirum , qui neque in urbe viveret neque revocaturus esset .	The bitter dislike of the father to the son, then, is proved by this, O Erucius, that he allowed him to remain in the country. Is there anything else? Certainly, says he, there is. For he was thinking of disinheriting him. I hear you. Now you are saying something which may have a bearing on the business, for you will grant, I think, that those other arguments are trifling and childish. He never went to any feasts with his father. Of course not, as he very seldom came to town at all. People very seldom asked him to their houses. No wonder, for a man who did not live in the city, and was not likely to ask them in return.
58	verum haec tu quoque intellegis esse nugatoria ; illud quod coepimus videamus , quo certius argumentum odi reperiri nullo modo potest . ' exheredare pater filium cogitabat .' Mitto quaerere qua de causa ; quaero qui scias ; tametsi te dicere atque enumerare causas omnis oportebat , et id erat certi accusatoris officium qui tanti sceleris argueret explicare omnia vitia ac peccata fili quibus incensus parens potuerit animum inducere ut naturam ipsam vinceret , ut amorem illum penitus insitum eiceret ex animo , ut denique patrem esse . sese oblivisceretur ; quae sine magnis huiusce peccatis accidere potuisse non arbitror .	But you are aware that these things too are trifling. Let us consider that which we began with, than which no more certain argument of dislike can possibly be found. The father was thinking of disinheriting his son. I do not ask on what account. I ask how you know it? Although you ought to mention and enumerate all the reasons. And it was the duty of a regular accuser, who was accusing a man of such wickedness, to unfold all the vice and sins of a son had exasperated the father so as to enable him to bring his mind to subdue nature herself—to banish from his mind that affection so deeply implanted in it—to forget in short that he was a father; and all this I do not think could have happened without great errors on the part of the son.
59	verum concedo tibi ut ea praetereas quae , cum taces , nulla esse concedis ; illud quidem , voluisse exheredare , certe tu planum facere debes . quid ergo adfers qua re id factum putemus ? vere nihil potes dicere ; finge aliquid saltem commode ut ne plane videaris id facere quod aperte facis , huius miseri fortunis et horum virorum talium dignitati inludere . exheredare filium voluit . quam ob causam ? ' nescio .' exheredavitne ? ' non .' quis prohibuit ? ' cogitabat .' cogitabat ? cui dixit ? ' nemini .' quid est aliud iudicio ac legibus ac maiestate vestra abuti ad quaestum atque ad libidinem nisi hoc modo accusare atque id obicere quod planum facere non modo non possis verum ne coneris quidem ?	But I give you leave to pass over those things, which, as you are silent, you admit have no existence. At all events you ought to make it evident that he did intend to disinherit him. What then do you allege to make us think that that was the case? You can say nothing with truth. Invent something at least with probability in it; that you may not manifestly be convicted of doing what you are openly doing—insulting the fortunes of this unhappy man, and the dignity of these noble judges. He meant to disinherit his son. On what account? I don't know. Did he disinherit him? No. Who hindered him? He was thinking of it. He was thinking of it? Who did he tell? No one. What is abusing the court of justice, and the laws, and your majesty, O judges, for the purposes of gain and lust, but accusing men in this manner, and bringing imputations against them which you not only are not able to prove, but which you do not even attempt to?
60	nemo nostrum est , Eruci , quin sciat tibi inimicitias cum Sex . Roscio nullas esse ; vident omnes qua de causa huic inimicus venias ; sciunt huiusce pecunia te adductum esse quid ergo est ? ita tamen quaestus te cupidum esse oportebat ut horum existimationem et legem Remmiam putares aliquid valere oportere .	There is not one of us, O Erucius, who does not know that you have no enmity against Sextus Roscius. All men see on what account you come here as his adversary. They know that you are induced to do so by this man's money. What then? Still you ought to have been desirous of gain with such limitations as to think that the opinion of all these men, and the Remmian law ought to nave some weight.
61	accusatores multos esse in civitate utile est ut metu contineatur audacia ; verum tamen hoc ita est utile ut ne plane inludamur ab accusatoribus . innocens est quispiam , verum tamen , quamquam abest a culpa , suspicione tamen non caret ; tametsi miserum est , tamen ei qui hunc accuset possim aliquo modo ignoscere . cum enim aliquid habeat quod possit criminose ac suspiciose dicere , aperte ludificari et calumniari sciens non videatur . qua re facile omnes patimur esse quam plurimos accusatores , quod innocens , si accusatus sit , absolvi potest , nocens , nisi accusatus fuerit , condemnari non potest ; utilius est autem absolvi innocentem quam nocentem causam non dicere . Anseribus cibaria publice locantur et canes aluntur in Capitolio ut significent si fures venerint . at fures internoscere non possunt , significant tamen si qui noctu in Capitolium venerint et , quia id est suspiciosum , tametsi bestiae sunt , tamen in eam partem potius peccant quae est cautior . quod si luce quoque canes latrent cum deos salutatum aliqui venerint , opinor , eis crura suffringantur , quod acres sint etiam tum cum suspicio nulla sit .	It is a useful thing for there to be many accusers in the city, in order that audacity may be kept in check by fear; but it is only useful with this limitation, that we are not to be manifestly mocked by accusers. A man is innocent. But although he is free from guilt he is not free from suspicion. Although it is a lamentable thing, still I can, to some extent, pardon a man who accuses him. For when be has anything which he can say, imputing a crime, or fixing a suspicion, he does not appear knowingly to be openly mocking and calumniating. On which account we all easily allow that there should be as many accusers as possible; because an innocent man, if he be accused, can be acquitted; a guilty man, unless or he be accused cannot be convicted. But it is more desirable that an innocent man should be acquitted, than that a guilty man should not be brought to trial. Food for the geese is contracted for at the public expense, and dogs are maintained in the Capitol, to give notice if thieves come. But they cannot distinguish thieves. Accordingly they give notice if any one comes by night to the Capitol; and because that is a suspicious thing, although they are but beasts, yet they oftenest err on that side which is the more prudent one. But if the dogs barked by day also, when any one came to pay honour to the gods, I imagine their legs would be broken for being active then also, when there was no suspicion. The notion of accusers is very much the same.
62	simillima est accusatorum ratio . Alii vestrum anseres sunt qui tantum modo clamant , nocere non possunt , alii canes qui et latrare et mordere possunt . cibaria vobis praeberi videmus ; vos autem maxime debetis in eos impetum facere qui merentur . hoc populo gratissimum est . deinde , si voletis , etiam tum cum veri simile erit aliquem commisisse , in suspicione latratote ; id quoque concedi potest . sin autem sic agetis ut arguatis aliquem patrem occidisse neque dicere possitis aut qua re aut quo modo , ac tantum modo sine suspicione latrabitis , crura quidem vobis nemo suffringet , sed , si ego hos bene novi , litteram illam cui vos usque eo inimici estis ut etiam Kal . omnis oderitis ita vehementer ad caput adfigent ut postea neminem alium nisi fortunas vestras accusare possitis .	Some of you are geese, who only cry out, and have no power to hurt, some are dogs who can both bark and bite. We see that food is provided for you; but you ought chiefly to attack those who deserve it. This is most pleasing to the people; then if you will, then you may bark on suspicion when it seems probable that some one has committed a crime. That may be allowed. But if you act in such a way as to accuse a man of having murdered his father, without being able to say why or how; and if you are only barking without any ground for suspicion, no one, indeed, will break your legs; but if I know these judges well, they will so firmly affix to your heads that letter to which you are so hostile that you hate all the Calends too, that you shall hereafter be able to accuse no one but your own fortunes.
63	quid mihi ad defendendum dedisti , bone accusator ? quid hisce autem ad suspicandum ? ' ne exheredaretur veritus est .' audio , sed qua de causa vereri debuerit nemo dicit . ' habebat pater in animo .' planum fac . nihil est ; non quicum deliberaverit , quem certiorem fecerit , unde istud vobis suspicari in mentem venerit . cum hoc modo accusas , Eruci , nonne hoc palam dicis : ' ego quid acceperim scio , quid dicam nescio ; unum illud spectavi quod Chrysogonus aiebat neminem isti patronum futurum ; de bonorum emptione deque ea societate neminem esse qui verbum facere auderet hoc tempore '? haec te opinio falsa in istam fraudem impulit ; non me hercules verbum fecisses , si tibi quemquam responsurum putasses .	What have you given me to defend my client against, my good accuser? And what ground have you given these judges for any suspicion? He was afraid of being disinherited. I hear you. But no one says what ground he had for fear. His father had it in contemplation. Prove it. There is no proof; there is no mention of any one with whom he deliberated about it—whom he told of it; there is no circumstance from which it could occur to your minds to suspect it. When you bring accusations in this manner, O Erucius, do you not plainly say this? “I know what I have received, but I do not know what to say. I have had regard to that alone which Chrysogonus said, that no one would be his advocate; that there was no one who would dare at this time to say a word about the purchase of the property, and about that conspiracy.” This false opinion prompted you to this dishonesty. You would not in truth have said a word if you had thought that any one would answer you.
64	operae pretium erat , si animadvertistis , iudices , neglegentiam eius in accusando considerare . credo , cum vidisset qui homines in hisce subselliis sederent , quaesisse num ille aut ille defensurus esset ; de me ne suspicatum quidem esse , quod antea causam publicam nullam dixerim . postea quam invenit neminem eorum qui possunt et solent ita neglegens esse coepit ut , eum in mentem veniret ei , resideret , deinde spatiaretur , non numquam etiam puerum vocaret , credo , cui cenam imperaret , prorsus ut vestro consessu et hoc conventu pro summa solitudine abuteretur . peroravit aliquando , adsedit ; surrexi ego .	It were worth while, if you have noticed it, O judges, to consider this man's carelessness in bringing forward his accusations. I imagine, when he saw what men were sitting on those benches, that he inquired whether this man or that man was going to defend him; that he never even dreamt of me, because I have never pleaded any public cause before. After he found that no one was going to defend him of those men who have the ability and are in the habit of so doing, he began to be so careless that, when it suited his fancy he sat down, then he walked about, sometimes he even called his boy, I suppose to give him orders for supper, and utterly overlooked your assembly and all this court as if it had been a complete desert.
65	respirare visus est quod non alius potius diceret . coepi dicere . Vsque eo animadverti , iudices , eum iocari atque alias res agere ante quam Chrysogonum nominavi ; quem simul atque attigi , statim homo se erexit , mirari visus est . intellexi quid cum pepugisset . iterum ac tertio nominavi . postea homines cursare ultro et citro non destiterunt , credo , qui Chrysogono nuntiarent esse aliquem in civitate qui contra voluntatem eius dicere auderet ; aliter causam agi atque ille existimaret , aperiri bonorum emptionem , vexari pessime societatem , gratiam potentiamque eius neglegi , iudices diligenter attendere , populo rem indignam videri .	At length he summed up. He sat down. I got up. He seemed to breathe again because no one else rose to speak other than I. I began to speak. I noticed, O judges, that he was joking and doing other things, up to the time when I named Chrysogonus; but as soon as I touched him, my man at once raised himself up. He seemed to be astonished. I knew what had pinched him. I named him a second time, and a third. After, men began to run hither arid thither, I suppose to tell Chrysogonus that there was some one who dared to speak contrary to his will, that the cause was going on differently from what he expected, that the purchase of the goods was being ripped up; that the conspiracy was being severely handled; that his influence and power was being disregarded; that the judges were attending diligently; that the matter appeared scandalous to the people.
66	quae quoniam te fefellerunt , Eruci , quoniamque vides versa esse omnia , causam pro Sex . Roscio , si non commode , at libere dici , quem dedi putabas defendi intellegis , quos tradituros sperabas vides iudicare , restitue nobis aliquando veterem tuam illam calliditatem atque prudentiam , confitere huc ea spe venisse quod putares hic latrocinium , non iudicium futurum . de parricidio causa dicitur ; ratio ab accusatore reddita non est quam ob causam patrem filius occiderit .	And since you were deceived in all this, O Erucius, and since you see that everything is altered; that the cause on behalf of Sextus Roscius is argued, if not as it should be, at all events with freedom, since you see that be is defended whom you thought was abandoned, that those who you expected would deliver him up to you are judging impartially, give us again, at last, some of your old skill and prudence; confess that you came hither with the hope that there would he a robbery here, not a trial. A trial is held on a charge of parricide, and no reason is alleged by the accuser why the son has slain his father.
67	quod in minimis noxiis et in his levioribus peccatis quae magis crebra et iam prope cotidiana sunt vel maxime et primum quaeritur , quae causa malefici fuerit , id Erucius in parricidio quaeri non putat oportere . in quo scelere , iudices , etiam cum multae causae convenisse unum in locum atque inter se congruere videntur , tamen non temere creditur , neque levi coniectura res penditur , neque testis incertus auditur , neque accusatoris ingenio res iudicatur . cum multa antea commissa maleficia , cum vita hominis perditissima , tum singularis audacia ostendatur necesse est , neque audacia solum sed summus furor atque amentia . haec cum sint omnia , tamen exstent oportet expressa sceleris vestigia , ubi , qua ratione , per quos , quo tempore maleficium sit admissum . quae nisi multa et manifesta sunt , profecto res tam scelesta , tam atrox , tam nefaria credi non potest .	That which, in even the least offences and in the more trifling crimes, which are more frequent and of almost daily occurrence, is asked most earnestly and as the very first question, namely what motive there was for the offence; that Erucius does not think necessary to be asked in a case of parricide. A charge which, O judges, even when many motives appear to concur, and to be connected with one another, is still not rashly believed, nor is such a case allowed to depend on slight conjecture, nor is any uncertain witness listened to, nor is the matter decided by the ability of the accuser. Many crimes previously committed must be proved, and a most profligate life on the part of the prisoner, and singular audacity, and not only audacity, but the most extreme frenzy and madness. When all these things are proved, still there must exist express traces of the crime: where, in what manner, by whose means, and at what time the crime was committed. And unless these proofs are numerous and evident—so wicked, so atrocious, so nefarious a deed cannot be believed.
68	Magna est enim vis humanitatis ; multum valet communio sanguinis ; reclamitat istius modi suspicionibus ipsa natura ; portentum atque monstrum certissimum est esse aliquem humana specie et figura qui tantum immanitate bestias vicerit ut , propter quos hanc suavissimam lucem aspexerit , eos indignissime luce privarit , cum etiam feras inter sese partus atque educatio et natura ipsa conciliet .	For the power of human feeling is great; the connection of blood is of mighty power; nature herself cries out against suspicions of this sort; it is a most undeniable portent and prodigy, for any one to exist in human shape, who so far outruns the beasts in savageness, as in a most scandalous manner to deprive those of life by whose means he has himself beheld this most delicious light of life; when birth, and bringing up, and nature herself make even beasts friendly to each other.
69	non ita multis ante annis aiunt Titum Caelium quendam Terracinensem , hominem non obscurum , cum cenatus cubitum in idem conclave cum duobus adulescentibus filiis isset , inventum esse mane iugulatum . cum neque servus quisquam reperiretur neque liber ad quem ea suspicio pertineret , id aetatis autem duo filii propter cubantes ne sensisse quidem se dicerent , nomina filiorum de parricidio delata sunt . quid poterat tam esse suspiciosum ? neutrumne sensisse ? ausum autem esse quemquam se in id conclave committere eo potissimum tempore cum ibidem essent duo adulescentes filii qui et sentire et defendere facile possent ? erat porro nemo in quem ea suspicio conveniret .	Not many years ago they say that Titius Cloelius, a citizen of Terracina, a well-known man, when, having supped, he had retired to rest in the same room with his two youthful sons, was found in the morning with his throat cut: when no servant could be found nor any free man, on whom suspicion of the deed could be fixed, and his two sons of that age lying near him said that they did not even know what had been done; the sons were accused of the parricide. What followed? it was, indeed, a suspicious business; that neither of them were aware of it, and that some one had ventured to introduce himself into that chamber, especially at that time when two young men were in the same place, who might easily have heard the noise and defended him. Moreover, there was no one on whom suspicion of the deed could fall.
70	tamen , cum planum iudicibus esset factum aperto ostio dormientis eos repertos esse , iudicio absoluti adulescentes et suspicione omni liberati sunt . nemo enim putabat quemquam esse qui , cum omnia divina atque humana iura scelere nefario polluisset , somnum statim capere potuisset , propterea quod qui tantum facinus commiserunt non modo sine cura quiescere sed ne spirare quidem sine metu possunt .	Still as it was plain to the judges that they were found sleeping with the door open, the young men were acquitted and released from all suspicion. For no one thought that there was any one who, when he had violated all divine and human laws by a nefarious crime, could immediately go to sleep; because they who have committed such a crime not only cannot rest free from care, but cannot even breathe without fear.
71	videtisne quos nobis poetae tradiderunt patris ulciscendi causa supplicium de matre sumpsisse , cum praesertim deorum immortalium iussis atque oraculis id fecisse dicantur , tamen ut eos agitent Furiae neque consistere umquam patiantur , quod ne pii quidem sine scelere esse potuerunt ? sic se res habet , iudices : magnam vim , magnam necessitatem , magnam possidet religionem paternus maternusque sanguis ; ex quo si qua macula concepta est , non modo elui non potest verum usque eo permanat ad animum ut summus furor atque amentia consequatur .	Do you not see in the case of those whom the poets have handed down to us, as having, for the sake of avenging their father, inflicted punishment on their mother, especially when they were said to have done so at the command and in obedience to the oracles of the immortal gods, how the furies nevertheless haunt them, and never suffer them to rest, because they could not be pious without wickedness. And this is the truth, O judges. The blood of one's father and mother has great power, great obligation, is a most holy thing, and if any stain of that falls on one, it not only cannot be washed out, but it drips down into the very soul, so that extreme frenzy and madness follow it.
72	nolite enim putare , quem ad modum in fabulis saepenumero videtis , eos qui aliquid impie scelerateque commiserint agitari et perterreri Furiarum taedis ardentibus . Sua quemque fraus et suus terror maxime vexat , suum quemque scelus agitat amentiaque adficit , suae malae cogitationes conscientiaeque animi terrent ; hae sunt impiis adsiduae domesticaeque Furiae quae dies noctesque parentium poenas a consceleratissimis filiis repetant .	For do not believe, as you often see it written in fables, that they who have done anything impiously and wickedly are really driven about and frightened by the furies with burning torches. It is his own dishonesty and the terrors of his own conscience that especially harassed each individual; his own wickedness drives each criminal about and affects him with madness; his own evil thoughts, his own evil conscience terrifies him. These are to the wicked their incessant and domestic furies which night and day exact from wicked sons punishment for the crimes committed against their parents.