Trial of Sextius Roscius

[M. Porcius Cato]

I'm not sure this helps clarify things, Asclepiades. Are we to assume that all the proscriptions were to be carried out only on the day that the list was published? That makes no sense: it implies that if a proscribed man could survive just one day, he would be free again. We know that this is not the case--some went into hiding for months. Thus, the time that had elapsed between the publication of the proscription list and the murder doesn't seem germane. Unless there is another law we're failing to consider, if Roscius the Elder had been on the list, his murder would still have been legal--regardless of whether it was committed by his son or someone else. So, why doesn't Cicero defend his client on these grounds? I don't think the answer concerns the validity of the legal argument.

[ASCLEPIADES]

I'm not sure this helps clarify things, Asclepiades. Are we to assume that all the proscriptions were to be carried out only on the day that the list was published? That makes no sense: it implies that if a proscribed man could survive just one day, he would be free again. We know that this is not the case--some went into hiding for months. Thus, the time that had elapsed between the publication of the proscription list and the murder doesn't seem germane. Unless there is another law we're failing to consider, if Roscius the Elder had been on the list, his murder would still have been legal--regardless of whether it was committed by his son or someone else. So, why doesn't Cicero defend his client on these grounds? I don't think the answer concerns the validity of the legal argument.

Salve, MPC

 

Sullan proscription went on many months under this Lex Cornelia Proscriptione et Proscriptis until it ended at Kalendas Iunias, DCLXXIII AUC. There has been no proscription for months at the time of S Roscius Maior's death. That was one of the pivotal ideas behind Cicero's defense.

 

That is also, BTW, the interpretation given by William Smith in his article on Roscius of Ameria at his Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology :

 

"and the name of Sextus was placed on the proscription list, notwithstanding an edict of Sulla, that none of the proscribed should be pur

Edited May 27, 2008 by ASCLEPIADES

[M. Porcius Cato]

Great find, Asclepiades. That addresses the problem nicely.