That cannot be the truth, O judges; it is not probable that Chrysogonus
 has taken a fancy to their learning or their politeness, or that he should be acquainted
 with their industry and fidelity in the business of a household. There is something which
 is hidden; and the more studiously it is bidden and kept back by them, so much the more is
 it visible and conspicuous. What, then, are we to think? Is Chrysogonus unwilling that these men shall be put to the
 question for the sake of concealing his own crime? Not so, O judges; I do not think that
 the same arguments apply to every one. As far as I am concerned, I have no suspicion of
 the sort respecting Chrysogonus, and this is not the first time that it has occurred to me
 to say so. You recollect that I so divided the cause at the beginning; into the
 accusation, the whole arguing of which was entrusted to Erucius; and into audacity, the
 business of which was assigned to the Roscii;—whatever crime, whatever wickedness,
 whatever bloodshed there is, all that is the business of the Roscii. We say that the
 excessive interest and power of Chrysogonus is a hindrance to us, and can by no means be
 endured; and that it ought not only to be weakened, but even to be punished by you, since
 you have the power given to you. I think as follows;
 that he who wishes these men to be put to the question, whom it is evident were present
 when the murder was committed, is desirous to find out the truth; that he who refuses it,
 though he does not dare admit it in words, yet does in truth by his actions, confesses
 himself guilty of the crime. I said at the beginning, O judges, that I was unwilling to
 say more of the wickedness of those men than the cause required, and than necessity itself
 compelled me to say. For many circumstances can be alleged, and every one of them can be
 discussed with many arguments. But I cannot do for any length of time, nor diligently,
 what I do against my will, and by compulsion. Those things which could by no means be
 passed over, I have lightly touched upon, O judges; those things which depend upon
 suspicion, and which, if I begin to speak of them, will require a copious discussion, I
 commit to your capacities and to your conjectures. I come now to that golden name of Chrysogonus, This is a pun on the
 name of Chrysogonus, all derived from the Greek word xruso/s , gold; and go/nos , birth. 
 under which name the whole confederacy is set up, concerning whom, O judges, I am at a
 loss both how to speak and how to hold my tongue; for if I say nothing, I leave out a
 great part of my argument, and if I speak, I fear that not he alone (about whom I am not
 concerned), but others also may think themselves injured; although the case is such that
 it does not appear necessary to say much against the common cause of the brokers. For this
 cause is, in truth, a novel and an extraordinary cause. Chrysogonus is the purchaser of
 the property of Sextus Roscius. Let us see this first,
 on what pretence the property of that man was sold, or how they could be sold. And I will
 not put this question, O judges, so as to imply that it is a scandalous thing for the
 property of an innocent man to be sold at all. For if these things are to be freely
 listened to and freely spoken, Sextus Roscius was not a man of such importance in the
 state as to make us complain of his fortune more than of that of others. But I ask this,
 how could they be sold even by that very law which is enacted about prescriptions, whether
 it be the Valerian Valerius Flaccus had been created Interrex on the
 death of the two consuls, Marius and Carbo . He
 appointed Sulla dictator, and passed a law that whatever Sulla had done should be
 ratified; so that Cicero's meaning here is, that he does not know which was the nominal
 author of the law he is quoting, Valerius or Sulla. or Cornelian law,—for neither know nor understand which it
 is—but by that very law itself how could the property of Sextus Roscius be sold?