The friends of the father were satisfied of the innocence of the son,
and they exerted themselves to secure for him an efficient defense.
Sulla was so much dreaded that none of the more conspicuous orators of
the time were willing to undertake the task. Cicero, however, had the
courage which they wanted; and his speech, probably little altered from
the form in which he delivered it, remains.

It was a horrible crime of which his client was accused, and the
punishment the most awful known to the Roman law. The face of the guilty
man was covered with a wolf's skin, as being one who was not worthy to
see the light; shoes of wood were put upon his feet that they might not
touch the earth. He was then thrust into a sack of leather, and with him
four animals which were supposed to symbolize all that was most hideous
and depraved--the dog, a common object of contempt; the cock, proverbial
for its want of all filial affection; the poisonous viper; and the ape,
which was the base imitation of man. In this strange company he was
thrown into the nearest river or sea.

Cicero begins by explaining why he had undertaken a case which his
elders and betters had declined. It was not because he was bolder, but
because he was more insignificant than they, and could speak with
impunity when they could not choose but be silent. He then gives the
facts in detail, the murder of Roscius, the seizure of his property, the
fruitless deputation to Sulla, the flight of the son to Rome, and the
audacious resolve of his enemies to indict him for parricide. They had
murdered his father, they had robbed him of his patrimony, and now they
accused him--of what crime? Surely of nothing else than the crime of
having escaped their attack. The thing reminded him of the story of
Fimbria and Scaevola. Fimbria, an absolute madman, as was allowed by all
who were not mad themselves, got some ruffian to stab Scaevola at the