Pro Roscio Amerino

The speech Pro Roscio Amerino was given by Marcus Tullius Cicero on behalf of Roscius of Ameria. Roscius was accused of murdering his father. The speech was given by Cicero in 80 BC.

The events that made possible the accusation of the younger Roscius of Ameria began long before the murder of the elder Sextus Roscius of Ameria.

Beginning in 97 BC, Rome began to see the rise of Lucius Cornelius Sulla. A man known for his brutality and cunning, Sulla was feared by many around him. In Sulla, the author Plutarch helps to shed light on Sulla’s character by chronicling the most powerful parts of the dictator's life. According to Plutarch, Sulla, a general of Rome, was characterized by “…a vehement and an implacable desire to conquer…” Following the Social War (91–88 BC) he ascended to the position of consul of Rome in 88 BC.

During this time, the consul Sulla managed to lose his authority and to be exiled, but this was merely a small interruption in his rise to power. Following the siege of Athens in 87 BC, he again prepared to take control of Rome.

In 82 BC, Sulla successfully became dictator. He immediately set out to ensure that his power would not slip from his grasp again. Beginning with a large-scale execution of his enemies, Sulla soon adopted a more systematic approach with the adoption of the proscriptions, in which Sulla made those who had displeased him "enemies of the state". The consequences of being proscribed were a death sentence and the seizure of all property which had belonged to those whom had been proscribed. According to Plutarch, in order to expedite this process of asset liquidation, Sulla made it known: "...to him who should slay any one proscribed person, he ordained two talents reward, even were it slave who had killed his master, or a son his father." Furthermore, Sulla made it known that the penalty for aiding any person whom had been proscribed, was proscription itself. Sulla thereby dealt proactively with all current and potential threats to his power, and neither the nobility nor the commoners were immune.

...
Wikipedia