Murder Trials

"Whereas the place for prejudice is a public meeting, a court of law is the adobe of truth."

Cicero was still in his twenties when he got Sextus Roscius off a charge of murdering his father and nearly sixty when he defended King Deiotarus, accused of trying to murder Caesar. In between (with, among others, his speeches for Cluentius and Rabirius), he built a reputation as the greatest orator of his time.

Cicero defended his practice partly on moral or compassionate grounds of "human decen...