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v. mortales in Cicero = homines only in connection with omnes and multi : cf. § 95, omnibus mortalibus. inter sicarios, Introd. § 12. committitur, is held, set on foot : cf. committere ludos, spectaculum, pugnam, agona musicum, etc. cum interea . . . factae sunt, while in the meantime . . This phrase is regularly followed by the indicative ; cf. Verr. 2. 5. 162, caedebatur virgis . . . cum interea nullus gemitus audiebatur. It may be classified with the inverted cum and indicative, as in Caes. B.G. 7.26, jamque hoc facere apparabant, cum matres procurrerunt. sanguine, bloodshed ; dignissimum, fully worthy, corresponding to the greatness of the crimes : cf. just below, ut quam acerrime maleficia vindicetis, and § 9, satis commode dicere, note. The reading of the MSS. is corrupt and meaningless. Halm calls the reading in the text only a makeshift.
vociferatione, i.e. an appeal for due severity. causam dicimus, who are answering to a charge. The phrase here suits Cicero both as patronus and as identified with his client : cf. §5. qui vester animus sit, your real disposition, the free manifestation of which would put a check on deeds of violence. prorumpere (for which proruptura esse or prorumpere posse would be expected) = is on the way to break forth. The construction is irregular, and so rare as to render the reading doubtful. The pres. may be rhetorical : is even now breaking all bounds ' Richter ; who compares Cic. Ep. XII. 6.2, si Brutus conservatus erit, vicimus, where the perf. instead of the fut. is forcible. hic in foro. "The Praetor had his seat (sella curulis) on a raised platform (tribunal), under the open air, in the forum ; the jurors and clerks sat around him on low benches (subsellia) ; lower down (ante pedes vestros), perhaps on the ground itself, stood subsellia for the two contending parties, separated from one another ; in a circle around stood the public (corona) who were interested in the case." (Richter.)
accusant ei, etc. Note the fine succession of antitheses. quibus bono fuit : cf. §§ 84, 86, cui bono. cum praesidio. So Cicero calls the friends (advocati) who had appeared with him in court. poscit (sc. in judicium), demands for trial and punishment ; cf. pro Sest. 46, cum ob hasce causas me unum deposcerent. Liv. 9. 26. 17, poscere reum = to demand a man for accusation.
Atque, etc., marks the transition to the narratio (account of the facts of the case). res quem ad modum gesta sit, the particulars of the affair.
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