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Case file s1212 · War and property · 81 BCE
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81 BCE
M. Tullius Cicero, Capitoline Museum, Rome: Bust of Cicero, Musei Capitolini, Rome, Half of 1st century AD
M. Tullius Cicero, Capitoline Museum, Rome. Wilfredor. CC0, Wikimedia Commons.
Died
81 BC (Sextus Roscius the elder)
Place
Rome and Ameria (Amelia, Umbria), Italy
Field
landowner, 13 farms · Land and agriculture on the timeline
Legal tradition
Roman law; Sulla's proscriptions (confiscation and auction of proscribed estates) · Roman law
Historical event
Sulla's dictatorship and proscriptions (82-81 BC)
War and propertyMurder and sudden deathAncient worldEuropeItaly

Sulla's freedman bought a murdered man's estate of 6 million sesterces for 2,000, and the son was charged with killing his father

Cicero's defence speech is the main source. Sextus Roscius of Ameria was killed at Rome near the Palatine baths as he walked home from dinner. A freedman of his kinsman Titus Roscius rode 56 miles overnight to Ameria with the news. He took it to Titus Roscius Capito, the dead man's enemy, not to the son. Four days later the news reached Chrysogonus, Sulla's freedman, at Sulla's camp at Volaterrae. The dead man was then entered on the proscription list as an enemy of the state, and his property was auctioned. Chrysogonus bought 13 farms worth 6 million sesterces for 2,000. Capito received three of the best farms. Chrysogonus's agent threw the son out of the house. Then the son was charged with parricide. Plutarch says no advocate would take the case for fear of Sulla. Cicero took it in 80 BC and won an acquittal. Plutarch says Cicero then left for Greece, giving his health as the reason. Neither Cicero nor Plutarch records whether the son got the farms back.

What the law took from it

When a court sells property by list, the first question is who put the name on the list.

Sources
  1. University of Chicago, LacusCurtiusScholarship
  2. cts.perseids.orgPress
  3. Wikipedia (English)Encyclopedia

Cite as: celebrity.estate, “Sulla's freedman bought a murdered man's estate of 6 million sesterces for 2,000, and the son was charged with killing his father,” story s1212, https://www.celebrity.estate/sextus-roscius-81-bc, updated 30 October 2026.

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Where this case sits

War and propertyMurder and sudden deathAncient worldEuropeRoman lawItaly