[sect. 3]
mi Caesar: cf. mi Pomponi, Ep. X. n
non [gap in text] Romano, not with that overworked phrase of [gap in text] but in the (hearty) Roman fashion. What the 'overworked phrase' was, or for what purpose Cicero wrote to Caesar concerning Milo, is unknown. Milo wished to be a candidate for the consulship for 52 B.C.
, and Cicero may have tried to secure for him Caesar's support, or at least his neutrality. For more Romano, cf. ego te Balbo, cum ad vos proficiscetur, more Romano commendabo, Ep. XXVI. 3. See also Ep. XXIV. 3.
familiam ducit, he leads the profession, sc. as concerns memory and knowledge of jurisprudence. Trebatius was a special legal adviser of Augustus; cf. Justin. Inst. 2.25.
tribunatum: it was the fashion for young men of good family at Rome to go out to the provinces with the title of tribunus militum. Such men often had neither a taste for a military career nor the intention of adopting it, but desired the political and social prestige which such an experience would give them on their return to Rome (cf. Tac. Agr. 5). Caesar has these military tyros in mind when he says: hic (timor) primum ortus est a tribunis militum praefectis reliquisque, qui ex urbe amicitiae causa Caesarem secuti non magnum in re militari usum habebant, B. G. 1.39.2. Trebatius received the position of tribune from Caesar.
gloriolae: such positions, being purely honorary, indicated little with regard to a man's real merits, but carried a certain distinction along with them. Hence gloriola, not gloria.
de manu in manum: a characteristic of colloquial language is its fondness for concrete phrases in expressing a thought which formal language conveys in abstract phrase's. In such phrases manus is of frequent occurrence. Thus, in the language of everyday life 'generously' is often manu plena (Att. 2.25.1), to be present prae manu esse, i.e. to be on hand (Plaut. Bacch. 623), to assist manum dare, i.e. to lend a hand, etc. Cf. also Otto, Sprichwrter der Redner, p.210.6, Landgraf, 329, Krebs, Antibarbarus under manus.
putidiusculi, something of a bore; cf. pulchellus, Ep. V.10n.
quamquam [gap in text] licebit: i.e. although it is scarcely pardonable to take advantage of one who is so generous, by laying upon him such a task as I do in turning Trebatius over completely to your care, yet I feel you will pardon the liberty.
cura [gap in text] ama: cf. Ep. XVIII.10n. The generous spirit in which Caesar responded to the request of Cicero is indicated by his reply, the substance of which Cicero quotes in a letter to Quintus (2.13.3): Trebatium quod ad se (i.e. Caesarem) miserim, persalse et humaniter etiam gratias mihi agit; negat enim in tanta multitudine eorum qui una essent quemquam fuisse, qui vadimonium concupere posset.
