[sect. 2]
cenitarem: this frequentative is not found in Cicero outside of the Letters.
Cn. Octavio: evidently a pushing fellow, who wanted the distinction of entertaining Cicero. Cf. Fam. 7.9.3 Cn. Octavius est an Cit. Cornelius quidam, tuus familiaris, summo genere natus, terrae filius. Is me, quia scit tuum familiarem esse, crebro ad cenam invitat.
mercules: cf. mercule, Ep. XXV.3n.
homo bellus, a good fellow. See Martial, 3.63. Bellus, the diminutive of bonus, is used familiarly in the Letters with the peculiar, force which colloquial Latin often gave to the diminutive (cf. pulchellus, Ep. V.10n), e.g. puellae Caeciliae bellissimae salutem dices. Att. 6.4. 3; illum pueris locum esse bellissimum duximus, Att. 5.17.3; so belle se habere (to be in first-rate health), Att. 12.37.1.