[sect. 3]
mercule: this oath is found in Cicero's correspondence in the forms, hercules, mehercules (or mercules), and mehercule (or mercule). Cicero himself writes (Or. 157) mehercule libentius dixerim quam mehercules, and the more polished letter-writers of this period seem to have agreed with him.
hominem: cf. homini, Ep. XVI.6n.