[sect. 2]
triste consilium : with reference probably to te [gap in text] ostendisti, Ep. L. I, and to tuum consilium, etc., L. 3.
solitudines : Dolabella, a few weeks later, in Ep. LII. 31 suggests a similar plan.
quondam: Caelius had formerly belonged to the senatorial party.
hominum insolentium: cf. insolentiam, Ep. L. 5.
nostra laurus: cf. fasces laureatos, Ep. XLV.5n.
voculas: the diminutive expresses contempt. The same word, as used in Ep. IX.1 (recreandae voculae causa), has its natural diminutive force, my weak voice.
praediola: used for modesty's sake, while specula (5) implies not that the hope is a faint one, but that the personal gain to Dolabella is a small advantage in comparison with the loss which the state suffers.
maritimis: sc. praediolis. Cicero was at Cumae.
facillime: cf. Intr. 85.
ad otium: depending loosely upon navigare, as does ad bellum below.
qui (convenit): the archaic ablative; cf. Intr. 51.
contra eum: i.e. Caesarem.
ab eo, on his side; sc. the side of Pompey.
