[sect. 2]
etiamsi [gap in text] scribito tamen: cf. Att. 4.8B. 4 ubi nihil erit quod scribas, id ipsum scribito, and Plin. Ep. 1.11.
mi: for mihi. This form (found also in Ep. LXVII. 3) illustrates well the connection which often exists between archaism and colloquialism. In early Latin mi was in good use in all forms of literature; at the beginning of the classical period it had dropped out of use in formal literature, but had been retained in that literature which reproduced the doings and sayings of everyday life. This is the history of many forms and expressions; cf. Intr. 70.