[sect. 3]
quod consules aberant: cf. Intr. 42.
oblata [gap in text] est, a religious difficulty presented itseif.
pullariorum: in early times the pullarii helped the magistrates in taking the auspicia ex tripudiis, but in Cicero's day this title was applied to those who assisted in taking other auspices also. Before a meeting of the senate, the presiding officer was required to sacrifice a victim and take the auspices (Willems, II. 173, n. 7).
eum [gap in text] dedisse: depending on admonitu.
nostro collegio: sc. augurum.
Servilio: P. Servilius Vatia. Cf. Ep. LXXI. introd. note.
ut sua sententia prima pronuntiaretur: when a number of propositions had been made concerning a matter laid before the senate, the presiding officer decided upon the order in which they should be submitted to a vote, announced the first proposition to be voted on (sententiam primam pronuntiavit), and said to the senators, Qui hoc censetis, illuc transite; qui alia omnia, in hanc partem (Festus). In the division those favoring a proposition went to the side of the senate chamber on which the author of the motion sat, the opponents went to the other side. Cf. also Fam. 1.2.1 itaque, cum sententia prima Bibuli pronuntiata esset, ut tres legati regent reducerent, secunda Hortensi, ut tu sine exercitu reduceres, tertia Volcaci, ut Pompeius reduceret, postulatum est ut Bibuli sententia divideretur: [gap in text] de tribus legatis frequentes ierunt in alia omnia (i.e. voted against the proposition, as in the case before us). Cf. also Fam. 8.13.2; Plin. Ep.8.14.19.
P. Titius: tribune of the people.
res [gap in text] dilata: a veto in the senate affected the validity of a particular vote only. At any time after a veto a subject could be considered and submitted to a vote again, and the motion, if supported by a majority of the senators, and not again vetoed, became a senatus consultum. A tribune sometimes used his power therefore merely to postpone action upon a subject. Cf. pro Sest. 74; Willems, 11.203.