[sect. 2]
Hortensius: consul in 69 B.C.
, and the most prominent leader of the Optimates at this time. He had been the leading orator in Rome until Cicero appeared; cf. Brut. 1.1.
de religione: concerning the sacrilege which had been committed.
legem ferret: a technical expression, used of bringing forward a bill. A rogatio was a bill submitted to the people for confirmation in the comitia, for which the people were asked to vote, and affirmative ballots were marked V. R. (uti rogas). The rogatio was in this case to be submitted by a consul (rogatio consularis) in accordance with the resolution of the senate quoted above. Cf. note to senatus auctaritas.
iudicum genus: by the action of the senate, which was submitted to the people for confirmation, a special tribunal would have been established for the trial of Clodius, in which the presiding praetor would have chosen the iudices. Through the treachery of Piso and the use of force by Clodius this bill was not passed in the comitia (Att. 1.14.5). About the middle of February, Fufius, acting in the interests of Clodius, and carrying out a compromise accepted by Hortensius, allowed the passage by the comitia of a bill which provided for a court of inquiry, but left the iudices to be chosen as usual by lot, since the friends of Clodius thought that in this way a venal jury could be secured more easily, as the defense would have the right under this arrangement to reject a certain number of jurors.
nullis iudicibus: the negation belongs logically with posse.
contraxi vela: Cicero is fond of figures drawn from ships or shipwreck; cf., for instance, Fam. 12.25.5 quam ob rem, mi Quinte, conscende nobiscum, et quidem ad puppim; una navis est iam bonorunt omnium, quam quidem nos damus operant ut rectam teneamus; utinam prospero cursu! sed, quicumque venti erunt, ars nostra certe non aberit. Cf. also the reference to the shipwrecked fortunes of Catiline's followers, and the comparison of the conspirators to bilge-water in the ship of state (in Cat. 2.7).
inopiam: their poverty and probable venality.
neque dixi [gap in text] testatum: Clodius tried to establish an Blibi by proving that on the night in question he was at Interamna, 90 miles from Rome, while Cicero testified that Clodius had visited his house that very day, within three hours of the time in question (cf. Att. 2. l. 5; Plut. Cic. 29).
πρὸς τὸ πρότερον: to return to the first question, i.e. quid accident de iudicio.
infamia, disgrace, not technically, 'loss of citizenship.'
sordibus: the mourning worn by persons accused (Watson).
iugulatum in: scarcely a literary word, but borrowed from colloquial Latin. Thus, cf. Plaut. Stich. 581 ita mi auctores fuere, ut ego met me hodie iugularem fame. Cf also Hor. Sat. 1.7.35.
diceret: cf. diceret, Ep 13 n.