[sect. 2]
Sampsiceramum: a nickname several times applied to Pompey (cf. Att. 2.17. i). Sampsiceramus was the petty ruler of Emesa, which Pompey had conquered. Elsewhere (Att. 2.17.3) Pompey is alluded to as Arabarches, the despot of eastern Egypt, or Hierosolymarius, 'the Jerusalemite' (Att. 2.9. i) from his capture of Jerusalem. The application of these nicknames to Pompey suggests that after his return from the East, he assumed an arrogant and autocratic manner more befitting a petty eastern despot than a Roman citizen. The very sound of the nicknames would also suggest his pompous manner.
ex quo decidit: cf. quia deciderat ex astris, Att. 2.21.4.
medicinam [gap in text] quaerere: a favorite metaphor, not only with Cicero but with other Roman writers; developed at great length, for instance, by Servius Sulpicius in Ep. LXXV. 5. Cf. also Intr. 99.