[sect. 2]
de oratione prolata: Cicero had written a speech against Curio the elder, which unfortunately was published. Cf. also Att. 3. '5.3 in senatu rem probe scribis actam; sed quid Curio ? an illam orationem non legit? quae unde sit prolata nescro. This must be a different oration from the one of which we have extracts in Ep. V.9.
quod ille prior scripserat : probably just before or after the trial of Clodius, as Curio was the champion of Clodius in the senate; cf. Att. I. '4.5.
quomodo excident, how it got out.
puto meam: Cicero's intention to disavow the authorship of this speech finds some extenuation in the desperate nature of his position. For other questionable acts, cf. Intr. 47.