[sect. 3]
bene et naviter: archaic and colloquial. The use of bene with the force of valde to intensify adjectives and adverbs came into vogue in Cicero's time. Only two instances of this use occur in Latin comedy, but having once found a foothold in the language, it became quickly a favorite colloquialism. Cf. Ital. bene and Fr. bien. Cf. also sane, Ep. XVI.2n., and see Intr. 90.
te plane etiam atque etiam rogo: cf. hoc te vehementer etiam atque etiam rogo, Cic. Fam. 13.5.3.
leges historiae neglegas: cf. Cic. de Or. 2.62 nam quis nescit primam esse historiae legem, ne quid falsi dicere audeat? deinde ne quid veri non audeat? ne quae suspicio gratiae sit in scribendo? ne quae simultates? haec scilicet fundamenta nota sunt omnibus. See also Pliny, Ep. 7.33.10 nam nec historia debet egredi veritatem et honeste factis veritas sufficit. But the prevailing ancient conception of history was a low one; see Quint. 10.1. 31; Sen. N. Q. 7.16.1, 2. Both Atticus and Cicero wrote an account of Cicero's consulship in Greek; cf. Att. 2.1.1-2.
a qua: the use of the preposition shows that gratia is personified.
Herculem Xenophontium: cf. Xen. Mem. 2.1.21.
plusculum: cf. pulchellus, Ep. V.10n.