[sect. 3]
ipsos, exactly; as often with numerals. Cf. Att. 3.21; 6.8.4.
fuissem, proficiscebar, dedi: all the events mentioned here would belong to the past when the letter reached Caelius; cf. Intr. 84c.
Gallus Caninius: cf. Ep. XIX.4n.
hoc litterarum, this apology for a letter. Reference is apparently made not so much to the brevity of the letter as to its trivial character. Cf. ipsum volumen, Ep. XXXI.1.