Letter coll=F:book=2:letter=11 Letter XXXVI: ad familiares 2.11
Cilicia, Apr. 4, 50 B.C.
Since Ep. XXXIII. was written Caelius has been elected curule aedile (cf. aedili curuli), and has entered on the duties of the office.
[sect. 1]
ut mihi, etc.: cf. Fam. 4.4.1 quem (i.e. me) tu divitias orationis habere dicis, me non esse verborum admodum inopem agnosco.
ista vestra oratoria, of you orators there in Rome. Caelius's strength as a lawyer lay in his skill in prosecution; cf. Quint. 6.3.69 idem (Cicero) per allegoriam M. Caelium, melius obicientem crimina quam defendentem, bonam dextram, malam sinistram habere dicebat.
levia nostratia: used of the discussion of familiar topics in familiar language, and especially of the sermo cotidianus. Thus Cicero, while recognizing the value of Greek culture, adds, ego autem existimes licet quidlibet mirifice capior facetiis, maxime nostratibus, Ep. LXVII. 2; in Tusc. Disp. 5.90, speaking of Roman philosophers as opposed to Greek, he calls the former nostrates philosophi. The passage is important, as indicating that Cicero recognized the existence of a colloquial Latin by the side of a more formal language. Cf. also Intr. 7 I.
decernatur: Cicero fears that his term of office may be prolonged.
desiderium urbis: cf. si potes, etc., Ep. XVII.2n.
fortuna: i.e. a change of fortune.
belli: sc. with the Parthians.