[sect. 6]
minuat ac molliat, tempus tibi turpe: alliterative.
hoc [gap in text] est: the use of tibi and te in the same clause is unclassical. In his use of the same phrase, Fam. 4.6.1, Cicero omits the dative.
illi mortuae: a fair instance of the use of the demonstrative as equivalent to the Greek article. Cf. [Tusc. Disp. 5.78 quae est victrix, ea laeta prosequentibus suis una cum viro in rogum imponitur, illa victa maesta discedit (Watson).
denique, etc.: added as an afterthought.
finem faciam: alliterative. Cf. ferre fortunam, below.
apisci: Cicero uses apisci only twice, Att. 8.14.3 and de Leg. 1.52. Cf., however, Plaut. Trin. 367; Ter. Heaut. 693; Phorm. 406.
quod attinet: cf. Intr. 91.
provincia: i.e. Achaia. While the letter reveals the real sorrow of Sulpicius at Cicero's loss, he seeks to comfort his friend, not so much by assuring him of his sympathy, as by setting before him certain philosophical considerations. The training of Sulpicius as a lawyer and a jurist goes far to explain the peculiarities in his style and Latinity. The epistle will illustrate how closely allied legal, archaic, and colloquial Latin are; in fact, the expressions which have been noted as common in colloquial speech, are really legal archaisms as used by Sulpicius.
