[sect. 8]
ad tempus [gap in text] ad exemplum, you have done a very great service, not only for the moment, but also in the way of an example (for the future).
illos viros : i.e. the liberatores.
mi Dolabella: Cicero rarely addresses his correspondents by name (cf. Ep. X. n.). The fact that Dolabella is addressed three times in this letter gives to it a tone of earnestness and of real or assumed affection. For Dolabella's reply to this letter cf. Att. 14.21. rescripsit ad eas (litteras) quarum exemplum tibi miseram sane luculente.