[sect. 2]
vetustas: Cicero had apparently known Matius for twenty years or more; cf. next note.
tuus deinde discessus: on deinde cf. Intr. 85b. The reference is to the absence of Matius from Rome at some time prior to Cicero's candidacy for the consulship; cf. ambitio nostra.
vitae dissimilitudo: Matius apparently never entered public life.
conglutinari: the metaphorical use of the word is frequent in Cicero.