Footnote 8: Proverb: meaning unknown.
Footnote 9: Perhaps an allusion to the shortening of the consul's term, which was done to give more candidates a chance of the honour.
Footnote 10: Il., iii, 109; alluding here to Janus's double face.
Footnote 11: The speech seems to contain a parody of Augustus's style and sayings.
Footnote 12: M. Valerius Messala Corvinus, appointed præfectus urbi, resigned within a week.
Footnote 13: A proverb, like "Charity begins at home." The reading of the passage is uncertain; "sister" is only a conjecture, and it is hard to see why his sister should be mentioned.
Footnote 14: Some formula such as ais esse meum.
Footnote 15: Catullus iii, 12.
Footnote 16: Talthybius was a herald, and nuntius is obviously a gloss on this. He means Mercury.
Footnote 17: By the Cloaca?