si nihil esset inventum. Virtual Oratio Obliqua, representing their words 'si nihil inventum erit.'
temere, 'heedlessly,' i.e. without due cause.
negavi, etc. 'Ut . . . deferrem' is not a final, but a substantival clause, standing as the object to 'facturum,' the whole being a more emphatic way of saying 'negavi me non delaturum esse'; 'I said that in a danger which threatened the state, I could not but bring the facts unprejudiced before the council of the state.' Cf. [3. 17] 'commisisset ut deprehenderentur.'
[§8].
fidem publicam dedi. Lit. 'pledged him the faith of the state,' i.e. promised him in the name of the state that he should not be prosecuted in respect of any disclosures, iussu senatus, because the consul could not do this unless authorized by the senate.
erat, indic. because an explanation added by Cicero; not part of what Volturcius said.
[§9].
data esse (for the gender see [note on 'deprehensa' §10]), to be taken, by zeugma, with both 'iusiurandum' and 'litteras,' 'that an oath (had been sworn) and a letter given them addressed to their nation.'
atque ita, etc. Upon the main verb 'dixerunt' depend three subordinates: 'esse praescriptum'; 'confirmasse'; 'dixisse'; each of which has in its turn a subordinate clause depending upon it. This will be best seen by the following scheme;
Galli dixerunt:—