de iis colonis. See [on 2. 20].
supplicatio, i.e. a period of public prayer and thanksgiving. This was accompanied by the ceremony called lectisternium, when the images of the gods were placed on couches (pulvinaria) before their temples, with banquets beside them. Here the people came to worship. Cf. [3. 23] 'ad omnia pulvinaria,' and Horace, Odes 1. 37. 2
'nunc Saliaribus
Ornare pulvinar Deorum
Tempus erat dapibus, sodales.'
A supplicatio was generally a thanksgiving for victory; to the general it was an honour only inferior to a triumph, which it often preceded. More rarely, it was a period of national humiliation in time of disaster. Thus a supplicatio was decreed at the beginning of 217 b.c., and again after the defeat of Cannae. See Livy 22. 1, 23. 11.
meo nomine, 'in my name,' 'in my honour.' This was the only instance of a supplicatio decreed in honour of a citizen not holding a military command.
interest instead of 'interesse videatur,' because he means to state positively that the difference is there, whether the comparison be made or not. So we can say, 'If you compare, there is this difference,' instead of the more strictly grammatical, 'You will find that there is this difference.' Cf. de Amic. §104 'Si illis orbatus essem, tamen affert nihi aetas ipsa solatium'; where the existence of the consolation does not depend on the need for it.
se abdicavit, 'was allowed to resign.'
ut quae religio, etc. A magistrate being 'sacrosanctus,' religious scruples would forbid his punishment. Cicero says that owing to Lentulus' abdication, they will not have this scruple to stand in their way, though reminding them that it did not protect Glaucia. (See [on 1. 4].) Tr. 'So that we can punish Lentulus as a private citizen without hindrance from any religious scruple; though such scruples did not prevent C. Marius,' etc.