comitem. Cicero would be expected to address the people after the meeting, to acquaint them with the senate's decision (cf. the [Third Oration]), and according to usage he would be accompanied by the proposer of the successful motion. Connect populo with carum atque iucundum.
populus Romanus exsolvet. The reading of the MSS. here is unintelligible; that in the text is a conjectural emendation. Other suggestions are 'apud populum Romanum exsolvam,' 'populo Romano exsolveritis.'
obtinebo, 'I shall maintain.' eam, sc: 'sententiam.'
ita . . . ut. A common way of emphasizing a declaration, by expressing a wish that the welfare of the speaker may depend upon its truth. 'So may it be mine to enjoy with you the blessings of preservation, as I am moved,' etc. Cf. the phrase 'ita di me ament, ut,' and the formula 'So help me God' appended to oaths in English law-courts.
purpuratum. A name for ministers at Eastern courts, from the magnificence of their dress; 'with Gabinius as his grand vizier.'
qui non lenierit, causal, 'in that he did not alleviate.'
id egerunt, ut, 'have made it their object to place,' etc.
L. Caesar, consul 64 b.c., not to be confused with C. Julius Caesar. sororis suae virum, Lentulus; avum, M. Fulvius Flaccus, the friend and adherent of C. Gracchus, whose fate he shared. When the disturbance broke out he sent his young son to treat with the consul Opimius, who had him arrested and put to death.