[676] There are some words here too corrupt to be translated with any confidence. They appear to convey a summary of news already written in several letters as to the bribery at the elections, the acquittal of Gabinius, and the rumour of a dictatorship.
[677] A legacy of a twelfth left by a certain Felix to Cicero and Quintus had been rendered null by a mistake as to the will. See the letter to Quintus, p. [338].
[678] Cicero means, "the substantial gain to be got from your serving under Cæsar in Gaul is the securing of his protection in the future: all other gains, such as money etc., are merely to be regarded as securing you from immediate loss in thus going to Gaul: they don't add anything fresh to our position and prospects."
[679] Quintus had his winter quarters among the Nervii, in a town near the modern Charleroi. In this winter he was in great danger from a sudden rising of the Nervii and other tribes (Cæs. B. G. v. 24-49).
[680] Twenty days of supplicatio had been decreed in honour of Cæsar's campaigns of B.C. 55 (Cæs. B. G. iv. 38).
[681] His gladiators, which he kept in training for the games he was going to give in honour of a deceased friend.
[682] I.e., rather than defend him. τότε μοι χάνοι (εὐρεῖα χθών), Hom. Il. iv. 182.
[683] ὁ δὲ μαίνεται οὐκ ἔτ' ἀνεκτῶς (Hom. Il. viii. 355). The numerals seem doubtful. According to some MSS. the amount would be 10,000,000, i.e., £80,000.
[684] The tragedy written by Quintus and lost in transit.
[685] He seems to refer to the rising of the Nervii against the Roman winter quarters (Cæs. B. G. v. 39 seq).