Letter coll=A:book=3:letter=12 Letter XII: ad Atticum 3.12
Thessalonica, July 17,58 B.C.
Cicero stayed at Thessalonica from May to November, 58 B.C.
, under the protection of the quaestor Plancius.
[sect. 1]
sedulo: probably from the conversational vocabulary, if we may judge from its frequency in comedy and in the Letters, and its infrequency (e.g. Cic. de An. 3.16; Livy, 34. '4.3) elsewhere. Cf. Ter. Ad. 251, 413; Fun. 362; Heaut. 126; Cic. Att. 9. '5.6; Fam. 5.10 A. 2. It is found oftenest with focio.
caput [gap in text] scribis: cf. Att. 3. I 5.6 at tute scri/sisti ad me quoddam caput legis Clodium in curiae poste fixisse NE REFERRI NEVE DICI LICERET ('that no motion should be brought forward and no speech made').
hic: this word may express surprise here as elsewhere in the Letters: 'do you blame me, then?' Cf. Ep. LXXIX. 4 hic tu me abesse Urbe miraris, in qua domus nihil delectarepossit, etc.? or it may mean, 'at this point in your letter,' after writing of the action of Clodius.
secundum comitia: Pompey expressed later the same hope of favorable action 'after the comitia'; cf. Att. 3.18.1.
eodem [gap in text] designato: i.e. with Clodius as tribune and Metellus Nepos as consul desagnatus. Metellus Nepos proved to be friendly. See Cicero's letter of thanks for the support of Metellus Nepos, Fam. 5.4; cf. also pro Sest. 130.