[3] cordi: cf. Catul. 64.158; Catul. 81.5; Catul. 95.9
[3] laedere: for Tibur was a fashionable place of summer abode, while Sabinum was noted only as the country of frugal peasant life.
[4] pignore contendunt: cf. Verg. Ecl. 3.31 “tu dic, mecum quo pignore certes.”
[6] tua: since the villa was a part of the fundus.
[6] suburbana: Tibur (now Tivoli) was but 18 miles from Rome, and indeed, being placed on the abrupt edge of the Sabine hills as they descend to the plain, was visible from the city itself.
[7] malam: wretched, cf. Hor. AP 453 “mala scabies.”
[7] expuli: cf. Hor. Ep. 2.2.137 “expulit elIeboro morbum” .
[8] venter: the stomach inflicted a penalty for contemplated gluttony, instead of lending itself to the expected gratification.
[10] Sestianus: referring probably to P. Sestius, a man especially helpful to Cicero at the time of his exile, and defended by him in a speech still extant when prosecuted in 56 B.C. on a charge of vis. He was apparently a man of irritable temper and vigorous tongue; with v. 12 cf. Cic. Quint. Fr. 2.4.1, etc.
[10] dum volo: etc. i.e. I joyfully planned to accept the invitation, and under the circumstances dared not postpone the reading of the oration sent by my prospective host.
[11] Antium: otherwise unknown.
[11] petitorem: probably (as in Hor. Carm. 3.1.10 “hic generosior descendat in campum petitor” ) of a candidate for public office; but the occasion of the attack cannot be determined.
[12] plenam: etc. with a jesting double meaning; the speech was full of venenum and pestilentia for the reader as well as for the unfortunate Antius; cf. Catul. 14.19 (where venena is used of wretched verses), and the collocation of venenum and pestis in Catul. 77.5ff.
[15] urtica: nettles were a light article of vegetarian diet (cf. Hor. Ep. 1.12.7 abstemius herbis vivis et urtica), and thus well fitted for a patient with influenza; cf. concerning them Plin. NH 22.35 “utilissimam cibis coctam conditamve arteriae tussi cum tisana pectus purgare.”
[16] tibi: i.e. the villa (cf. v. 17 ulta), to which the address turns from the fundus.
[17] ulta: sc. by refusing to grant me relief from the punishment which the venter had inflicted.
[18] nefaria scripta: on the lengthening of the final short syllable in thesis see Intr. 86g.
[19] recepso: a sigmatic aorist form, which came to be used like the ordinary future-perfect, which was itself of similar origin. Cf. Catul. 34.8n.
[20] non mi, sed ipsi Sestio: a παρὰ προσδοκίαν.
[20] frigus: of a cold also in Hor. S. 1.1.80 “tentatum frigore corpus” .
[21] vocat: sc. ad cenam; cf. Catul. 47.7 “vocationes” ; Pl. Capt. 76 “quos nunquam quisquam vocat.”
