12. id: refers forward to eos velle, etc. (l. 24). amplum et praeclarum,an honor and distinction (translating as nouns). innocentiae (an almost technical term), purity of administration in Sicily (see Introd. to the oration). majus quiddam: what this was is explained in sect. 35.
illud: refers to istum . . . vocari (l. 29). potentia,domineering(i.e. his illegal control of the courts); cupiditas (in a bad sense), unscrupulous eagerness (for gaining your case). interponeretur:for fut. ind. of the dir. disc. nunc:opposed to the time of videbatur. regnum judiciorum,lording it over the courts. homines,i.e. the corrupt senatorial jurors. inruere, etc., to be bent on making themselves hateful and offensive. —hoc, i.e. to break down Hortensius's control, and the corruption of a few Senators. nervos aetatis:Cicero was now 36.
ordo, i.e. the Senate. paucorum, artfully put so as not to offend the whole body. loco: the Rostra (see Vocab., under rostrum). secum agere:the technical expression for transacting business in the comitia was agere cum populo (or plebe). Cicero refers to the office of curule aedile, upon which he was to enter January 1. One of the most important functions of this magistrate was the administration of criminal justice (de hominibus improbis) in cases where there had been an appeal from the sentence of a court to the judgment of the public assembly. munus,service. The word also means the public games, which were given to the people by the aediles especially; hence there is a kind of pun here. moneo, etc.: observe the climax. deponere, deposit with the sequestres (see note on p. 36, l. 15). accipere, take (money); recipere,undertake to do anything (upon request or the like). polliceri, offer. interpretes,go-betweens: the divisores are probably meant. potentiam: it is hardly accidental that this is the same word used above (sect. 35, l. 31) of the influence of Hortensius. In the next section Cicero expressly asserts that he expects to meet with all possible opposition from the latter.
