Note 320 — CICERO'S LETTERS TO ATTICUS BOOK XVI

The point of this sentence is not obvious. The translation follows Watson, who suggests that the pleasantry lies in calling the days of the triumvirate free in comparison with the date at which Cicero was writing. Other suggestions are (a) that there is a play on the triumvirate and the fact that Caesar and Pompey each had three wives; (b) that Septimia had three husbands; or (c) that it refers to some earlier date, possibly Cicero's consulate, when Fadia had three lovers. (Cf. Gurlitt, in Philologus, LVII. (1898) pp. 403-8).