Note 58 — Chapter XV

lxxxiv. Cicero also was afflicted by a bore of the same name, who stayed away from Rome in order 'that he might pass whole days discussing philosophy with Cicero at Formiae.' The Arrius of this poem is supposed to be Q. Arrius, Praetor in 73 b.c., whom Cicero speaks of as having been in the habit of acting as a kind of Junior Counsel along with Crassus ('qui fuit M. Crassi quasi secundarum'), and having, though a man of the lowest origin and without either culture or natural ability, got into a considerable practice. The words 'Hoc misso in Syriam' are supposed to imply that he was sent as a legatus to join Crassus in his Syrian province. The poem would thus be written about the end of 55 b.c.