J. B. Greenough, G. L. Kittredge, Select Orations of Cicero, Allen and Greenough's Edition.

P. Sulpicium [Rufum], a young man of remarkable eloquence, a leader in the reforming party among the aristocracy. He was tribune B.C. 88, and his quarrel with C. Caesar was the first act of the Civil War. By his proposition, the command in the Mithridatic War was transferred from Sulla to Marius; and when Sulla refused to obey, and marched upon the city, Sulpicius was one of the first victims.

conlegam: Lucius Cornelius Cinna, the Marian partisan (see note on p. 130, l. 16). He and Cn. Octavius, a partisan of Sulla, were consuls B.C. 87, after the departure of Sulla for the East, and in their dissensions the Civil War broke out afresh. The victory of Cinna later recalled Marius from exile.

lumina: among these were Octavius; C. Caesar (see above) and his brother Lucius; Q. Catulus, father of the opponent of the Manilian Law (see below); M. Antonius, the great orator; and the pontifex maximus, Q. Scaevola.

ultus est: to preserve the emphasis, render the cruelty, etc., was avenged by Sulla.

dissensit, there was a quarrel between, etc.

M. Lepidus, father of the triumvir, was consul B.C. 78 (after Sulla's death), with Q. Catulus, son of the one murdered by Cinna. The scheme of Lepidus to revive the Marian party resulted in a short civil war, in which he was defeated by his colleague and killed.

ipsias: he was the victim of his own violence, and therefore less regretted.