ation of his predecessor. He would "praise any," he said,[1] "who undertook such a mission at his own cost; he would allow the expenses if modest, but would disallow them if excessive." Appius wrote very angrily about this, and Cicero permitted the embassies in some cases where a majority of the local senate was in favour of the vote.[2] He appears likewise to have withdrawn an objection which he had raised on grounds of economy to the erection of some sort of public building in honour of Appius.[3] Cicero felt himself bound to prove the sincerity of his reconciliation with the brother of Publius Clodius by doing all that he reasonably could for him; and he was further stimulated by the knowledge that, before the trial of Appius for his misdoing was over, he would very likely hear that Dolabella, Appius' accuser at Rome, had become his own son-in-law. Cicero had left the choice of Tullia's new husband to herself and her mother, and Dolabella was in fact the man whom they chose. Cicero, notwithstanding his full knowledge of the enormities of his predecessor, publicly complimented and favoured him, "not so as to offend against my own good name, but still with all good-will towards him."[4] Apart from personal reasons this conduct was necessary in the interests of his subjects. Pompey was expected to take command against the Parthians, and Pompey's son was lately married to Appius Claudius' daughter.
