Appius Claudius Pulcher (consul 54 BC)  From Wikipedia, the free
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Pulcher (97 BC – 49 BC) was a consul of the Roman Republic in 54
BC. He was an expert in Roman law and antiquities, especially
the esoteric lore of the augural college of which he was a
controversial member. He was head of the senior line of the most
powerful family of the patrician Claudii. The Claudii were one
of the five leading families (gentes maiores or "Greater Clans")
which had dominated Roman social and political life from the
earliest years of the republic. He is best known as the
recipient of 13 of the extant letters in Cicero's ad Familiares
corpus (the whole of book III), which date from winter 53-52 to
summer 50 BC. Regrettably they do not include any of Appius'
replies to Cicero as extant texts of any sort by members of
Rome's ruling aristocracy are quite few and rare, apart from
those of Julius Caesar.  Augur, scholar, author, orator[edit]
The date of his co-option into t