as praetor elect he ventured to oppose vitellius in the senate , and as praetor ( 70 ) he maintained , in opposition to vespasian , that the management of the finances ought to be left to the discretion of the senate ; he proposed that the temple of jupiter best and greatest , which had been destroyed in the vitelline/flavian civil war , should be restored at the public expense ; he saluted vespasian by his private name , and did not recognize him as emperor in his praetorian edicts .