A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology

6. P.Fonteius, a youth of obscure family, whom P. Clodius Pulcher [CLAUDIUS, No. 40.] chose for his adopted father, when, in order to qualify himself for the tribunate of the plebs, he passed at the end of B. C. 60, from the patrician house of the Claudii to the plebeian Fonteii. The whole proceeding was illegal and absurd. Fonteius was married and had three children, therefore there was no plea for adoption; he was scarcely twenty years old, while Clodius was thirty-five ; the rogation was hurried through, and the auspices were slighted. After the ceremony was completed, the first paternal act of Fonteius was to emancipate his adopted son. (Cic. pro Dom. 13, Harusp. Respons. 27.)