Until this moment, the point of gaining prestige and power and winning elections and victories for Roman men was to honour the family name. Every elite Roman man wanted to live up to his grandfather’s greatness or create a greatness to bequeath to his grandchildren. The family was supposed to be honoured by personal glory. But Clodius gave up his family and voluntarily surrendered his family name in order to be able to take an office to which he had no right, to be able to court the favour of the people of Rome and increase his personal prestige.
