law
Lex Clodia de exilio Ciceronis
Clodian law of exile
also: lex Clodia, Clodian law, his own law
The plebiscite carried by P. Clodius (tr. pl. 58 BC) interdicting Cicero from fire and water, which drove him into exile and which Clodius armed with self-protective clauses meant to make its abrogation legally hazardous. The recall debate of late 58 turned on how safely it could be repealed.
Reading notes
- On His House §47 water and fire be denied
The aquae et ignis interdictio --- forbidding a man fire and water --- was the legal form of Roman exile, technically a voluntary withdrawal once the interdict made life in Italy impossible. Cicero mocks the wording of Clodius's bill, which declared that water and fire ``have been'' denied him, penalising an act not yet done.