Editing Adoption in ancient Rome (section)

===Political adoptions and legal dodges===
In the late Republican era, [[Publius Clodius Pulcher]] famously subverted the usual course of "adopting up", surrendering his [[Patrician (ancient Rome)|patrician]] status and becoming a nominal [[Plebeians|plebeian]] in order to qualify for the office of [[Tribune of the plebs|tribune]].{{sfn|Tatum|1999|pp=280–282}} Plebeians had adopted patricians before, but the reasons are not always clear and were not always political.{{sfn|Lindsay|2009|p=170}} Cicero criticized the ''adrogatio'' of Clodius as solely politically motivated,{{sfn|Corbier|1991|p=63, citing Cicero, ''De domo sua'' 35}} and Clodius was emancipated immediately after he had achieved his aim.{{sfn|Lindsay|2009|p=171}} Around the same time, a nominal adoption allowed [[Publius Cornelius Lentulus Spinther]], son of the [[Publius Cornelius Lentulus Spinther|consul of 57 BC]], to take a place in the [[College of Augurs]] by getting around the rule against having two members from the same ''[[gens]]''. The adoption seems to have been entirely fictional, since there is no evidence he ever made any use of the nomenclature of the [[Manlia gens#Manlii Torquati|Manlius Toquatus]] who adopted him.{{sfn|Lindsay|2009|p=172}} Cicero's own patrician son-in-law, [[Publius Cornelius Dolabella (consul 44 BC)|Publius Cornelius Dolabella]], followed the path of Clodius in becoming a tribune by having himself adopted by a plebeian Cornelius.{{sfn|Lindsay|2009|p=172}}

Augustan legislation that granted privileges to fathers with multiple children and disadvantaged the childless also prompted adoptions of convenience.{{sfn|Corbier|1991|pp=73–74}} Adoption for this purpose became enough of an issue that by the time of [[Nero]] a senatorial decree had tried to block legal dodges. The historian [[Tacitus]] indicates that fictitious or "fake adoption" ''(simulata adoptio)'' could be detected by rapid emancipation once the benefit was realized – benefits including priority in the selection of [[Roman governor|provincial governors]] or candidates for office for men who had met the fatherhood quota.{{sfn|Gardner|1989|p=249, especially n. 29, citing Tacitus, ''Annales'' 15.9}} The restrictions under the decree are not preserved in full, but a request for ''adrogatio'' could be denied if the would-be adoptive father already had children or was under the age of sixty and assumed able to procreate.{{sfn|Gardner|1989|p=249, citing Cicero, ''De domo'' 34; ''Digest'' 1.7.15.2–3 and 1.17.17.3; and ''[[Codex Justinianus]]'' 8.47.3}}