A member of the popular and powerful Claudian family (he and some his family members chose to use the plebeian form of the family name), Clodius is best known for his hatred of Cicero.
He was caught masquerading as a woman at the annual festival for Bona Dea. A goddess of fertility, Bona Dea's sacred rites were to be only attended by women. Clodius was put on trial for his crime, and Cicero was the head prosecutor. Clodius claimed to have been elsewhere, but Cicero destroyed his alibi. Still, Clodius managed to bribe his way to an acquittal in the case.
Once given the go ahead by Caesar, Clodius set about gaining his revenge against Cicero. As tribune, Clodius proposed a law outlawing anyone who had killed a Roman citizen without a trial. During he Catilinarian conspiracy, Cicero had done just that. Seeing the writing on the wall, Cicero left for exile in Greece in 58 BC.