Favonius was born in around 90 BC in
Tarracina (the modern Terracina), a Roman colony on the
Appian Way at the edge of the
Volscian Hills. Favonius in Latin means "favourable"; in
Roman mythology Favonius was the west wind, whose counterpart in
Greek mythology was
Zephyrus.
Political career Favonius, with the support of Cato, was chosen aedile at some time between 53 and 52 BC. while
Plutarch wrote that Favonius was "a fair character ... who supposed his own petulance and abusive talking a copy of Cato's straightforwardness". An instance of his imitation of Cato's plainspeaking that was ruder and more vehement than the behaviour of his model might have allowed came in 49 BC; in a dispute in the
Senate, but a modern writer on Greek philosophy labels him as an "early representative of [the] pseudo-Cynic type" who fell short of the (possibly unattainable) ideal cynicism of the earliest Greek proponents of the doctrine (a slightly later example of the type was
Dio Chrysostom). Despite his "wild, vehement manner", which in this case meant exile. A party led by
Cicero,
Lucullus and Bibulus, to which Cato and Favonius allied themselves, opposed these measures, but eventually either swore the oath or abstained. Cato, however, feared these laws and the oath as not being for the common good but as extensions of the power of Caesar and Pompey; Plutarch writes of Cato that "he was afraid, not of the distribution of land, but of the reward which would be paid for this to those who were enticing the people with such favours." Eventually all senators except Cato and Favonius agreed to Caesar and Pompeys's measures, whereupon Cicero made an oration urging Cato to soften his attitude. According to Plutarch, Finally Cato was persuaded to give up his opposition, followed by Favonius, the last to submit. Plutarch writes, "By these and similar arguments and entreaties, we are told, both at home and in the forum, Cato was softened and at last prevailed upon. He came forward to take the oath last of all, except Favonius, one of his friends and intimates."
Assassination of Caesar Despite the fact that he opposed Caesar, Favonius, like Cicero, was not invited by Brutus and Cassius to participate in the
plot to assassinate Caesar in 44 BC. In his
Life of Brutus, Plutarch wrote,
Execution after Philippi After Caesar's death in March 44 BC, Favonius became an opponent of his successors in the
Second Triumvirate. According to Cicero's letter to
Atticus of 8 June 44 BC, Favonius was present at a meeting of the Liberatores who opposed
Antony's near-dictatorial regime. Also present at this meeting were Cicero, Brutus, Cassius,
Porcia Catonis,
Servilia and
Junia Tertia. Along with Cicero, his brother
Quintus Tullius Cicero, and
Lucius Julius Caesar, Favonius was
proscribed by the triumvirate, and imprisoned after Antony and
Octavian (later Augustus) defeated the forces of Brutus and Cassius at the
Battle of Philippi (42 BC). His imprisonment did little to assuage his intemperate behaviour. According to
Suetonius, "Marcus Favonius, the well-known imitator of Cato, saluted Antonius respectfully as Imperator when they were led out in chains, but lashed Augustus to his face with the foulest abuse." Favonius' abuse was apparently as a result of Octavian's brutal treatment of the prisoners captured at Philippi. Modern-day historian Josiah Osgood says this might have been as a slander "planted by supporters of Marc Anthony", but both ancient and contemporary students of Roman sexuality have observed that a man's sexual use of his own slaves, male or female, was not a target for social condemnation at the time. Sarmentus was the subject of
Quintus Dellius' complaint to
Cleopatra that while he and other dignitaries were served sour wine by Antony in Greece, Augustus' catamite was drinking
Falernian in Rome. ==Legacy==