A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology. By various writers. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

138 FAVONIUS. FAVONIUS.
Fast. iv. 649, &c.) The rites observed in the have been the last of all the senators that was preformer place are minutely described by Virgil: a vailed upon to sanction the lex agraria of Caesar,
priest offered up a sheep and other sacrifices; and and not until Cato himself had yielded. In B. c.
the person who consulted the oracle had to sleep 57, when Cicero proposed that Pompey should be
one night on the skin of the victim, during which entrusted with the superintendence of all the supthe god gave an answer to his questions either in a plies of corn, Favonius was at the head of the oppodream or in supernatural voices. Similar rites are sition party, and became still more indignant at
described by Ovid as having taken place on the the conduct of the tribune Messius, who claimed
Aventine. (Comp. Isidor. viii. 11, 87.) There almost unlimited power for Pompey. When Pto.
is a tradition that Numa, by a stratagem, com- lemy Auletes, the exiled king of Egypt, had
pelled Picus and his son Faunus to reveal to him caused the murder of the ambassadors whom the
the secret of calling down lightning from heaven Alexandrians had sent to Rome, Favonius openly
[ELICIUS], and of purifying things struck by light- charged him in the senate with the crime, and at
ning. (Arnob. v. 1; Plut. Nuam. 15; Ov. Fast. the same time unmasked the disgraceful conduct of
iii. 291, &c.) At Rome there was a round temple those Romans who had been bribed by the king.
of Faunus, surrounded with columns, on Mount In the year following, when Pompey was pubCaelius; and another was built to him, in B. c. licly insulted during the trial of Milo, Favonius
196, on the island in the Tiber, where sacrifices and other Optimates rejoiced in the senate at the
were offered to him on the ides of February, the affront thus offered to him. In the second conday on which the Fabii had perished on the Cre- sulship of Pompey and Crassus, in B. C. 55, the
mera. (Liv. xxxiii. 42, xxxiv. 53; P. Vict. Reg. tribune Trebonius brought forward a bill that
Urb. 2; Vitruv. iii. 1;' Ov. Fast. ii. 193.) In Spain and Syria should be given to the consuls
consequence of the manner in which he gave his for five years, and that Caesar's proconsulship of
oracles, he was looked upon as the author of spec- Gaul should be prolonged for the same period. Cato
tral appearances and terrifying sounds (Dionys. and Favonius opposed the bill, but it was carried
v. 16); and he is therefore described as a wanton by force and violence. In B. c. 54, Favonius,
and voluptuous god, dwelling in woods, and fond Cicero, Bibulus, and Calidius. spoke in favour of
of nymphs. (Horat.. 1 c.) The way in which the freedom of the Tenedians. In the year folthe god manifested himself seems to have given lowing Favonius offered himself as a candidate for
rise to the idea of a plurality of fauns (Fauni), the aedileship, but was rejected. Cato, however,
who are described as'monsters, half goat, and observed, that a gross deception had been practised
with horns. (Ov. Fast. v. 99, Ileroid. iv. 49.) in the voting, and, with the assistance of the
Faunus thus gradually came to be identified with tribunes, he caused a fresh election to be instithe Arcadian Pan, and the Fauni as identical with tuted, the result of which was that his friend was
the Greek satyrs, whence Ovid (Met. vi. 392) invested with the office. During the year of his
uses the expression Fauni et Satyri fratres. As aedileship, he left the administration of affairs and
Faunus, and afterwards the Fauni, were believed the celebration of the games to his friend Cato.
to be particularly fond of frightening persons in Towards the end of the year, he was thrown into
various ways, it is not an improbable conjecture prison by the tribune, Q. Pompeius Rufus, for
that Faunus may be a euphemistic name, and con- some offence, the nature of which is unknown;
nected withfaveo. (Hartung, Die Relig. d. R6m. for according to Dion Cassius, Rufus imprisoned
vol. ii. p. 183, &c.) [L. S.] him merely that he might have a companion in
M. FAVO'NIUS is mentioned for the first time disgrace, having himself been imprisoned a short
in B. c. 61, during the transactions against P. time before; but some think, and with greater
Clodius for having violated the sacra of the Bona probability, that it was to deter Favonius from
Dea. On that occasion he joined Cato, whose opposing the dictatorship of Pompey, which it was
sternness he imitated throughout life, in his attacks intended to propose. In B. c. 52, Cicero, in his
upon the consul Piso for defending Clodius, and defence of Milo, mentions Favonius as the person
displayed great zeal in the matter. The year to whom Clodius was reported to have said, that
after, he accused Metellus Scipio Nasica, probably Milo in three or four days would no longer be
of bribery. Cicero defended the accused, at which among the living. The condemnation of Milo,
Favonius was somewhat offended. In the same however, took place, notwithstanding the exertions
year he sued, a second time, for the tribuneship, to save him, in which Cato and Favonius probably
but he does not appear to:have succeeded, for there took part. In 51 Favonius sued for the praetoris no evidence to prove that he was invested with ship, but in vain; as, however, in 48 he is called
that office, and Caesar, Pompey, and Crassus, who praetorlius, it is possible that he was candidate'for
at the end of the year concluded their treaty, and the same office in the year 50 also, and that in 49
were well aware that Favonius, although he was he was invested with it. In this year he and
harmless, might yet be a very troublesome oppo- Cato opposed the proposal that a supplicatio should
nent, probably exerted their influence to prevent be decreed in honour of Cicero, who was well
his gaining his end. About that time Pompey disposed towards both, and who appears to have
was suffering from a bad foot, and when he ap- been greatly irritated by this slight.
peared in- public with a white bandage round his The civil war between Caesar and Pompey
leg, Favonius, in allusion to his aiming at the su- broke out during the praetorship of Favonius, who
premacy in the Roman republic, remarked that it is said to have been the first to taunt Pompey by
was indifferent in what part of the body the royal requesting him to call forth the legions by stampdiadem (bandage) was worn. It should be re- ing his foot on the ground. He fled at first with
marked that Favonius, although he belonged to the consuls and several senators to Capua, and was
the party of the Optimates, was yet a personal the only one who would not listen to any proposals
enemy of Pompey. In B. c. 59, when J. Caesar for reconciliation between the two rivals; but notand Bibulus were consuls, Favonius is said to withstanding his personal aversion to Pompey, he