Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 2.djvu/152

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