Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 2.djvu/153

Rh FAVORINUS. joined him and the Optiniates, when they went over to Greece. In b. c. 48, we find him engaged in Macedonia, under Metellus Scipio, and during the hitter's absence in Thessaly, Favonius, who was left behind on the river Haliacmon with eight cohorts, was taken by surprise by Domitius Cal- vinus, and was saved only by the speedy return of Metellus Scipio. Up to the last moment Fa- vonius would not hear of any reconciliation. After the unfortunate issue of the battle of Phar- salus, Favonius, however, acted as a faithful friend towards Pompey: he accompanied him in his flight, and shewed him the greatest kindness and attention. After the death of Pompey, he returned to Italy, and was pardoned by J. Caesar, in whose supre- macy he acquiesced, having gained the conviction that monarchy was better than civil war. For this reason the conspirators against the life of Caesar did not attempt to draw him into their plot ; but after the murder was accomplished, he openly joined the conspirators, and went with them to the Capitol. When Brutus and Cassius were obliged to leave Rome, he followed them, and was accordingly outlawed in B. c. 43, by the lex Pedia, as their accomplice. He was, however, a trouble- some and importunate ally to the republicans, and in 42, when he presumed to influence Brutus and Cassius at their meeting at Sardis, Brutus thrust the intruder out of the house. In the battle of Philippi Favonius was taken prisoner, and on being led in chains before the conquerors, he respectfully saluted Antony, but indulged in bitter invectives against Octavianus, for having ordered several re- publicans to be put to death. The consequence was, as he might have expected, that he met with the same fate. M. Favonius was not a man of strong character or principle : his sternness of manner and of conduct was mere affectation and imitation of Cato, in which he went so far as to receive and deserve the nickname of the ape of Cato. The motives for his actions, in all cases where we can trace them, were passion, personal animosity, and a desire to please Cato, the consideration of the public good having no share in them. His only honourable action is the conduct he showed towards Pompey after his defeat. He and L. Postumius are admi- rably characterised by the Pseudo-Sallust {ad Cues. 2. p. 275, ed Gerlach) as qutisi magnae navis supervacua onera. He seems to have had some talent as an orator, at least we know from Cicero that he spoke in public on several occasions, but no specimen of his oratory has come down to us. (Cic. ad Alt. i. 14, ii. 1, 4, vii. 1, 15. xv. 11, ad Qu. Fr. ii. 3, 1 1, ad Fam. viii. 9, 11, pro Mil. 9, 16 ; Val. Max. vi. 2. § 7 ; Plut. Cat. Min. 32, 46, Pomp. 60, 67, Brut. 12, 34, Caes. 41 ; Dion Cass, xxxviii. 7,xxxix. 14, 34, &c. xl. 45, xlvi. 48, xlvii. 49 ; Caes. B.C. iii. 36 ; Veil. Pat. ii. 53 ; Appian, B. C. ii. 119, &c. ; Suet. Odav. 13.) [L. S.] FAVO'NirS EULO'GIUS. [Eulogius.] FAVORrNUS, a Latin orator, of whom nothing is known, except that Gellius (xv. 8) has preserved a fragment of one of his orations in sup- port of a lex Lkinia de sumtu minuendo. The ques- tion as to who this Favorinus, and what this Licinian law was, deserves some attention. A Ro- man orator of the name of Favorinus is altogether unknown, and hence critics have proposed to change the name in Gellius into Fannius, Auguri- uus, or Favonius ; but as all the MSS. agree in FAVORINUS. 139 Favorinus, it would be arbitrary to make any such alteration, and we must acquiesce in what we learn from Gellius. As for the lex Licinia here spoken of, Macrobius (ii. 13), in enumerating the sumptuary laws, mentions one which was earned by P. Licinius Crassus Dives, and which is, in all probability, the one which was supported by Favo- rinus. The exact year in which this law was pro- mulgated is uncertain ; some assign it to the cen- sorship of Licinius Crassus, b. c. 89, others to his consulship in B. c. 97, and others, again, to his tribuneship, b. c. 110, or his praetorship, b. c. 104. The poet Lucilius is known to have mentioned this law in his Satires ; and as that poet died in B. c. 103, it is at any rate clear that the law must have been carried previous to the consulship of Licinius Crassus, i. e. previous to b. c. 97- (H. Meyer, Fragm. Orat. Rom. p. 207, &c., 2d edit.) [L. S.] FAVORI'NUS. (^agajpTi/os.) 1. A philosopher and sophist of the time of the emperor Hadrian. He was a native of Aries, in the south of Gaul, and is said to have been bom an Hermaphrodite or an eunuch. (Philostr. Vit. Soph. i. 8. § 1 ; Lu- cian, Eunzich. 7 ; Gell. ii. 22.) On one occasion, however, a Roman of rank brought a charge of adultery against him. He appears to have visited Rome and Greece at an early age, and he ac- quired an intimate acquaintance of the Greek and Latin languages and literature. These attainments combined with great philosophical knowledge, very extensive learning, and considerable oratorical power, raised him to high distinctions both at Rome and in Greece. For a time he enjoyed the friendship and favour of the emperor Hadrian, but on one occasion he offended the emperor in a dis- pute with him, and fell into disgrace, whereupon the Athenians, to please the emperor, destroyed the bronze statue which they had previously erected to Favorinus. He used to boast of three things : that being a eunuch he had been charged with ■ adultery, that although a native of Gaul he spoke and wrote Greek, and that he con- tinued to live although he had offended the em- peror. (Philostr. I. c. ; Dion Cass. Ixix. 3 ; Spartian. Hadr. 1 6.) Favorinus was connected by intimate friendship with Demetrius of Alexandria, Demetrius the Cynic, Cornelius Fronto, and especially with Plutarch, who dedicated to him his treatise on the principle of cold {ivepL rod -wpwTov "Vvxpov), and among whose lost works we have mention of a letter on friendship, addressed to Favorinus. He- rodes Atticus, who was likewise on intimate terms with him, looked up to him with great esteem, and Favorinus bequeathed to hiui his library and his house at Rome. Favorinus for some time re- sided in Asia Minor ; and as he was highly ho- noured by the Ephesians, he excited the envy and hostility of Polemon, then the most famous sophist at Smyrna. The two sophists attacked each other in their declamations with great bitterness and animosity. The oratory of Favorinus was of a lively, and in his earlier years of a ver}"^ passionate kind. He was very fond of displaying his learning in his speeches, and was always particularly anx- ious to please his audience. His extensive know- ledge is further attested by his numerous works, and the variety of subjects on which he wrote. None of his works, however, has come down to us, unless we suppose with Emperius, the late editor of Dion Chrysostomus (in a dissertation de Oraiione Corinthiaca fatso Dioni Chrys. adscripta.