Marcus Favonius (c. 90 BC – 42 BC) was a Roman politician during the period of the fall of the Roman Republic. He is noted for his imitation of Cato the Younger, his espousal of the Cynic philosophy, and for his appearance as the Poet in William Shakespeare's play Julius Caesar. Life 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. According to Plutarch, As well as being chosen aedile, he was also chosen quaestor and served as legatus in Sicily, "probably after his quaestorship". Although many classical reference works list Favonius as having been a praetor in 49 BC, it is a matter of some controversy whether or not he was a praetor at any time between 52 and 48 BC. According to F. X. Ryan, in his 1994 article 'The Praetorship of Favonius', the matter hinges on the meeting at the senate at which he bade Pompey "stamp on the ground". "When we are forced to decide whether a man who spoke at a meeting summoned by consuls was a praetor or a senator, all we can say is that probability greatly favors the latter alternative." Cassius Dio wrote of Favonius' relation to Cato that Favonius "imitated him in everything", 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, Pompey, challenged as to the paucity of his forces when Julius Caesar was approaching Rome from Gaul, answered that he not only could call upon the two legions that he had lent to Caesar but could make up an army of 30,000 men. At which Favonius "bade Pompey stamp upon the ground, and call forth the forces he had promised". According to Plutarch, Favonius was known amongst his fellow Roman aristocrats as a Cynic because of his outspokenness, but a modern writer on Greek philosophy labels