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).<ref>Dawson, D. [https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=HwsWp43OWjsC Cities of the Gods: Communist Utopias in Greek Thought] OUP, 1992, p. 247, at books.google.com, accessed 24 May 2009</ref> Despite his "wild, vehement manner", Favonius was capable of acts of humility, such as he performed to Pompey when he entertained Deiotarus I of Galatia aboard ship. Against the triumvirate Favonius was a member of the optimates faction within the Roman aristocracy; in a letter to Caesar on ruling a state (Ad Caesarem senem de re publica oratio), traditionally attributed to Sallust but probably by the rhetorician Marcus Porcius Latro, Caesar is told of the qualities of some of these nobles. Bibulus and Lucius Domitius are dismissed as wicked and dishonourable while Cato is someone "whose versatile, eloquent and clever talents I do not despise." The writer continues, Like Cato, Favonius opposed the corruption of many of Rome's leading politicians in general and the rise of the First Triumvirate in particular. When Caesar returned from his praetorship in Spain in 59 BC and successfully stood for consul, he allied himself with Pompey (to whom he gave his daughter Julia in marriage) and Clodius. Following an incident in which Cato prevented Caesar from both having a triumph and standing for consulship by a filibustering tactic, after which Cato and Bibulus were physically attacked by Caesar's supporters, Caesar's party demanded two things of the senate: first, that it sign a law concerning the distribution of land; second, that all senators swear an oath promising that they would uphold the law. According to Plutarch, "heavy penalties were pronounced against such as would not take the oath", 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