I feel that Cicero is in awe or wow of this guy. He seems to genuinely be suprised by Trebatitus and how he's used his tools for the bettering of himself. I don't think of Cicero as a kiss up and this passage as a whole supports that opinion. I feel that he's says what he wants with no remorse if it could be potentially taken as negative.

Lucius Cornelius Balbus, also called Lucius Cornelius Balbus Major (“the Elder”), (born c. 100, Gades [present-day Cádiz, Spain]—died after 32 bc, Rome), wealthy naturalized Roman, important in Roman politics in the last years of the republic.

son of zeus with a mortal mother

in reference to the story of how the Greeks used a wooden horse to win a ten-year long war against the Trojans.

The firs consul of Octavii. Octavii like many other plebian families, became known during the first Punic Wars.

Kameron Currie