The Letter: Gaius Matius

Among the surviving correspondence of Cicero, there is a letter that various historians have described as "magnificent" (Conrad Cichorius), "a pearl of ancient epistolary literature" (Pauly-Wissowa), "the noblest that has come from antiquity" (T. Rice Holmes), and so on.

What letter inspired these sentiments, and who was its author? Let's dive in!

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The letter was written by a man named Gaius Matius. Although he was a wealthy equestrian, he did not pursue a public career or office. His only claim to fame was his proximity to Julius Caesar.

The main sources for his life are Cicero's letters, particularly Ad Fam. XI. 27 and 28. The latter is "the noblest that has come from antiquity."

Early 20th-century historians often combined this Matius (let's call him Matius I) with another one, who was mentioned by Pliny the Elder, Tacitus, and Columella. However, subsequent studies have proven that they were different people. Matius II was a much younger man and a friend of Augustus. It's very likely that he was the son of Matius I. So, I'm skipping those sources as irrelevant.

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Matius was heartbroken over Caesar's death and did not hide his feelings. This greatly vexed the conspirators and their sympathizers, including Cicero. In August 44 BC, Cicero's disparaging remarks reached Matius, who felt hurt by them as he considered Cicero a friend. Their mutual friend, Gaius Trebatius, conveyed his feelings to Cicero.

Fam. XI. 27 is Cicero's letter to Matius, in which he reassures him of his goodwill and denies ever speaking ill of him (spoiler: he lied):

"Your position makes whatever you do noticeable; furthermore, envy puts some of your acts in a worse light than the facts warrant. If you do not hear these rumors I do not know what to say. So far as I am concerned, if I ever hear them I defend you as I know that I am always defended by you against my detractors."

Fam. XI. 28 is Matius' famous reply to him:

"It is true that what men said against me after the death of Caesar was known to me. They call it a sin of mine that I sorrow over the death of a man dear to me, and because I grieve that he whom I loved is no more, for they say that 'fatherland should be above friendship,' just as if they had proved already that his death has been of service to the state. But I will make no subtle plea. I confess that I have not attained to your high philosophic planes; for, on the one hand, in the Civil War I did not follow a Caesar, but a friend, and although I was grieved at the state of things, still I did not desert him; nor, on the other hand, did I at any time approve of the Civil War, nor even of the reason for strife, which I most earnestly sought to extinguish when it was kindling. Therefore, in the moment of victory for one bound to me by the closest ties, I was not captivated by the charm either of public office or of gold, while his other friends, although they had less influence with him than I, misused these rewards in no small degree. Nay, even my own property was impaired by a law of Caesar's, thanks to which very law many who rejoice at the death of Caesar have remained at Rome. I have worked as for my own welfare that conquered citizens might be spared.

Then may not I, who have desired the welfare of all, be indignant that he, from whom this favor came, is dead? Especially since the very men who were forgiven have brought him both unpopularity and death. You shall be punished, then, they say, 'since you dare to disapprove of our deed.' Unheard of arrogance, that some men glory in their crime, that others may not even sorrow over it without punishment! But it has always been the unquestioned right, even of slaves, to fear, to rejoice, to grieve according to the dictates of their own feelings rather than at the bidding of another man; of these rights, as things stand now, to judge from what these champions of freedom keep saying, they are trying to deprive us by intimidation; but their efforts are useless. I shall never be driven by the terrors of any danger from the path of duty or from the claims of friendship, for I have never thought that a man should shrink from an honorable death; nay, I have often thought that he should seek it. But why are they angry at me, if I wish them to repent of their deed? For I desire to have Caesar's death a bitter thing to all men.

'But I ought as a citizen to desire the welfare of the state.' Unless my life in the past and my hope for the future, without words from me, prove that I desire that very end, I do not seek to establish the fact by words. Wherefore I beg you the more earnestly to consider deeds more than words, and to believe, if you feel that it is well for the right to prevail, that I can have no intercourse with dishonorable men. For am I now, in my declining years, to change that course of action which I maintained in my youth, when I might even have gone astray with hope of indulgence, and am I to undo my life's work? I will not do so. Yet I shall take no step which may be displeasing to any man, except to grieve at the cruel fate of one most closely bound to me, of one who was a most illustrious man. But if I were otherwise minded, I would never deny what I was doing lest I should be regarded as shameless in doing wrong, a coward and a hypocrite in concealing it.

'Yet the games which the young Caesar gave in memory of Caesar's victory I superintended.' But that has to do with my private obligation and not with the condition of the state; a duty, however, which I owed to the memory and the distinguished position of a dear friend even though he was dead, a duty which I could not decline when asked by a young man of most excellent promise and most worthy of Caesar. 'I even went frequently to the house of the consul Antony to pay my respects!' To whom you will find that those who think that I am lacking in devotion to my country kept coming in throngs to ask some favor forsooth or secure some reward. But what arrogance this is that, while Caesar never interfered with my cultivating the friendship of men whom I pleased, even when he himself did not like them, these men who have taken my friend from me should try to prevent me by their slander from loving those whom I will.

But I am not afraid lest the moderation of my life may prove too weak to withstand false reports, or that even those who do not love me because of my loyalty to Caesar may not prefer to have friends like me rather than like themselves. So far as I myself am concerned, if what I prefer shall be my lot, the life which is left me I shall spend in retirement at Rhodes; but if some untoward circumstance shall prevent it, I shall live at Rome in such a wise as to desire always that right be done."

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A few comments on the contents of the letters before I move to Matius' life:

a) "Your position makes whatever you do noticeable; furthermore, envy puts some of your acts in a worse light than the facts warrant."

As I mentioned earlier, Matius didn't have a public career. He was not a member of the Senate and he never pursued magistracies. He shouldn't be important. The fact that he was important shows just how closely connected he was to Caesar.

b) "…for they say that 'fatherland should be above friendship,' just as if they had proved already that his death has been of service to the state."

As Goethe put it, Caesar's murder was "the most senseless deed that was ever done."

The Republic's system was designed for a city-state, but following her victory against Carthage, Rome ballooned to the size of an empire very rapidly—way too rapidly—and was unable to adapt to the changed circumstances. The shift to monarchy was unavoidable if Rome wanted to sustain herself. Caesar could have made the transition as painless as possible. When the conspirators killed him, all they achieved was plunge Rome into another 13 years of bloodshed and slaughter.

"…the original cause of this crisis was the formation of the Empire with the consequent growth of political tasks for which the machinery of the Roman state had not been constructed." – Matthias Gelzer

 

"…the old governing system had lost its way and needed to be replaced by one more responsive to the Empire's needs." – Richard A. Billows

 

The optimates loved to lay all the blame on Caesar's doorstep. But the Late Republic was a train wreck long before he was born. In fact, the first massive blow to the Republic's foundation was inflicted by the optimates when they killed Tiberius Gracchus. Caesar's father wasn't even born yet during that crisis, let alone Caesar himself. But to the very end, the optimates refused to take accountability for their role in the demise of the Republic.

 

"Necessary, sensible and popular reforms, along with more questionable measures that may have been politically expedient, were all being blocked by a small minority of aristocrats. The inertia at the heart of the Republic was alienating many citizens at all levels of society." – Adrian Goldsworthy

c) "…the very men who were forgiven have brought him both unpopularity and death."

I believe Matius is referring to this:

"It was Cicero who proposed the first honours for him in the senate, and their magnitude was, after all, not too great for a man; but others added excessive honours and vied with one another in proposing them, thus rendering Caesar odious and obnoxious even to the mildest citizens because of the pretension and extravagance of what was decreed for him. It is thought, too, that the enemies of Caesar no less than his flatterers helped to force these measures through, in order that they might have as many pretexts as possible against him and might be thought to have the best reasons for attempting his life. For in all other ways, at least, after the civil wars were over, he showed himself blameless; and certainly it is thought not inappropriate that the temple of Clemency was decreed as a thank-offering in view of his mildness." – Plutarch

 

When Suetonius tries to come up with reasons why Caesar deserved to die, all he can find is "His honors were excessive!" But when Caesar told the Senate that his "honours needed curtailment rather than enlargement," they bitched and moaned that he was ungrateful.

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1. From Matius' correspondence with Cicero, we can safely assume that they were fairly close in age. So, Matius' year of birth should be circa 100 BC, same as Caesar.

"Matius was close to Cicero and Caesar in his old age and was therefore born around 100." – Pauly-Wissowa

 

2. His friendship with Caesar was long-lasting. German historian Conrad Cichorius says, "Matius has apparently been friends with Caesar since ancient times." He cites a line from Matius' letter that may hint at it (quod adolescens praestiti).

3. Caesar was 18 when he became a fugitive during Sulla's proscriptions. If the above assumption is correct, Matius may have gone with him.

"Caesar fled from Rome and sought sanctuary in Sabine territory to the north-east. . . . The young aristocrat who in recent years had probably had to follow the strictly regulated routine of the flaminate now had to live rough. He may have had some slaves with him, perhaps even some friends, but such a lifestyle was at marked contrast to his earlier years." – Adrian Goldsworthy

4. Cichorius on Matius' early life and scholarly interests:

"…his friendly relations with Cicero also went back a long way, as Cicero states (27, 2): "As far back as I can recall the past I have no friend of longer standing than you are." Their mutual friendship was then interrupted by Matius's prolonged absence ("Your subsequent departure, and that too for a long time"). Since Matius consistently distanced himself from political life and official career, the reason for this long absence must have been personal. Now, Matius was evidently a man of pronounced scholarly interests. Cicero calls him both in the letter to Trebatius and nine years later in the letter addressed to Matius himself "a most erudite man" and emphasizes (27, 6) his "wit, refinement, and literary tastes." He seems to have been interested in philosophy, as Cicero writes to him "you persuaded me to write those philosophical essays of mine," as well as in rhetoric, as the famous rhetorician Apollodorus of Pergamon dedicated his textbook on rhetoric to him. Thus, Matius's "departure" can best be viewed as a study stay in the Greek East, such as one in Athens, Rhodes, and elsewhere, which is well-documented for so many members of Roman society in their younger years. The location in question, however, would initially be unknown. Now, at the end of the letter to Cicero, Matius declares his intention to retire to Rhodes for the rest of his life. However, Matius's close friend Caesar had traveled to Rhodes in 74 for an extended study stay, to hear the famous rhetorician Apollonius Molon there. It is perhaps reasonable to assume that Matius also studied in Rhodes with Caesar at that time; he, too, may have heard Apollonius and, given his interest in philosophy, Poseidonius as well. This could explain Matius's later idea of choosing Rhodes as his place of residence for the rest of his life. The plan itself was not carried out, as the Caesarian party soon regained power through the young Octavian, to whom Matius, as § 6 of his letter shows, was already personally close at that time."

 

As we know, Caesar was captured by pirates on his way to Rhodes. He was held for a ransom and his companions went to nearby communities to gather the necessary sum. Matius must have been one those companions.

5. Cicero cited Matius' long absence, his own political career, and their different modes of life as the reasons why they didn't maintain their friendship in the 70s and 60s.

It's worth noting that that these things were never an obstacle for Matius and Caesar. Their friendship transcended time and distance, adapted to the ever-changing circumstances of Caesar's life (from impoverished patrician to politician to general to dictator), and remained as strong as ever even after Caesar's death.

Gaul

1. Caesar spent 9 years in Gaul. Cicero's letter makes it clear that Matius remained close to Caesar throughout those years.

Fam. XI. 27:

"I saw your feeling toward me many years before the Civil War, while Caesar was in Gaul; for the result which you thought would be of great advantage to me and not of disadvantage to Caesar himself you accomplished: I mean in bringing him to love me, to honor me, to regard me as one of his friends. Of the many confidential communications which passed between us in those days, by word of mouth, by letter, by message, I say nothing, for sterner times followed."

2. In 53 BC, Cicero recommended a guy named Gaius Trebatius for Caesar's staff in Gaul. From Cicero's letter to Trebatius, we learn that Matius was also in Gaul at the time.

"I cannot tell you how exceedingly glad I am that you have become intimate with that most charming and erudite man, C. Matius. Make a point of winning his most sincere regard. Believe me, there is nothing you can bring home with you from that province of yours which would give me greater pleasure." – Cicero to Gaius Trebatius Tesla, June 53 BC

 

Civil war

1. After Caesar crossed the Rubicon, the Pompeians retreated to Brundisium to cross to Greece from there. Caesar followed to try to stop Pompey from leaving.

Matius and Trebatius headed for Brundisium to join Caesar. They stopped by Cicero's villa in Formiae and Cicero showed Caesar's letter to Matius, which he received earlier.

"In the course of a long talk I showed him Caesar's letter to me, of which I sent you a copy before, and I asked him to explain what Caesar meant by writing that he wished "to take advantage of my advice, my influence, my position and my help of all sorts." Matius replied that undoubtedly Caesar wanted my help and influence to make peace. Would that I could succeed in carrying through some political compromise in this miserable state of affairs! Matius himself declared that Caesar had that feeling, and promised that he would help such a course." – Cicero to Atticus, March 20, 49 BC

 

Cichorius points out:

"This passage clearly demonstrates, on the one hand, that Matius could easily be regarded by Cicero as the authoritative interpreter of Caesar's letters, and, on the other hand, that Matius could consider himself entitled to make an independent statement in Caesar's name."

Trebatius was also Caesar's associate, yet Cicero only consulted Matius regarding Caesar's letter. This makes Cichorius' points even stronger.

2. On their way to Brundisium, they learned from Caesar's messengers that Pompey broke the blockade and left Italy, so Caesar was returning to Rome. They received his travel plans ("Caesar would stop on the 25th at Beneventum, at Capua on the 26th, on the 27th at Sinuessa") and Trebatius went back to Formiae, while Matius met with Caesar at Trebula, near Capua.

Fam. XI. 27:

"Nor indeed have I forgotten the letter which you sent to me after meeting Caesar, in the district near Trebula, as I remember it."

 

3. Cicero chose Pompey's side, but Matius did not withdraw his friendship from him or his family.

Fam. XI. 27:

"Next came that ill-fated moment when either my regard for public opinion, or my sense of duty, or chance, call it what you will, compelled me to go to Pompey. What act of kindness or thoughtfulness either toward me in my absence or toward my dear ones in Rome did you neglect? In fact, whom have all my friends thought more devoted to me and to themselves than you are?"

4. In 47 BC, Caesar defeated Pharnaces II at Zela. It was his quickest victory and he summed it up with the words "Veni, vidi, vici" in a letter to Matius.

"When he was reporting back to Rome on the sharpness and speed of the battle, he wrote to Matius, one of his friends, using just three expressions: 'I came, I saw, I conquered.' In Latin the three words all end with the same inflection, and the compression of the phrase is very powerful." – Plutarch

 

Due to the error in the manuscript, early English translations say "Amatius/Amantius." However, in 1922, Cichorius restored Matius' name, and it has been universally accepted ever since.

Caesar's dictatorship

 

1. While Caesar was stuck in Alexandria, things were not going well in Rome:

 

"Dolabella's madness also started tongues wagging against Caesar, and so did Matius' avarice; so too did Antony's drunken excesses and his ransacking and rebuilding of Pompey's private house, as if it was not big enough already." – Plutarch

 

a) After Pharsalus, Caesar pursued Pompey to Egypt and sent Mark Antony back to Rome to manage affairs in his absence. However, Antony spent most of his time drunk.

b) "Dolabella's madness" refers to Publius Dolabella's attempt to abolish all debts. This move was opposed by his colleagues in the tribunate, leading to mass riots in the streets. Antony hated Dolabella and brutally suppressed the unrest.

Caesar reached Rome in September 47 BC and cut Antony off for the mess he made in Rome.

c) The most likely explanation for "Matius' avarice" is that he was a moneylender. It's possible that he was strict about debt collection during the war. Those who borrowed from him might have seen this as avarice.

As Cichorius points out, this remark in Matius' letter must be him addressing the accusations: "…in the moment of victory for one bound to me by the closest ties, I was not captivated by the charm either of public office or of gold, while his other friends, although they had less influence with him than I, misused these rewards in no small degree. Nay, even my own property was impaired by a law of Caesar's…"

"To what extent this accusation was justified, we are no longer able to determine today." – Conrad Cichorius

As for "a law of Caesar's"… In his article, Caesar, Cicero and the Problem of Debt, M. W. Frederiksen suggests that Matius was referring to the lex Julia de bonis cedendis. This law—"on which our modern bankruptcy regulations are based" (Theodor Mommsen)—allowed people to pay off their debts by ceding parts of their property instead of cash. They could retain a portion needed for their survival and thus avoid complete financial ruin. Mommsen's praise may seem over-the-top, but it's not unfounded. It was an effective piece of legislation that played an important role in Imperial Rome.

2. In September 46 BC, Cicero named Matius as one of Caesar's intimate friends:

"In fact, opportunely enough, I have all Caesar's intimate friends so closely bound to me by familiar acquaintance and kindly feeling that, after him, they account me next. This Pansa, Hirtius, Balbus, Oppius, Matius and Postumus, do so absolutely that their affection for me stands alone." – Cicero to Ampius Balbus, September 46 BC

3. When Caesar was returning from Spain in August 45 BC, Matius went out to meet him. A whole bunch of people did actually. That's when Caesar forgave Antony.

"You ask what I think about going to meet Caesar. Where are you thinking of, unless it is Alsium? Indeed I have written to Murena asking him to take me in; but I suppose he has gone with Matius. So I shall inflict myself on Sallustius." – Cicero to Atticus, August 24, 45 BC

 

Post-Ides of March

1.

"Caesar's assassination shook him deeply. He initially withdrew from all social life, but made no secret of his thoughts and feelings." – Pauly-Wissowa

 

From Sulla's dictatorship to his own assassination, Caesar's life was a rollercoaster. But time and again, he prevailed. Perhaps Matius hoped that Caesar would always prevail.

2. On April 7, Cicero paid a visit to Matius, which he described in a letter to Atticus:

"I have stopped for a visit with the man we were speaking of in the morning. His view is that nothing could be more disgraceful and the thing was quite hopeless. "For, if Caesar with his genius could not find a solution, who will find it now.'' In a word he said the end had come (which may be true, but he was pleased about it)." – Cicero to Atticus, April 7, 44 BC

 

a) Re "he was pleased about it"... It had been less than a month since Caesar died and Matius' feelings were still raw. The conspirators thought they were saving the Republic, but instead, the last semblance of it died with Caesar. Matius is allowed to feel a bit schadenfreude about it.

"The Republic that the conspirators believed in was one that maintained the privilege of the senatorial elite. Faith in the system was no longer so deeply entrenched amongst the rest of society as they supposed." – Adrian Goldsworthy

b) Matius' words are often used to argue that Caesar failed where Augustus succeeded. But that's not fair. Matius was speaking before Octavian arrived in Italy, when the sense of hopelessness was justified. But once he saw Octavian's determination, he was no longer dooming and glooming ("a young man of most excellent promise and most worthy of Caesar"). Caesar found a solution to keep Rome from tearing herself apart; he just didn't get to finish it, and it was up to Octavian to work it out.

"…Caesar did not fail to find a solution: he was merely assassinated by enemies while he was putting the solution into place. It fell to Caesar's heir, Octavian/Augustus, to establish the new governing system therefore, but it must be noted that in every important respect, he followed the outlines discernible in Caesar's reform programme." – Richard A. Billows

 

"It is certain that Rome was the better for his administration, at least for the foundations which he laid." – Theodore Dodge

 

3. Some time before Caesar's assassination, Cicero visited him at the request of Publius Sestius. He had to wait before Caesar could receive him, as he was busy with other matters. Matius was also present that day.

And now Matius told Cicero what Caesar had said to him back then:

 

"…recently, when at Sestius' request I paid Caesar a visit and was sitting waiting to be called in, he remarked: 'Can I doubt that I am heartily detested, when Cicero sits waiting and cannot visit me at his convenience? Yet, if ever there was a good-natured man, he is one. However, I have no doubt that he detests me.'" – Cicero to Atticus, April 7, 44 BC

 

In the next letter to Atticus, Cicero repeated the story:

 

"What I mentioned to you, perhaps a little obscurely, was like this. He said Caesar remarked to him, when I went to see him at Sestius' request and was sitting waiting: 'Can I be foolish enough to think that this man, good-natured though he is, is friendly to me, when he has to sit and wait for my convenience so long.'" – Cicero to Atticus, April 8, 44 BC

 

4. From that point on, Cicero practically stopped calling Matius by his name and used mocking nicknames instead: Madaro and Calvena. They are derived from Greek and Latin words for "bald."

 

An example for each nickname:

"So you have in Baldpate a bitter enemy of peace, that is to say, of Brutus." – Cicero to Atticus, April 8, 44 BC

 

"It is a good sign that Calvena is annoyed at Brutus' suspicions." – Cicero to Atticus, April 11, 44 BC

 

The second one is brutal in its implications. Matius becoming a target for Caesar's assassins means they'll kill him if they ever get the upper hand. And without missing a bit, Cicero then proclaims to Matius how much he appreciates him (Fam. XI. 27).

 

5. In May, Matius began helping Octavian to organize the games in Caesar's honor.

 

"About Octavius' speech I think the same as you, and I don't like his preparations for the games or Matius and Postumus as his agents." – Cicero to Atticus, May 18, 44 BC

 

The games were held from July 20 onwards. That's when a comet appeared in the sky.

 

"He died in the fifty-sixth year of his age, and was numbered among the gods, not only by a formal decree, but also in the conviction of the common people. For at the first of the games which his heir Augustus gave in honour of his apotheosis, a comet shone for seven successive days, rising about the eleventh hour, and was believed to be the soul of Caesar, who had been taken to heaven; and this is why a star is set upon the crown of his head in his statue." – Suetonius

 

I wish we knew what Matius thought of the comet. Even if he was an entirely rational man, this still must have shaken him and perhaps made him wonder if this was truly a sign from Caesar.

 

6. Matius' last appearance in our sources is when Antony was trying to undermine Octavian by bringing up Caesarion's alleged paternity.

 

"Mark Antony declared to the senate that Caesar had really acknowledged the boy, and that Gaius Matius, Gaius Oppius, and other friends of Caesar knew this. Of these Gaius Oppius, as if admitting that the situation required apology and defence, published a book, to prove that the child whom Cleopatra fathered on Caesar was not his." – Suetonius

 

Caesar chose Octavian to be his son and heir, and his true friends, unlike Antony, honored that. Matius was very clear that he whole heartedly approved of that choice.

 

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The people who were actually closest to Caesar are usually ignored in popular media. Matius is one such figure. Thankfully, his letter survived and with it his place in Caesar's story.

"[Gaius Matius] was neither a great warrior, nor statesman, nor writer. . . It is his genius for friendship which has kept his memory green, and that is what he himself would have wished." – Frank Frost Abbott