With these words our knowledge of Matius comes almost to an end.  His life was prolonged into the imperial period, and, strangely enough, in one of the few references to him which we find at a later date, he is characterized as “the friend of Augustus” (divi Augusti amicus).  It would seem that the affection which he felt for Caesar he transferred to Caesar’s heir and successor.  He still holds no office or title.  In this connection it is interesting to recall the fact that we owe the best of Cicero’s philosophical work to him, the “Academics,” the “De Finibus,” and the “Tusculan Questions,” for Cicero tells us in his letter that he was induced to write his treatises on philosophy by Matius.  It is a pleasant thing to think that to him we may also be indebted for Cicero’s charming essay “On Friendship.”  The later life of Matius, then, we may think was spent in retirement, in the study of philosophy, and in the pursuit of literature.  His literary pursuits give a homely and not unpleasant touch to his character.  They were concerned with gastronomy, for Columella, in the first century of our era, tells us[147] that Matius composed three books, bearing the titles of “The Cook,” “The Butler,” and “The Picklemaker,” and his name was transmitted to a later generation in a dish known as “mincemeat a la Matius” (minutal Matianum).[148] He passes out of the pages of history in the writings of Pliny the Elder as the man who “invented the practice of clipping shrubbery."[149] To him, then, we perhaps owe the geometrical figures, and the forms of birds and beasts which shrubs take in the modern English garden.  His memory is thus ever kept green, whether in a way that redounds to his credit or not is left for the reader to decide.

Index

Acta Diurna. 
Anoyran monument. 
Anglo-Saxons, compared with Romans,
  in government;
  in private affairs. 
Arval Hymn, the. 
Ascoli’s theory of the differentiation of the Romance languages. 
Augustus,
  “Res Gestae”;
  his benefactions.

Batha, a municipal expense. 
Benefactions, private,
  co-operation with the government;
  objects;
  comparison of ancient and modern objects;
  of AEmilius;
  of Pompey;
  of Augustus;
  motives;
  expected of prominent men;
  attempts at regulation;
  a recognized responsibility;
  a legal obligation on municipal officials;
  offices thereby limited to the rich;
  of rich private citizens;
  effect on municipal life and character;
  on private citizens;
  charity. 
Burial societies.

Caelius, estimate of Curio. 
Caesar,
  expenditures as sedile;
  and Curio;
  secures Curio as agent in Rome;
  unprepared for civil war;
  et passim in chapters on Curio and Matius. 
Cato the elder, his diction.