Manius Pomponius Matho ( 236 – 211 BC) was a Roman general who was elected consul for the year 233 BC with

Quintus Fabius Maximus Verrucosus Quintus Fabius Maximus Verrucosus (), surnamed Cunctator ( 280 – 203 BC), was a Roman statesman and general of the third century BC. He was Roman consul, consul five times (233, 228, 215, 214, and 209 BC) and was appointed Roman dictator, dict ...

. He was also the maternal grandfather of the general and statesman

Scipio Africanus Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus (, , ; 236/235–) was a Roman general and statesman who was one of the main architects of Rome's victory against Ancient Carthage, Carthage in the Second Punic War. Often regarded as one of the greatest milit ...

Career

During his consulship, Matho carried on the war against the Sardinians and was granted a triumph for his victory over them. However, this victory was incomplete, because the war was continued by his brother Marcus, consul in 231 BC. In 217 BC, he was apparently chosen

magister equitum The , in English Master of the Horse or Master of the Cavalry, was a Roman magistrate appointed as lieutenant to a dictator. His nominal function was to serve as commander of the Roman cavalry in time of war, but just as a dictator could be n ...

(Eng. "master of the horse") to the

dictator A dictator is a political leader who possesses absolute Power (social and political), power. A dictatorship is a state ruled by one dictator or by a polity. The word originated as the title of a Roman dictator elected by the Roman Senate to r ...

, Lucius Veturius Philo, and was elected praetor for the following year, 216 BC. There seems no reason for believing that the Matho, praetor of this year, was a different person from the consul of 233 BC, as the Romans were now at war with Hannibal, and were therefore anxious to appoint to the great offices of the state generals who had had experience in war. The lot, however, did not give any military command to Matho, but the ''jurisdictio inter cives Romanos et peregrines''. After news had been received of the fatal battle of

Cannae Cannae (now , ) is an ancient village of the region of south east Italy. It is a (civil parish) of the (municipality) of . Cannae was formerly a bishopric, and is a Latin Catholic titular see (as of 2022). Geography The commune of Cannae i ...

, Matho and his colleague, the

praetor urbanus ''Praetor'' ( , ), also ''pretor'', was the Title#Titles for heads of state, title granted by the government of ancient Rome to a man acting in one of two official capacities: (i) the commander of an army, and (ii) as an elected ''Roman magistr ...

, summoned the senate to the

curia Hostilia The Curia Hostilia was one of the original senate houses or "curiae" of the Roman Republic. It was believed to have begun as a temple where the warring tribes laid down their arms during the reign of Romulus (r. c. 771–717 BC). During the early ...

to deliberate on what steps were to be taken. At the expiration of his office, Matho received as

propraetor In ancient Rome, a promagistrate () was a person who was granted the power via '' prorogation'' to act in place of an ordinary magistrate in the field. This was normally ''pro consule'' or ''pro praetore'', that is, in place of a consul or praet ...

the province of

Cisalpine Gaul Cisalpine Gaul (, also called ''Gallia Citerior'' or ''Gallia Togata'') was the name given, especially during the 4th and 3rd centuries BC, to a region of land inhabited by Celts (Gauls), corresponding to what is now most of northern Italy. Afte ...

, in 215 BC, for

Livy Titus Livius (; 59 BC – AD 17), known in English as Livy ( ), was a Roman historian. He wrote a monumental history of Rome and the Roman people, titled , covering the period from the earliest legends of Rome before the traditional founding i ...

says (xxiv. 10), in the next year, 214 BC, that the province of

Gaul Gaul () was a region of Western Europe first clearly described by the Roman people, Romans, encompassing present-day France, Belgium, Luxembourg, and parts of Switzerland, the Netherlands, Germany, and Northern Italy. It covered an area of . Ac ...

was continued to him. Livy, however, not only makes no mention of Matho's appointment in 215 BC, but expressly states (xxiii. 25) that in that year no army was sent into Gaul on account of the want of soldiers. We can only reconcile these statements by supposing that Matho was appointed to the province but did not obtain any troops that year. He died in 211 BC, at which time he was one of the

pontifices In Roman antiquity, a pontiff () was a member of the most illustrious of the colleges of priests of the Religion in ancient Rome, Roman religion, the College of Pontiffs."Pontifex". "Oxford English Dictionary", March 2007 The term ''pontiff'' was ...

(Liv. xxvi. 23). He was succeeded in that office by Gaius Livius Salinator.

Family

Matho was the brother of Marcus Pomponius Matho, consul in 231 BC who died in 204 BC. Either man, but probably the latter, was the father of Marcus Pomponius Matho, plebeian aedile in 206 BC, who was ordered to investigate the complaints of the

Locrians The Locrians (, ''Lokroi'') were an ancient Greek tribe that inhabited the region of Locris in Central Greece, around Parnassus. They spoke the Locrian dialect, a Doric-Northwest dialect, and were closely related to their neighbouring tribes ...

against his kinsman Scipio Africanus. Matho is best known as the grandfather of the great Roman general Scipio Africanus. His daughter Pomponia was the wife of Publius Cornelius Scipio, a consul in 218 BC (killed in 211 BC). According to William Smith, relying on

Cicero Marcus Tullius Cicero ( ; ; 3 January 106 BC – 7 December 43 BC) was a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, orator, writer and Academic skeptic, who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises tha ...

, the name Matho was pronounced without the "h" and was sometimes written as Mato.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pomponius Matho, Manius 211 BC deaths 3rd-century BC Roman consuls 3rd-century BC Roman praetors Magistri equitum (Roman Republic) Matho, Manius Pontifices Year of birth uncertain