Reference edition:

Ch. P. Jones, A Speech of the Emperor Hadrian, in «The Classical Quarterly» 54, 2004, 266-273.

             The so-called Laudatio Matidiae (CIL XIV 3579: Dessau = Inscr. It. IV 1,77: Mancini) is an epigraphic text recovered from Tivoli. Preserved in Tivoli’s Church of St Paul until the end of the 16th century (Pepe), it is now lost, but four transcriptions from the sixteenth century survive, on which the modern editions are based (after Mommsen’s edition of 1863, Vollmer’s from 1892 is among the most important).

            Mommsen identified the text as the long fragment of a funeral oration given by the emperor Hadrian for his mother-in-law Matidia, but the occasion on which this oration was given has been the subject of debate. Cantarelli believed that it could not have been given at the genuine funeral ceremony, but a later event, as it was otherwise difficult to explain Hadrian’s words, [aure]is etiamnum strepunt luctuosis conclamatio[nibus propinqua]rum mearum (ll. 19-20). Following Cantarelli’s lead, Jones deduced that it concerned Hadrian’s address to the Senate, according to Roman custom, requesting the deification of his mother-in-law. This is Jones’ reconstruction of the sequence of events: Matidia died in December 119, and on the 23 December the fratres Arvales sent fragrances as gifts for the cremation and with a view to Matidia’s consecratio. Meanwhile, Hadrian must have formally requested deification from the Senate, on which the assembly perhaps deliberated during the session of the 1 January 120, and which was later confirmed by coins bearing the legend Diva Matidia Augusta (Mattingly). Hadrian was in Rome on this date, and the fragment may indeed date back to this occasion. It is unknown how the fragment came to be preserved in Tivoli: perhaps it was engraved on the base of a statue, placed in a familial tomb or in Hadrian’s Villa itself.

            Matidia, also known as Matidia Maior, was a niece of Trajan, since her father, C. Salonius Matidius Patruinus, had married Trajan’s sister, Ulpia Marciana. Matidia seems to have married twice: with the first husband, called Mindius, she had a daughter called Matidia Minor, but the marriage probably ended in divorce. She married a second time, to L. Vibius Sabinus — who was perhaps consul in 97 and seems to have died soon after (Syme) — and they had another daughter, Sabina, who married Hadrian in the year 100. Matidia then became Hadrian’s mother-in-law (ll. 4, 11, 18). The two were, however, already distant relatives: according to the Historia Augusta, Hadrian’s father and Trajan were first cousins (consobrinus: Birley, Jones). The connection between Matidia and Hadrian was further reinforced when they both accompanied Trajan during his campaigns in Dacia and against the Parthians. She seems to have lived constantly at the side of her uncle the emperor, and to have remained with him until his death (ll. 7-10). Trajan’s problematic adoption of Hadrian in extremis — which Matidia may have closely observed — also rendered them cousins (l. 31: consobrina).

            The first lines preserved of the inscription (ll. 7-10) focus on familial relations, and particularly on Matidia’s filial devotion to her uncle Trajan. Hadrian underlined the profundity of his grief, apologising in case it hindered him from better expressing everything he would like to (ll. 11-20). Then he asks the addressees of the oration to solace him in his excessive display of suffering, recalling that they themselves are familiar with Matidia’s mores and recollecting her merits not as something new, but well known (si potius ut nota dicentur quam ut noua: ll. 21-22).

            The text then begins a list of Matidia’s virtues. Alongside her chastity, enhanced by her long widowhood even in the full bloom of her life and her great beauty, it remarks on the pietas that she showed towards her mother, her child, and in the rest of her relations, especially with her son-in-law. Moreover, it underlines her open and sunny character, and her modestia that meant she never demanded special personal favours (ll.23-30). In the last section (ll. 31-37), which grows progressively more fragmentary, there must have been a place for the petition to the Senate for Matidia’s deification, if we accept Jones’ hypothesis and his consequent integration with l. 34 ([consecrationis hono]re dignemini rogo).

            Hadrian’s request shows a notable convergence with the forms of laudatio funebris, as they are recommended already in the Rhetorica ad Herennium (3.10-15), Cicero (De orat. 2.45-46; 2.341ss.) and Quintilian (Inst. 3.7.10-18). This convergence is particularly remarkable in the underlining of nobility in the genus and in the presentation of the virtutes, with a list of praiseworthy behaviours and an accumulation of superlatives. This last is a recurring feature in the laudationes funebres (Pepe), but in this specific case it has also been interpreted, together with the use of parallelisms, as a rhythmic resource (Bardon). The presentation of Matidia thus aligns with the most traditional Roman model, well attested in laudationes, of the matrona entirely devoted to family life and good virtues. Another significant characteristic is found in a coin type, which depicts Matidia with her hands on the heads of her daughters, Sabina and Matidia Minor, and bears the legend PIETAS AVGUST[A] (Dixon, Gualerzi, Pepe).

            Yet another small fragment of a lost epigraph comes from Tivoli, preserved in a transcription that was probably made by Ciriaco d’Ancona (Dessau): “it refers to a wife (uxor) and an ‘image’ (simulacrum), and a plural audience is addressed in the phrase seruate mihi ius meum” (Jones). When Dessau published this fragment in CIL XIV 3579a (= Inscr. It. IV 1,78: Mancini), he thought that it too belonged to the oration on Matidia (“hoc fragmentum pertinuisse ad ipsam eam orationem Hadriani, ex qua superest n. 3579”). Cantarelli followed in this opinion, but Vollmer brought the idea back under discussion, and Jones also seems to believe that it should be traced to a different occasion. Finally, it should be mentioned that Matidia is mentioned several times in Margeurite Yourcenar’s best-selling Memoirs of Hadrian. [F. Giannotti; trad. C. Belanger]