MATTHIAE, AUGUST HEINRICH (1769-1835), German classical scholar, was born at Göttingen, on the 25th of December 1769, and educated at the university. He then spent some years as a tutor in Amsterdam. In 1798 he returned to Germany, and in 1802 was appointed director of the Friedrichsgymnasium at Altenburg, which post he held till his death, on the 6th of January 1835. Of his numerous important works the best-known are his _Greek Grammar_ (3rd ed., 1835), translated into English by E. V. Blomfield (5th ed., by J. Kenrick, 1832), his edition of _Euripides_ (9 vols., 1813-1829), _Grundriss der Geschichte der griechischen und römischen Litteratur_ (3rd ed., 1834, Eng. trans., Oxford, 1841) _Lehrbuch für den ersten Unterricht in der Philosophie_ (3rd ed., 1833), _Encyklopädie und Methodologie der Philologie_ (1835). His _Life_ was written by his son Constantin (1845). His brother, FRIEDRICH CHRISTIAN MATTHIAE (1763-1822), rector of the Frankfort gymnasium, published valuable editions of Seneca's _Letters_, Aratus, and Dionysius Periegetes. MATTHIAS, the disciple elected by the primitive Christian community to fill the place in the Twelve vacated by Judas Iscariot (Acts i. 21-26). Nothing further is recorded of him in the New Testament. Eusebius (_Hist. Eccl._, I. xii.) says he was, like his competitor, Barsabas Justus, one of the seventy, and the Syriac version of Eusebius calls him throughout not Matthias but Tolmai, i.e. Bartholomew, without confusing him with the Bartholomew who was originally one of the Twelve, and is often identified with the Nathanael mentioned in the Fourth Gospel (_Expository Times_, ix. 566). Clement of Alexandria says some identified him with Zacchaeus, the Clementine _Recognitions_ identify him with Barnabas, Hilgenfeld thinks he is the same as Nathanael. Various works--a Gospel, Traditions and Apocryphal Words--were ascribed to him; and there is also extant _The Acts of Andrew and Matthias_, which places his activity in "the city of the cannibals" in Ethiopia. Clement of Alexandria quotes two sayings from the Traditions: (1) Wonder at the things before you (suggesting, like Plato, that wonder is the first step to new knowledge); (2) If an elect man's neighbour sin, the elect man has sinned.