Marcus Valerius Messalla Messallinus

Early life

Messallinus was born and raised in Rome. He was the oldest son of the famous Roman Senator, orator and literacy patron Marcus Valerius Messalla Corvinus whom he resembled in character, from wife Calpurnia. Messallinus is known to have had at least one sister, Valeria Messalina who married the Roman Senator Titus Statilius Taurus. From his father’s second marriage, his younger paternal half-brother was the Roman Senator Marcus Aurelius Cotta Maximus Messalinus. Messallinus was the great-uncle of Roman empress Lollia Paulina, the third wife of Roman emperor Caligula, and a relation to Roman empress Statilia Messalina, the third wife of Roman emperor Nero.

Career

Tibullus mentions that Messallinus was admitted into the quindecimviri sacris faciundis, the collegia in charge of the Sibylline Books. Syme notes that the date of his cooption was before the poet's death in 19 BC, and argues it was in 21 BC. He served as a consul in 3 BC.

In AD 6, Messallinus served as a governor in Illyricum. During his time in Illyricum, he served with Tiberius with distinction in a campaign against the Pannonians and Dalmatians in the uprising of the Great Illyrian Revolt with the Legio XX Valeria Victrix. Messallinus with the half-strength Legio XX Valeria Victrix, defeated the Pannonii led by Bato the Daesitiate and prevented spread of the uprising. For his defeat over Bato, Messallinus was rewarded with a triumphal decoration (ornamenta triumphalia) and a place in the procession during Tiberius’ Pannonian triumph in 12, four years after the death of his father.

In the first session of the Senate after Tiberius ascended to the throne, Messallinus suggested that an oath of allegiance should be sworn to the emperor yearly. Tiberius declined this offer, then asked if this motion was his own idea; Messallinus replied it was a spontaneous suggestion, meant to show public spirit, even at risk of his safety. He next appears in history six years later, in the year 20, as part of the outcome of the trial and execution of Gnaeus Calpurnius Piso. Tacitus notes that Messallinus, along with Caecina Severus, proposed a golden statue be placed in the temple of Mars the Avenger, and an altar dedicated to Vengeance, in celebration of the execution of Piso, emperor Tiberius blocked the motion, pointing out that victories over foreign powers were commemorated with such acts, but domestic conflicts should be shrouded in silent grief. Messallinus is recorded as also proposing public thanks given to Tiberius and other individuals for having avenged Germanicus; when Lucius Nonius Asprenas pointedly asked if he had intentionally omitted all mention of Claudius in his proposal, the future emperor was then added. Messllinus also appears as one of seven witnesses of the Senatus consultum de Cn. Pisone patre, the Roman Senate's official act concerning the trial and punishment of Piso.

The last time Tacitus mentions Messallinus is in his account of the following year, when he spoke against a motion before the Senate to forbid senators from bringing their wives with them when leaving to govern a province. Syme hints that Messallinus died not long after, noting that Tacitus provided no obituary notice for the Roman senator, and concluding, "The oration did service as a conspicuous exit."

Literature

The Latin Poet Tibullus in his Elegy 2.5, celebrates the induction of Messallinus in the priestly college in charge of the Sibylline Books in 21 BC and also predicts a future triumph for the then young Messallinus as he imagines his father proudly witnessing the event (Elegy 2.5.119-20):

In 13 BC, the Latin Poet Ovid published a three-book collection titled Epistulae ex Ponto (Letters from the Black Sea) also in elegiacs but addressed to named individuals, among them is Messallinus (1.7, 2.2). He is also addressed in Ovid’s Tristia (4.4).

Family

According to the French Historian Christian Settipani, Messallinus married the Claudia Marcella Minor, one of the nieces of the Roman emperor Augustus. Marcella bore Messallinus a daughter called Valeria Messalla born ca. 10 BC, who later married the praetor of 17, Lucius Vipstanus Gallus.