Valeria Messalina (Messalina)

Valeria Messalina was the third wife of the emperor Claudius. In Claudius' absence she married Caius Silius and attempted to place him on the throne. She was killed when the plot failed.

Valeria Messalina, AD c.22-48, married Claudius, later Roman Emperor Claudius I, in 39 or 40. She bore him two children, Britannicus and Octavia. Extremely promiscuous, Messalina manipulated her husband into executing a number of those who rejected her advances or otherwise angered her, but she herself was executed after Claudius's secretary Narcissus informed the emperor of her secret marriage to Gaius Silius.

According to the De Imperatoribus Romanis article on Claudius,

In 38 A.D. Claudius had married Valeria Messalina, a scion of a noble house with impressive familial connections. Messalina bore him a daughter (Octavia, born in 39) and a son (Britannicus, born in 41): she was therefore the mother of the heir-apparent and enjoyed influence for that reason. In the sources, Messalina is portrayed as little more than a pouting adolescent nymphomaniac who holds wild parties and arranges the deaths of former lovers or those who scorn her advances; and all this while her cuckolded husband blunders on in blissful ignorance. Recently, attempts have been made to rehabilitate Messalina as an astute player of court politics who used sex as a weapon, but in the end we have little way of knowing the truth.[[19]] What we can say is that either her love of parties (on the adolescent model) or her byzantine scheming (on the able courtier model) brought her down. While Claudius was away in Ostia in AD 48, Messalina had a party in the palace in the course of which a marriage ceremony was performed (or playacted) between herself and a consul-designate, C. Silius. Whatever the intentions behind it, the political ramifications of this folly were sufficiently grave to cause the summary execution of Messalina, Silius, and assorted hangers-on (orchestrated, tellingly, by the freedman Narcissus). Claudius was now without a wife.

Messalina was Claudius's third wife: previous unions with Plautia Urgulanilla and Aelia Paetina had failed for various reasons. Messalina's influence is indicated by her appearance on the obverse of coins of Claudius's reign (where one would expect the head of the emperor), or in the cameo now in Paris depicting Messalina, Octavia, and Britannicus. Messalina's excesses are reflected in such sources as Sen. Apoc., passim and Juv. Sat. 6 and 10.

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Her father, M. Valerius Messala, has left no trace in history, and it has been concluded due to a lack of honors that he died young. Both her father and mother, Domitia Lepida, were grandchildren of Augustus’ sister Octavia. Messalina was a cousin to the emperor Gaius and at his accession was unmarried although she was a desirable match and wealthy. Claudius married Messalina in 38 or early 39. Aelia Paetina was put aside for no other reason than Claudius’ position of importance in Caligula's’ court required he have better connections. As this was Messalina’s first marriage she is thought to have been no more than 14 or 15 years old; Claudius was nearing 50. Her marriage to Claudius seems in striking contrast to her expectations and the timing of the marriage would appear to place Claudius in the succession, at least temporarily.

The first child of the marriage, Octavia, was born in 39 or early 40. The birth of a son, Tiberius Claudius Caesar Germanicus, later Britannicus, came on February 12, 41, less than three weeks after Claudius’ accession. Claudius allowed his wife the honors due an empress. Messalina’s birthday was officially celebrated, statues of her were erected in public places and she was given the privilege of occupying the front seats at the theater along with the Vestals. Messalina was offered the title of Augusta by the Senate but Claudius would not allow her the title.

In spite of her status, Messalina’s position as empress was insecure. Being married to a much older man she could expect Claudius to die before Britannicus could acquire official power. Her survival in such circumstances would be chancy at best. In order to acquire her security, Messalina acted like "Claudius’ Sejanus" destroying anyone who could be considered a threat to the security of the regime.

According to ancient sources, sex for Messalina seems to have been an end in itself. Juvenal has her attending a brothel under an assumed name), Pliny claims she performed the feat of satisfying 25 men in 24 hours and Dio says she organized orgies for upper class women.

As well as being a nymphomaniac, Messalina employed sex to control politicians. A great worry for the empress was that Claudius needed to strengthen his ties to the bloodline of Augustus.

Messalina sought to eliminate her competition who also happened to be her husband’s enemies.

Messalina’s primary agent in her quest for security was Publius Suillius Rufus, a half-brother to Caesaonia, Gaius’ last wife. This association seems not to have brought him trouble. He had been a questor of Germanicus and when Claudius became emperor he shifted his allegiance to Messalina and became her tool for vengeance. The senator became wealthy in the bargain.

Dio reports that Messalina was offended by Julia Livilla because she did not show her proper respect and was jealous that the beautiful niece of Claudius was spending so much time with her uncle. As the wife of Marcus Vinicius, who had been proposed for the principate, Livilla gave her husband credibility in his claim to the throne. It would not be difficult to convince Claudius of a threat in the general paranoia at the start of his reign.

Suetonius comments that Claudius had his niece put to death on "unspecified charges" with no defense allowed, a fairly common procedure in maiestas cases. Also, the Apocolocyntosis gives Claudius the responsibility for Livilla’s death. Seneca became implicated as Livilla’s paramour and his fate in the affair seems to confirm a political connection. There probably was a connection to the conspiracy of Gaetulicus during which Seneca had been under suspicion but was not punished due to lack of evidence. The philosopher was tried before the Senate and given the death sentence but his punishment was commuted to exile on Corsica. The choice of the death penalty in an adultery case was extraordinary and proves that Seneca was dangerous enough to merit removal. He always insisted he had been wronged and he expressed the hope to the freedman Polybius that the emperor’s sense of justice would cause him to review his case. Within months of Livilla’s return from exile she found herself sent to Pandateria and before long she was executed; it took the fall of Messalina for Seneca to return to Rome.

In 43, Julia, daughter of Drusus Caesar and Germanicus’ sister Livilla, an innocent and virtuous matron, was accused of immorality by Suillius. It is difficult to determine why Julia was a threat unless her son, Rubellius Plautus, was considered a rival to Britannicus. She may have been involved in some scheme with the Prefect of the Guard Catonius Justus, who was condemned before he could informed Claudius of Messalina’s intrigues. Tacitus and Dio attribute Julia’s downfall to the empress with Suillius acting as her agent. Suetonius implies that the freedmen were also responsible and that Julia was allowed no defense, while the Apocolocyntosis places the blame squarely on Claudius. In 45, about three years later, an alleged conspiracy took place led by Assinius Gallus, who was Julia’s uncle, and T. Statilius Taurus Corvinus, both grandsons of famous orators. The accusation of a conspiracy was not taken seriously by anyone and was simply a "mopping up" exercise of Julia’s supporters. Gallus and Corvinus were sent into exile.

Messalina is accused of bringing down Valerius Asiaticus on the grounds that she wanted the gardens of Lucullus, which he owned, and because he was a lover of Poppaea Sabina, her rival for the actor Mnester. Asiaticus had a close connection with the imperial family. His wife, Lollia Saturnia, was sister to Gaius’ wife, Lollia Paulina and on her mother’s side was related to Tiberius. He had been in the running for the principate in 41 and had been ordinary consul in 46. He was in charge of recruiting troops in Gaul and so Asiaticus was a potential threat.

The charges leveled by Suillius were frivolous to the extreme. Asiaticus was charged with failure to maintain discipline among his troops and homosexual acts. The unfortunate man was brought in chains before Claudius and his council at the palace. Suillius bungled the case against Asiaticus and Claudius was about to acquit him when Vitellius, going through the motions of defending the accused, asked that on the basis of his service to the state Asiaticus should be allowed to choose the manner of his death. This supposedly confused Claudius into thinking the unfortunate man was guilty and he supported Vitellius. Both Asiaticus and Poppaea committed suicide.

It is impossible to understand fully why Asiaticus was a threat. That Messalina coveted his gardens is a lame excuse and one put forward against Agrippina during her attack on Statilius Taurus. The arrest and closet trial of Asiaticus hardened feelings among senators and equestrians against Messalina, and proved to be her downfall.

The Fall of Messalina

Messalina is said to have perished for the love of a man: Gaius Silius. Tacitus credits madness for Messalina’s fall and singles out Narcissus as the agent of her destruction. Dio says that the freedmen acted together fearful of their position after the empress had the freedman Polybius murdered. These are misleading statements for there certainly was a political reason behind the events leading to the "plot" against Claudius.

Silius was consul-designate, in his 30s and married to Junia Silanus, daughter of Marcus Silanus, and a sister-in-law to the emperor Gaius. Despite his apparent happiness, Messalina was able to persuade Silius to divorce his wife to openly carry on an affair. The affair led to serious plotting. Out of apparent concern for the empress, the childless Silius was unwilling to wait for Claudius to die and declared he was ready to marry Messalina and adopt Britannicus. The opportunity to carry out his coup came when Claudius went to Ostia to inspect progress on the harbor. In his absence Messalina "married" the consul-designate in a full ceremony. Tacitus and Suetonius admit the story sounds sensational but the latter suggests the marriage was pro forma with Claudius signing the marriage contract so that some calamity that was to befall Messalina’s husband might be averted. Another view is that the marriage was a fabrication invented by the freedmen to eliminate the empress.

Whether or not the marriage had Claudius’ consent the freedmen, led by Narcissus, felt threatened by Messalina. Narcissus had two concubines, Cleopatra and Calpurnia, convey a warning to Claudius about Messalina and convinced the emperor to call upon the freedman for advice. Narcissus performed his part admirably, informing Claudius that he was, in fact, divorced and the contract had been made public to the people, the Senate and, most important of all, the Praetorian Guards. He had no difficulty convincing Claudius to return to Rome.

In the meantime, Messalina and Silius were enjoying a Bacchic revel but messages soon arrived informing them the emperor had returned and uncovered their scheme. Panic seized the revelers and they fled. Messalina waited on the road to Ostia, with her children, hoping to intercept Claudius but the emperor believed he was in danger and entered the city quietly. Not knowing who he could trust, Claudius relieved the commander of the guard, Geta, for a day replacing him with Narcissus. Messalina eventually found Claudius but her attempts at an interview were blocked by Narcissus. The freedman took Claudius to Silius’ house where the emperor saw many of the imperial heirlooms that had been stripped from the palace. This made Claudius furious and he went to the praetorian camp where he conducted trials of the coup participants. Silius and other senators were executed while others were banished. By the evening, however, Claudius was in a more conciliatory mood, helped by wine. Narcissus was afraid he would pardon Messalina and, representing the orders as being from Claudius, sent a freedman named Euodus to carry out the execution of the empress.

Messalina was found in the Gardens of Lucullus with her mother preparing a petition for Claudius. When she saw the praetorians Messalina accepted her fate and ended her life, helped by one of the guards. News of Messalina’s death was brought to Claudius who acted with indifference and on taking his place at dinner inquired why the empress was not present. His bewildered reaction was probably put on to distance himself from Messalina’s murder. He did not oppose the senatorial decree removing Messalina’s name from inscriptions and destroying her statues.

More than sexual passion was involved in Messalina’s conspiracy as the concern about the loyalty of the praetorians confirms. The empress was a powerful figure at court and for her to take so many risks indicates that Messalina felt she was in a position that required desperate action. Many modern scholars believe that Messalina was in fear of Agrippina and her son, the future Nero, who at the Secular Games in 47 had attracted warmer applause than Britannicus. Agrippina had recently been widowed a second time and could offer Claudius the connection to Augustus that he needed. The empress could have had reason to fear being set aside and sought to replace her husband with Silius to secure her position and ensure the succession of her son. Such an act on Messalina’s part would indicate that she no longer enjoyed the loyalty of Claudius or, less believable, that she thought his death was near. Agrippina probably had the support of Vitellius and Pallas, both of whom had a finely tuned instinct for self-preservation. Messalina no longer count on the support imperial freedmen and so was forced to turn to the few sympathetic members of the Senate (after the Asiaticus affair) like Silius.