Marcus Valerius Messalla Niger
Marcus Valerius Messalla Niger was a
senator of the Roman Republic
.
Career
He was
Mithridates VI of Pontus. Messalla, as consul, took an active part in the prosecution of Clodius. Messalla was censor
in 55 BC.
As an orator, Messalla was thought to be respectable. In 80 BC he was engaged in collecting evidence for the defence in the cause of Sextus Roscius of Ameria. In 62 BC he solicited Cicero to undertake the defence of his kinsman, Publius Cornelius Sulla. In 54 BC he was one of the six orators whom Marcus Aemilius Scaurus retained on his trial.[2]
He was interrex three times, in 55, 53 and 52 BC.
Marriage and children
Messalla married a woman named Polla, by whom he had a son,
Quintus Pedius and Servius Sulpicius Rufus, the son of the consul of 51 BC (also named Servius Sulpicius Rufus), respectively.[3]
Footnotes
- ISBN 978-0-19-160566-6.
- ISBN 978-0-14-191253-0.
- ^ Syme, R., Augustan Aristocracy, pages 20 and 206.
References
- Asconius Pedianus, in Scaurian. p. 20, Orelli
- Caesar, Bellum Gallicum, i.2[permanent dead link].
- Cicero, ad Atticum, i.12[permanent dead link], 13[permanent dead link], 14[permanent dead link]; ad Familiares, viii.2[permanent dead link], 4[permanent dead link]; Brutus, 70; pro Sextio Roscio, 51[permanent dead link]; pro Sulla, 6[permanent dead link].
- Dio Cassius, Roman History, xxxvii.46;
- Pliny the Elder, Naturalis Historis, vii.26, viii.54, xxxviii.2.
- Syme, Ronald, Augustan Aristocracy
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Smith, William, ed. (1870). "Messalla (6)". Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. Vol. 2. p. 1050.