Marcus Valerius Messalla Niger
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Marcus Valerius Messalla Niger was a
senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or Legislative chamber, chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the Ancient Rome, ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior ...
of the
Roman Republic The Roman Republic ( ) was the era of Ancient Rome, classical Roman civilisation beginning with Overthrow of the Roman monarchy, the overthrow of the Roman Kingdom (traditionally dated to 509 BC) and ending in 27 BC with the establis ...
.


Career

He was
praetor ''Praetor'' ( , ), also ''pretor'', was the title granted by the government of ancient Rome to a man acting in one of two official capacities: (i) the commander of an army, and (ii) as an elected ''magistratus'' (magistrate), assigned to disch ...
in the year of
Cicero Marcus Tullius Cicero ( ; ; 3 January 106 BC – 7 December 43 BC) was a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, orator, writer and Academic skeptic, who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises tha ...
's
consul Consul (abbrev. ''cos.''; Latin plural ''consules'') was the title of one of the two chief magistrates of the Roman Republic, and subsequently also an important title under the Roman Empire. The title was used in other European city-states thro ...
ship, 63 BC, and consul in 61 BC, the year in which
Publius Clodius Publius Clodius Pulcher ( – 18 January 52 BC) was a Roman politician and demagogue. A noted opponent of Cicero, he was responsible during his plebeian tribunate in 58 BC for a massive expansion of the Roman grain dole as well as Ci ...
profaned the mysteries of the
Bona Dea Bona Dea (; 'Good Goddess') was a List of Roman deities, goddess in Religion in ancient Rome, ancient Roman religion. She was associated with chastity and fertility among married Women in ancient Rome, Roman women, healing, and the protection of t ...
, and Gnaeus Pompeius triumphed for his several victories over the
Cilicia Cilicia () is a geographical region in southern Anatolia, extending inland from the northeastern coasts of the Mediterranean Sea. Cilicia has a population ranging over six million, concentrated mostly at the Cilician plain (). The region inclu ...
n pirates,
Tigranes the Great Tigranes II, more commonly known as Tigranes the Great (''Tigran Mets'' in Armenian language, Armenian; 140–55 BC), was a king of Kingdom of Armenia (antiquity), Armenia. A member of the Artaxiad dynasty, he ruled from 95 BC to 55 BC. Under hi ...
and
Mithridates VI of Pontus Mithridates or Mithradates VI Eupator (; 135–63 BC) was the ruler of the Kingdom of Pontus in northern Anatolia from 120 to 63 BC, and one of the Roman Republic's most formidable and determined opponents. He was an effective, ambitious, and r ...
. 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. He was
interrex The interrex (plural interreges) was an extraordinary magistrate during the Roman Kingdom and Republic. Initially, the interrex was appointed after the death of the king of Rome until the election of his successor, hence its name—a ruler "betwee ...
three times, in 55, 53 and 52 BC.


Marriage and children

Messalla married a woman named Polla, by whom he had a son, Marcus Valerius Messalla Corvinus and two daughters, both named Valeria, who married Quintus Pedius and Servius Sulpicius Rufus, the son of the consul of 51 BC (also named Servius Sulpicius Rufus), respectively.Syme, R., ''Augustan Aristocracy'', pages 20 and 206.


Footnotes


References

*
Asconius Pedianus Quintus Asconius Pedianus (9 BC – AD 76) was a Roman rhetorician from Patavium. There is no evidence that Asconius engaged in a public career, but his familiarity with the politics and geography of contemporary Rome suggests that he may hav ...
, ''in Scaurian.'' p. 20, Orelli *
Caesar Gaius Julius Caesar (12 or 13 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC) was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in a civil war. He ...
, ''Bellum Gallicum''
i.2
*
Cicero Marcus Tullius Cicero ( ; ; 3 January 106 BC – 7 December 43 BC) was a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, orator, writer and Academic skeptic, who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises tha ...
, ''ad Atticum''
i.121314
''ad Familiares''
viii.24
''Brutus'', 70; ''pro Sextio Roscio''
51
''pro Sulla''
6
*
Dio Cassius Lucius Cassius Dio (), also known as Dio Cassius ( ), was a Roman historian and senator of maternal Greek origin. He published 80 volumes of the history of ancient Rome, beginning with the arrival of Aeneas in Italy. The volumes documented the ...
, ''Roman History''
xxxvii.46
*
Pliny the Elder Gaius Plinius Secundus (AD 23/24 79), known in English as Pliny the Elder ( ), was a Roman Empire, Roman author, Natural history, naturalist, and naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and a friend of the Roman emperor, emperor Vesp ...
, ''Naturalis Historis''
vii.26viii.54
xxxviii.2. * Syme, Ronald, ''Augustan Aristocracy'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Valerius Messala Niger, Marcus Ancient Roman patricians 1st-century BC Roman consuls Roman Republican praetors Ancient Roman censors Senators of the Roman Republic Niger, Marcus