Marcus Valerius Messalla Corvinus

Background

Marcus Valerius Messalla Corvinus was born in 64 BC into the aristocratic Valerii Messallae, a prominent Roman family. His father was Marcus Valerius Messalla Niger, consul in 61 BC, and his mother was Palla. The family belonged to the senatorial elite whose political identity had been formed under the Roman Republic.

He was educated partly at Athens, where he studied alongside Horace and the younger Cicero. Athens remained an important center of Greek literary, rhetorical, and philosophical education for Roman aristocrats, and this training helped shape Messalla's later reputation as an orator, author, and cultivated patron of poets.

Education

Messalla received part of his education at Athens, a major center of Greek learning visited by Roman aristocrats during the late Republic. His education belonged to the elite rhetorical tradition that prepared senators and commanders for public speaking, political deliberation, and military administration. Horace and the younger Cicero were also associated with his period of study there.

Career

Messalla entered public life during the final conflicts of the Roman Republic. Proscribed by the Second Triumvirate in 43 BC, he escaped to the camp of Brutus and Cassius and fought at Philippi in 42 BC. After the republican defeat he joined Mark Antony, then transferred his support to Octavian. He campaigned against Sextus Pompeius in Sicily in 36 BC, in Illyricum in 35–34 BC, and against the Alpine Salassi in 34–33 BC.

In 31 BC he served as consul with Octavian and participated in the war against Antony, including the Battle of Actium. He later held commands in the East and governed Gaul, where he subdued the Aquitani. He celebrated a triumph in September 27 BC for that victory. In 26 or 25 BC Augustus appointed him prefect of Rome, but Messalla resigned after a few days. The episode reflected the tensions between republican constitutional ideals and the emerging imperial administration.

Messalla became the first permanent curator aquarum in 11 BC, responsible for Rome's water supply. During this period he was associated with the restoration of part of the Via Latina and the reconstruction of public buildings. In 2 BC he proposed that Augustus receive the title pater patriae, or father of his country.

As an orator, Messalla was regarded as one of the leading speakers of the generation after Cicero and followed a Ciceronian style rather than the Atticizing school. As a patron, he gathered a literary circle that included Tibullus, the young Ovid, Lygdamus, and his niece Sulpicia. His own writings included memoirs of the civil wars, pastoral poetry in Greek, translations of Greek speeches, satirical and love poems, and essays on grammar, although none of these works survives complete.

Achievements

• Messalla Corvinus commanded Roman forces in several campaigns, supported Octavian at the Battle of Actium in 31 BC, and conquered the Aquitani as governor of Gaul. His victory was commemorated by a triumph in 27 BC.

• As the first permanent curator aquarum, Messalla helped administer Rome's water-supply system and was associated with the restoration of the Via Latina and public buildings.

• Messalla became one of the most important literary patrons of the Augustan age, supporting Tibullus, Ovid, Sulpicia, and other writers in the circle associated with his household.

• His memoirs of the Roman civil wars were later used as historical source material by writers including Suetonius and Plutarch, although the memoirs themselves are lost.

Works

• essay

  • Essays on grammar

    (Lost grammatical essays associated with Messalla's schola...)

• memoir

  • Memoirs of the Civil Wars

    (A lost historical memoir covering the Roman civil wars af...)

• poetry

  • Pastoral poems

    (Lost Greek pastoral poems attributed to Messalla as part ...)

• translation

  • Translations of Greek speeches

    (Lost translations of Greek speeches reflecting Messalla's...)

Politics

Messalla Corvinus was associated with the Roman republican tradition, although his political career unfolded during the transition from the late Republic to Augustus's principate. He fought first for the republican leaders Brutus and Cassius, later transferred his allegiance to Mark Antony, and finally supported Octavian, serving as consul with him in 31 BC and taking part in the campaign that culminated at Actium.

His public career combined cooperation with Augustus and continuing attachment to traditional aristocratic ideas of civic government. He resigned as prefect of Rome after only a few days in 26 or 25 BC, reportedly because the office seemed incompatible with the position of a citizen among fellow citizens. His later proposal in 2 BC that Augustus receive the title pater patriae demonstrated both his participation in the new political order and his continuing role as an independent senatorial figure.

Views

Messalla's public career suggests an attachment to republican constitutional values within the political settlement created by Augustus. His literary interests ranged across rhetoric, poetry, grammar, and philosophy, while his patronage supported forms of elegiac and pastoral writing that preserved a distinct literary culture alongside official Augustan ideology.

Membership

Messalla was an augur and, by 20 BC, a member of the Arval Brotherhood, a priestly college associated with the public religious traditions of Rome. These affiliations placed him within the religious institutions through which senatorial elites participated in the ceremonial life of the Roman state.

• Served as an augur, participating in the religious institutions of the Roman state.

  College of Augurs , Roman Republic

  8

• Was a member by 20 BC.

  Arval Brotherhood , Roman Empire

  20 B.C. - 8

Personality

Ancient and modern accounts portray Messalla as an accomplished, cultivated, and politically independent Roman aristocrat. His resignation as prefect of Rome and his association with republican constitutional ideals indicate a concern with the traditional status of Roman citizens and senatorial office.

Quotes from others about the person

• Ovid commemorated Messalla as an important patron and supporter of literature. Later literary tradition treated him as one of the leading Roman patrons of the Augustan age, second in cultural prominence only to Maecenas.

Interests

• Rhetoric, poetry, grammar, philosophy, and the preservation of Roman family traditions

• Politicians

  Augustus

• Writers

  Cicero

Connections

Messalla was the son of Marcus Valerius Messalla Niger and Palla. He married Calpurnia and had children including Valeria Messalina, Valeria Messala, Marcus Valerius Messalla Messallinus, and Marcus Aurelius Cotta Maximus Messalinus. His niece Sulpicia belonged to the literary circle gathered around him.

His patronage connected him with several major Augustan poets. Tibullus was closely associated with his circle, Ovid regarded him as an early supporter of his literary career, and Sulpicia's poetry is linked with the same aristocratic and literary environment.

Father:

Marcus Valerius Messalla Niger

Roman senator and consul in 61 BC.

Mother:

Palla

Wife:

Calpurnia

Messalla's wife and the mother of several of his children.

Daughter:

Valeria Messalina

Daughter:

Valeria Messala

Son:

Marcus Valerius Messalla Messallinus

Roman senator and consul in 3 BC.

Son:

Marcus Aurelius Cotta Maximus Messalinus

Roman senator.

niece:

Sulpicia

Poet associated with the literary circle supported by Messalla.

References

• Valerius Messalla Corvinus, Marcus Oxford Classical Dictionary entry discussing Messalla's military career, consulship, governorship of Gaul, prefecture of Rome, supervision of Rome's water supply, oratory, writings, and literary patronage.
  2016
• Marcus Valerius Messalla Corvinus Encyclopaedia Britannica biography describing Messalla's education, civil-war career, military commands, consulship, triumph, political views, and literary patronage.
  1911
• Introduction to Sulpicia Dickinson College Commentaries introduction discussing the literary circle of Messalla, including Tibullus, Ovid, Lygdamus, and Sulpicia.