Messalla
10. M.
Valerius Messalla Barbatus, M. F. M. N., with the agnomen APPIANUS, was consul in B. C. 12, and died in his year of office.
He was the father (or grandfather) of the empress Messallina [MESSALLINA, No. 1]; and Suetonius (
Suet. Cl. 26) calls him cousin of the emperor Claudius I. Strictly speaking, however, he was cousin only by marriage; and there is some difference of opinion as to the name of his wife. Lipsius (
ad Tac. Ann. 11.37) and Perizonius (
Ep. ad N. Heins. Collect. Burmann. iv. pp. 801-802) make Messalla to have married Domitia Lepida, daughter of Antonia major, and granddaughter of M. Antony and Octavia. Claudius, son of Antonia minor, was therefore Domitia Lepida's first cousin, but Messalla's cousin only by marriage.
The following stemma will show their respective relationship:--
Ryckius (
ad loc. Tao.), on the other hand, and Brotier (
Tac. Supplem. Stemm. Caes.), make two Messallae Barbati, father and son, of whom the elder married Marcella major, daughter of Claudius Marcellus, consul B. C. 50, and Octavia, and the younger Domitia Lepida. (
D. C. 54.28;
Tac. Ann. 11.37.)
