Messalina

thumb|Messalina in a painting of Toulouse-Lautrec (1900 ca) Valeria Messalina (17/20–48) was the third wife of Roman emperor Claudius. She was a paternal cousin of Emperor Nero, a second cousin of Emperor Caligula, and a great-grandniece of Emperor Augustus. A powerful and influential woman with a reputation for promiscuity, she allegedly conspired against her husband and was executed on the discovery of the plot. Her notorious reputation may have resulted from political bias, but works of art and literature have perpetuated it into modern times. Quotes Messalina had received from nature such a violent inclination towards debauchery that it was very difficult for her to confine herself within the legitimate boundaries of marriage, which were too narrow for a heart inflamed by a thousand vices. She was quite beautiful and had enough credit to attract lovers, and too little virtue to keep them waiting for long. Jacques Roergas de Serviez , Storia della vita delle imperatrici romane e delle principesse del loro sangue, t. II, Printing, engraving and bookbinding workshop of Giuseppe Antonelli, Venice, 1830, p. 90 The name of Messalina has remained the most reviled attribute of immorality and indecency, of unbridled lust and sordid prostitution. This woman, related to the progeny of the Caesars and married to an emperor, surpassed the sad fame of Augustus' two Julias and brought to the imperial palace, along with the most vile vice, the rage of blood and robbery. Umberto Silvagni, L'impero e le donne dei Cesari, Fratelli Bocca editori, Turin, 19273. Part II, Caligola e le mogli di Claudio, Ch. II, p. 290 In Messalina, greed for money, ambition for power and bestial lust were combined; so that, in agreement with her freedmen, she shamelessly sold the prefectures of the armies and provinces and the highest offices of the empire, and in brothels, unbeknownst to her husband, she stimulated the most noble and beautiful of both sexes with her own lasciviousness, favouring them if they yielded, extinguishing them if they resisted: all Rome knew, except Claudius. Giuseppe La Farina, L'Italia dai tempi più antichi fino ai nostri giorni, Società editrice italiana of M. Guigosi, Turin, 1856 Vol. II, Ch. III, p. 116 Her whole life was a continuous series of faults, and she disgraced herself with the most shameful and discredited excesses. Her prostitution was of the most infamous kind, her disorderliness excessive, and her public debauchery detestable. Those that appealed to her most were bestial pleasures; the most horrible iniquities appeared to her as pleasant images; she regarded virtue with a sinister eye; and her honour was something she never gave a thought to. Jacques Roergas de Serviez, Storia della vita delle imperatrici romane e delle principesse del loro sangue, t. II, Printing, engraving and bookbinding workshop of Giuseppe Antonelli, Venezia, 1830, pp. 88-89. Georges Roux More than her beauty, she has left in history the memory of her immorality. This is so famous that her name alone, if I may say so, has become a programme in itself. It is true that her immodesty is appalling. Today's doctors would assure us that she is afflicted with the evil they call “nymphomania”, that is to say, an “exacerbation of sexual instincts”. Nerone (Néron), translation into Italian by Alessandro Lessona and Riccardo M. degli Uberti, Edizioni Lessona, Roma, 1962. Part 1, Ch. 2, p. 23. When night falls, the sovereign, in disguise, goes to the infamous suburbs of Suburra. There, in the most sordid brothels, she offers herself to porters. If her august husband, Emperor Claudius, has taken it into his head to attend a torture session at the same time, the imperial palace of the Caesars will be empty: the emperor is in prison, the empress in the brothel. Nerone (Néron), translation into Italian by Alessandro Lessona and Riccardo M. degli Uberti, Edizioni Lessona, Roma, 1962. Pars 1, Ch. 2, p. 23 Messalina shows a greed that is matched only by her eroticism and wickedness. She obtains the death sentence for several large landowners on various pretexts, but in reality for the sole purpose of seizing their property. Nerone (Néron), translation into Italian by Alessandro Lessona and Riccardo M. degli Uberti, Edizioni Lessona, Roma, 1962. Pars 1, Ch. 2, p. 24. External links Category:1st century births Category:1st century deaths Category:People from Rome