Messala

or Messalla. The name of a distinguished family of the Valeria gens at Rome. The first who bore the name of Messala was M'. Valerius Maxĭmus Corvīnus Messāla, consul B.C. 263, who carried on the war against the Carthaginians in Sicily, and received this cognomen in consequence of his relieving Messina. The most celebrated member of the family was M. Valerius Messāla Corvīnus. He fought on the republican side at the battle of Philippi (B.C. 42), but was afterwards pardoned by the triumvirs, and became one of the chief generals and friends of Augustus. He was consul B.C. 31, and proconsul of Aquitania in 28, 27. He died about B.C. 3-A.D. 8. Messala was a patron of learning, and was himself an historian, a poet, a grammarian (Quint. i. 7, 37), and an orator; but none of his works are extant. His friendship for Horace and his intimacy with Tibullus are well known. In the elegies of the latter poet the name of Messala is continually introduced.