Marcus Valerius Messalla Rufus

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Marcus Valerius Messalla Rufus, is a Roman politician, the son of Marcus Valerius Messalla Niger, and brother of Valeria Messalla (the fourth wife of Roman Dictator Lucius Cornelius Sulla). He was also the father of Marcus Valerius Messalla Corvinus and consul in 53 BC.

He was twice accused of illegal practices in connection with the elections; on the first occasion he was acquitted, in spite of his obvious guilt, through the eloquence of his uncle Quintus Hortensius; on the second he was condemned. He took the side of Gaius Julius Caesar in the civil war. Nothing appears to be known of his later history. He was augur for fifty-five years and wrote a work on the science of divination.

Cicero, Ad Fam. vi. i8, viii. 4, ad Alticum, iv. 16; Dio Cassius xl, 17, 45; Bellum africanum, 28; Macrobius, Saturnalia, i. 9, 14 Aulus Gellius xiii. 14, 3.

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• This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.

Preceded by Appius Claudius Pulcher and Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus

Consul of the Roman Republic with Gnaeus Domitius Calvinus 53 BC

Succeeded by Quintus Caecilius Metellus Pius Scipio Nasica (Metellus Scipio) and Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus