A Cyclopaedia of Female Biography/Messalina

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MESSALINA,

Wife of Nero, also called Statilia, was descended from a consular family, and married the consul Atticus Visticus, whom Nero murdered. She received her husband's murderer with tenderness, and married four husbands before she came to the imperial throne. After the death of Nero, in 68, she retired from public life, and occupied herself with literary pursuits. Otho, the eighth Emperor of Rome, next addressed her, but before their marriage he destroyed himself, in the year 69.