Messalla

Messalla (less correctly Messāla), ae, m.,

a Roman surname in the gens Valeria: Corvinus primus Messanam vicit, et pri mus ex familiā Valeriorum, urbis captae in se translato nomine, Messana appellatus est: paulatimque vulgo permutante litteras, Messalla dictus, Sen. Vit. Beat. 13. The most celebrated is the orator M. Valerius Messalla Corvinus, in the time of Cicero and Augustus, Cic. Att. 15, 17, 2; 16, 16, A, 5; Tib. 4, 1, 1; Hor. A. P. 371; Sen. Contr. 2, 12, 8.—In plur., Ov. P. 4, 16, 43.