Editing Claudius (section)

===Valeria Messalina===
[[File:Messalinaandbritannicus.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Messalina holding her son Britannicus, [[Louvre]]]]
Some years after divorcing Aelia Paetina, in 38 or early 39, Claudius married [[Valeria Messalina]], who was his first cousin once removed (Claudius's grandmother, Octavia the Younger, was Valeria's great-grandmother on both her mother and father's side) and closely allied with Caligula's circle. Shortly thereafter, she gave birth to a daughter, [[Claudia Octavia]]. A son, first named Tiberius Claudius Germanicus, and later known as [[Britannicus]], was born just after Claudius's accession.

This marriage ended in tragedy. The ancient historians allege that Messalina was a [[Hypersexuality|nymphomaniac]] who was regularly unfaithful to Claudius—[[Tacitus]] states she went so far as to compete with a prostitute to see who could have more sexual partners in a night<ref>{{harvnb|Tacitus|loc=IX 10}}; {{harvnb|Cassius Dio|loc=61.31}}; {{harvnb|Pliny the Elder|loc=X 172}}.</ref>{{snd}}and manipulated his policies to amass wealth. In 48, Messalina married her lover [[Gaius Silius (consul designatus 49 AD)|Gaius Silius]] in a public ceremony while Claudius was at [[Ostia Antica (archaeological site)|Ostia]].

[[File:Georges Antoine Rochegrosse The Death of Messalina 1916.jpg|thumb|''The Death of Messalina'' by Georges-Antoine Rochegrosse, 1916]]
Sources disagree as to whether or not she divorced the Emperor first, and whether the intention was to usurp the throne. Under Roman law, the spouse needed to be informed that he or she had been divorced before a new marriage could take place; the sources state that Claudius was in total ignorance until after the marriage.{{sfn|Levick|2015|p=74}} Scramuzza, in his biography, suggests that Silius may have convinced Messalina that Claudius was doomed, and the union was her only hope of retaining her rank and protecting her children.{{sfn|Scramuzza|1940|p=90}}{{sfn|Momigliano|1934|pp=6–7}}{{sfn|Levick|2015|p=73}} The historian Tacitus suggests that Claudius's ongoing term as Censor may have prevented him from noticing the affair before it reached such a critical point, after which she was executed.{{sfn|Tacitus|loc=XI. 25–38.}}