Editing Britannicus (section)

===Fall of Messalina===
[[File:Messalinaandbritannicus.jpg|thumb|200px|Messalina holding her son Britannicus, [[Louvre]]]]
Britannicus took part in the celebrations of Rome's 800th anniversary in AD 48. It was the sixth-ever ''[[Ludi Saeculares]]'' ("Secular Games") and sixty-four years since the last one had been held in the summer of 17 BC by Augustus. Britannicus' father was there, as was Lucius Domitius and his mother Agrippina, the last two surviving descendants of Germanicus. Claudius watched the young nobility, including Britannicus and Domitius, enact the [[Trojan War|Battle of Troy]] in the circus. [[Tacitus]] says that Domitius was greeted with more enthusiasm than Britannicus.<ref group=note>Tacitus claims the enthusiasm in which the future Emperor Nero was greeted is a sign of his greatness. He wrote during the reign of Nero and in this same passage claimed to have overseen the seventh ''Ludi Saeculares'', as it was his duty since he was a member of the ''[[Quindecimviri sacris faciundis]]'' and held the title of praetor (Tacitus, ''The Annals'', [[s:The Annals (Tacitus)/Book 11#11|XI.11]]–[[s:The Annals (Tacitus)/Book 11#12|12]]).</ref><ref>Tacitus, ''The Annals'', [[s:The Annals (Tacitus)/Book 11#11|XI.11]]</ref><ref name=":0">{{harvnb|Shotter|1997|p=8}}</ref>

The games were seen as the introduction of Agrippina and Domitius to public life, and Britannicus' mother, Messalina, must have been aware of that and been envious of Agrippina. Tacitus writes that Messalina was too busy engaging in an "insane" affair to plot the destruction of Agrippina.<ref name=":0"/> He says:<ref>Tacitus, ''The Annals'', [[s:The Annals (Tacitus)/Book 11#12|XI.12]]</ref>

{{blockquote|She had grown so frantically enamoured of [[Gaius Silius (consul designatus 49 AD)|Gaius Silius]], the handsomest of the young nobility of Rome, that she drove from his bed Junia Silana, a high-born lady, and had her lover wholly to herself. Silius was not unconscious of his wickedness and his peril; but a refusal would have insured destruction, and he had some hope of escaping exposure; the prize too was great, and so he consoled himself by awaiting the future and enjoying the present. As for her, careless of concealment, she went continually with a numerous retinue to his house, she haunted his steps, showered on him wealth and honours, and, at last, as though empire had passed to another, the slaves, the freedmen, the very furniture of the emperor were to been{{sic}} seen in the possession of the paramour.|Tacitus, ''The Annales'', 11.12}}

The affair continued into the next year. It was then that the affair between Messalina and Silius took a new turn. Silius, who had no children of his own, proposed to marry Messalina if she allowed him to adopt Britannicus.<ref group=note>In the account of Cassius Dio, she proposed to marry him as she wanted to have affairs but also to hold many husbands. She also grants him a royal residence and grants him a consulship (Dio, [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Cassius_Dio/61*.html#31 LX.31]).</ref> The plan was to overthrow Claudius and rule together as regents of Britannicus. She acquiesced and waited for Claudius to leave Rome before she performed the sacrifice and entered the bigamous marriage. The illegal union was made known to Claudius by [[Gaius Julius Callistus|Callistus]] and [[Tiberius Claudius Narcissus|Narcissus]], freedmen in his service. Claudius had Messalina, Silius and others who knew of the affair put to death. Messalina was given a knife to kill herself, but a tribune of the Praetorian Guard had to force it through her neck.<ref name=DC152/> Images and statues of Silius and his associates were ordered to be destroyed.<ref>Tacitus, ''The Annales'', [[s:The Annals (Tacitus)/Book 11#29|XI.29]]–[[s:The Annals (Tacitus)/Book 11#38|38]]</ref><ref>Cassius Dio, ''Roman History'', [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Cassius_Dio/61*.html#31 LX.31]</ref>