Niece of the Augustan Aristocracy

Abstract The chapter explores Sulpicia’s aristocratic maternal lineage, with a special focus on her mother Valeria and uncle, the Augustan general, politician, and literary patron M. Valerius Messalla Corvinus. The Valerian family, of ancient Sabine stock, went back to the very foundation of the Roman republic and boasted an illustrious line not only of male military heroes and politicians but also of female martial and political actors. As with her father’s family, however, the political fortunes of the Valerii Messallae were at a low ebb in the late republic until Valeria’s father Niger and brother Corvinus attained curule office once again. A prominent orator, Niger saw to the oratorical training of his son Corvinus, who seems to have attached himself to Cicero after his father’s death. Corvinus fought with Brutus and Cassius at Philippi in 42 bce, but transferred his allegiance to Antony in the aftermath of the republican defeat. At some point in the course of the following decade, however, he broke with Antony to stand with Octavian, the future emperor Augustus, at Actium in 31 bce. After a distinguished career in the courts in his youth and the military in his prime, he passed the rest of his life in politics and literature. The fame he attained in his lifetime is reflected in the advantageous marriages of his sons and daughter. We also have evidence Sulpicia’s female kin on the maternal side.