Lucius Vipstanus Messalla (c. 45 – c. 80) was a Roman military officer, senator, and a noted orator.
The younger Messalla was a tribunus militum in 69, stationed with the legion VII Claudia in Moesia which entered the civil war against the emperor Vitellius.
Tacitus described Messalla as an outstanding orator; in AD 70, Vipstanus Messalla, who was not yet of senatorial age, defended his older half-brother, the notorious informer Marcus Aquilius Regulus in the Curia Julia.
Massalla's family's prestige was sufficient to sway enough of the Senate to reject the charges laid against Regulus.
[3] Messalla likely died during the reign of Titus, possibly during the epidemic that swept through the city in 80.