He was the oldest son of the senator, orator and literary patron Marcus Valerius Messalla Corvinus[2][3][1] (whom he resembled in character) and his wife Calpurnia.
[2] During his time in Illyricum, he served with Tiberius with distinction in a campaign against the Pannonians and Dalmatians in the uprising of the Great Illyrian Revolt with the half-strength Legio XX Valeria Victrix.
For his defeat over Bato, Messallinus was rewarded with a triumphal decoration (ornamenta triumphalia) and a place in the procession during Tiberius’ Pannonian triumph in AD 12, four years after the death of his father.
[8] In the first session of the Senate after Tiberius ascended to the imperial throne in AD 14, Messallinus suggested that an oath of allegiance should be sworn to the emperor yearly.
Tacitus notes that Messallinus, along with Caecina Severus, proposed a golden statue be placed in the temple of Mars the Avenger, and an altar dedicated to Vengeance, in celebration of the execution of Piso.
Emperor Tiberius blocked the motion, pointing out that victories over foreign powers were commemorated with such acts, but domestic conflicts should be shrouded in silent grief.
Syme hints that Messallinus died not long after, noting that Tacitus provided no obituary notice for the senator, concluding that "the oration did service as a conspicuous exit.
"[16] Messallinus' daughter Valeria Messallia was born c. 10 BC (her mother might have been Claudia Marcella Minor) and later married the praetor of AD 17, Lucius Vipstanus Gallus.
[18] According to the French Historian Christian Settipani, after the death of her husband Paullus Aemilius Lepidus, Marcella married the Roman Senator Marcus Valerius Messalla Messallinus.