He had a sister, Valeria Messala, who was the fifth wife of the dictator Lucius Cornelius Sulla.
[4] His appointment as consul in 53 BC was delayed due to a scandal involving the consular elections, followed by public disorder between the followers of Publius Clodius Pulcher and Titus Annius Milo.
[6] Messalla Rufus was accused more than once of illegal practices in connection with the elections; on the first occasion he was acquitted, in spite of his obvious guilt, through the eloquence of his uncle Quintus Hortensius; on the second he was condemned.
He took the side of Gaius Julius Caesar in the civil war.
[8] In 47 BC, Messalla Rufus had to deal with mutinous troops under his command at Messana.