What Happens

Messalina becomes much bolder about her affair with Silius. Instead of meeting secretly, she openly visits his house with many attendants, clings to him in public when he goes out, and gives him wealth and political positions. The scandal becomes so obvious that the emperor's own slaves, freedmen, and furniture are often seen at Silius's house - basically, she's treating him like her husband and moving imperial property to his home. Meanwhile, Claudius remains completely unaware of what his wife is doing. Messalina, finding affairs so easy to conduct, starts looking for new and more extreme pleasures. Silius realises their situation is becoming impossible to hide, so he urges her to stop pretending and make their relationship official. He argues they shouldn't wait for Claudius to die of old age - they need to act now.

Historical Context

In Roman society, powerful women like Messalina could move around the city with large groups of attendants, showing their status and importance. Her public displays with Silius would have been shocking - Roman wives, especially imperial wives, were expected to behave modestly and discreetly. Moving imperial property (slaves, freedmen, furniture) to another man's house was essentially treating him as her husband and showed complete disrespect for Claudius. Roman emperors often had many advisers and officials around them, but Claudius was known for being easily manipulated and often distracted by his scholarly interests. This made it easier for people to hide things from him. When Silius talks about not waiting for the emperor to "grow old," he might be suggesting they should take power while Claudius is still alive, rather than waiting for him to die naturally.

Questions to Consider

• Why does Messalina become bolder about her affair - what does this show about her character?
• What does Claudius being "unaware" suggest about him as a leader and husband?
• Why would moving imperial property to Silius's house be particularly shocking?
• What does Silius mean when he says they shouldn't "wait while the emperor grows old"?
• How does Messalina's search for "new lusts" show her character is developing in the story?