Early life Octavia was pregnant when she married
Mark Antony in 40, and it is likely that the child was Marcella Minor - but this is not a certainty. If so, Marcella was born after the death of her father and she grew up part of the first
post-Actium generation. Marcella may also have been previously married. but this identification is not universally agreed upon. After the death of Lepidus, Marcella married
Marcus Valerius Messalla Appianus, by whom she had a son,
Marcus Valerius Messalla Barbatus, and likely a daughter,
Claudia Pulchra. There has been some speculation among historians such as
George Patrick Goold that her daughter Claudia Pulchra might have actually been the child of
Publius Claudius Pulcher (the son of
Clodius) from an earlier marriage, but others such as Syme have rejected this proposal. Syme does on the other hand agree that Paullus (nor Appianus) likely wasn't Marcella's first husband, as the marriage is recorded rather late, he instead proposed a marriage to a son of
Lucius Marcius Philippus who may have died or been repudiated before he was old enough to be consul or to
Marcus Appuleius, Marcella's maternal half-cousin who is assumed to have died some time after his consulship in 20 BC. Klaus Zmeskal believes that it was she and not her sister who was married to
Iullus Antonius. In the next generation two
Vipstani are known, with the cognomina "Messalla" and "Poplicola". This led Syme to observe that either Lucius or Marcus Vipstanus Gallus married a daughter of
Marcus Valerius Messalla Messallinus and Claudia Marcella Minor, who is named (for convenience) Valeria Messallia. French historian
Christian Settipani endorsed this view. However, Messallinus (son of Corvinus) was younger than Marcella. That fact does not prevent the marriage, but makes it unlikely, given Roman tradition. This alliance with the
gens Valeria led to the prominence of the Vipstani during the first centuries of the Roman Empire. ==Legacy==