Messalina - Death 3

missus quoque unus e libertis:

One of the freedmen was also sent:

is raptim in hortos praegressus

He, having hurriedly gone into the gardens,

repperit Messalinam, humi fusam;

found Messalina, lying stretched out on the ground;​

mater Lepida, quae florenti filiae haud concors fuerat;

her mother Lepida was sitting beside her, who had not been on friendly terms with her daughter in her pomp;

sed supremis eius necessitatibus ad misericordiam versa suadebat ne percussorem opperiretur:

but in her daughter's last moments of need she had been turned to pity and was urging her not to wait for the executioner:

transisse vitam neque aliud quam mortem decoram quarendum.

She tried to persuade her that her life was over and that she should look for nothing other than a fitting death

sed nihil honestum inerat Messalinae animo, per libidines corrupto;

But there was nothing honourable in Messalina's heart, which had been corrupted by debauchery;

lacrimae et questus inriti effundebantur, cum impetu venientium pulsae sunt fores adstititque tribunus.

Messalina's tears and useless complaints were pouring out, when the gates were broken open by the force of the people arriving and the tribune was standing at her side.

tunc primum Messalina fortunam suam intellexit ferrumque accepit;

Then, for the first time, Messalina understood her fate and accepted a dagger;

quod frustra iugulo aut pectori per trepidationem admovens, ictu tribuni transigitur.

while moving this, with trembling, to her throat or her breast in vain, she was stabbed by a blow from the tribune.

corpus matri concessum.

Her body was handed over to her mother.