The historians who relayed such stories, principally Tacitus and Suetonius, wrote some 70 years after the events in an environment hostile to the imperial line to which Messalina had belonged.
Os historiadores que relataron tales sucesos, principalmente Tácito e Suetonio, escribiron 70 anos despois dos eventos, nun ambiente hostil contra a liña imperial á que pertencía Mesalina.