of Agrippina. Tacitus writes that Messalina was too busy engaging in an "insane" affair to plot the destruction of Agrippina. He says: The affair continued into the next year. It was then that the affair between Messalina and Silius took a new turn. Silius, who had no children of his own, proposed to marry Messalina on condition that she allow him to adopt Britannicus. The plan was to overthrow Claudius and rule together as regents of Britannicus. She acquiesced and waited for Claudius to leave Rome before performing the sacrifice and entering the bigamous marriage. The illegal union was made known to Claudius by Callistus and Narcissus, freedmen in his service. Claudius had Messalina, Silius, and others who knew of the affair put to death. Messalina was given a knife to kill herself with, though a tribune of the Praetorian Guard had to force it through her neck. Images and statues of Silius and his associates were ordered to be destroyed. During his father's marriage to Agrippina The fall of Silius and Messalina opened the way for Agrippina the Younger to become his father's fourth wife. His father claimed to be uninterested in another marriage, but it was not long until he remarried. Unlike his uncle Germanicus, his father had never been adopted into the Julii. Claudius thought marrying his niece would bring his family closer to that of Augustus, as Agrippina and Domitius were the last living descendants of Germanicus. So, in 49, despite a marriage between uncle and niece being incestuous under Roman law, his father remarried. Agrippina guided Claudius even more easily than Messalina, and as a daughter of Germanicus and a descendant of Augustus, she became very popular among soldiers and the people. In short, Agrippina's rise to power was due to the emperor's obedience to her and her excellent bloodline and strong political connections. Rise of Nero Thanks to a strong mother like Agrippina, an ambitious, experienced and charismatic woman, who was powerful and eloquent at court, the rise of Nero was both fast and unstoppable. In 49, during the term of consul-elect Mammius Pollio (March–June), Domitius was betrothed to his sister Octavia and thus became his equal in rank. Tacitus suggests this move had the support of those who feared the vengeance of Britannicus against those who wronged his mother. Through the insistence of Pallas, his father was convinced to adopt Domitius as his