much broken and corrupted. The heads of the differ-rounded by the foe, led on by Arminius. The Roent subjects or chapters contained in it, amounting to mans made a valiant resistance for three successive nearly 150, have been given by Fabricius in alphabet- days, but were compelled at last to yield to numbers. ical order. Some of them are in Latin, others in Three legions were cut to pieces; and Varus, severely Greek. Many minor productions of Varro might be wounded and unwilling to survive the ignominy of dealso mentioned did our limits permit. A sufficient feat, slew himself. His example was followed by his number, however, have been cited to justify the pane- principal officers: the tribunes and chief centurions gyric of Cicero: His works brought us home, as it were immolated as victims by the barbarians. (Tacit., were, while we were foreigners in our own city, and Ann., 1, 61.) This disastrous event took place B.C. wandering like strangers, so that we might know who 9.-The Romans had not experienced so severe a deand where we were; for in them are laid open the feat since the overthrow of Crassus by the Parthians. chronology of his country, a description of the seasons, Augustus was in despair, and for several months althe laws of religion, the ordinances of the priests, do-lowed his beard and hair to remain neglected, and, mestic and military occurrences, the situations of striking his head against the door of his apartment, countries and places, the names of all things, divine frequently exclaimed, “Varus, give me back my leand human, the breed of animals, moral duties, and gions." Great alarm, too, was felt by the emperor, the origin of things." (Dunlop's Roman Literature, lest the victorious Germans, uniting with other tribes vol. 2, p. 34, seqq.)-St. Augustine says that it cannot on the frontiers, should make a descent upon Italy; but be wondered how Varro, who read such a number and an extraordinary levy was therefore made to meet of books, could find time to compose so many volumes; the emergency. The scene of the defeat of Varus and how he who composed so many volumes could was the Teutobergiensis Saltus, lying in an eastern be at leisure to peruse such a variety of books, and to direction from the modern Paderborn, and reaching as gain so much literary information.-The best edition far as the territory of Osnabruck. (Suet., Vit Aug., of the treatise de Re Rustica is that contained in the 23, 49.—Id., Vit. Tib., 17, seq.—Tacit., Ann., 1, 3, Scriptores Rei Rustica of Gesner, Lips., 1735, 2 &c.-Id., Hist., 4, 17.—Id. ib., 5, 9.-Dio Cass., 56, vols. 4to; or in the same edited by Schneider, Lips., 23.) The remains of the vanquished, that lay whiten1794-97, 7 vols. 8vo. The best editions of the treatise ing the ground, were interred six years after by the de Lingua Latina are the Bipont, 1788, 2 vols. 8vo, victorious Germanicus. (Tacit., Ann., 1, 61, seq.)and that of Müller, Lips., 1833, 8vo.-III. Attacinus, II. Quintilius, an acute and rigid critic, mentioned by a poet of Attace in Gallia Narbonensis, or, as some Horace in his Epistle to the Pisos (v. 437), and whose suppose, of Narbo itself. He was born about 82 B.C., death is mourned by the same poet in one of his odes and died about 37 B.C. Varro translated freely into (1, 24). St. Jerome calls him a native of Cremona Latin verse the Argonautics of Apollonius Rhodius. (Chron. Euseb.-Olymp. 189.1, B.C. 24). Heyne, He composed also an historical poem on Cæsar's war however, doubts the propriety of giving him the surwith the Sequani (De Bello Sequanico). Varro like-name of Varus. (Excurs., 2, ad Virg., Eclog.)—III. wise appears as a writer of elegies. (Wernsdorff, Poët. Lat. Min., vol. 5, pt. 3, p. 1394, seqq. Id., Excurs. de Varrone Atacino, &c., p. 1385, seqq. Ruhnken, Epist. Crit., 2, p. 199.)

Lucius, an Epicurean, and a friend of Julius Cæsar. He is mentioned by Quintilian (6, 3, 78).—IV. A tragic poet, mentioned by Ovid (Ep. ex. Pont., 4, 16, 31).-V. Alfenus, a barber of Cremona, who, growing out of conceit with his profession, quitted it and came to Rome, where, attending the lectures of Servius Sulpicius, a celebrated lawyer, he made so great proficiency in his studies as to become eventually the ablest lawyer of his time. His name often occurs in the Pandects. (Hor., Sat., 1, 3, 130.)-VI. A river which falls into the Mediterranean, to the west of Nicea or Nice. The modern name of the Varus is the Var. At a somewhat late period it formed the western limit of Italy, which in the time of Augustus had been marked by the stone trophy of that emperor placed on the Maritime Alps. (Cramer's Anc. Italy, vol. 1, p. 2, nol.)

VASCONES, a people of Spain, between the Iberus and the Pyrenees, in what is now the kingdom of Navarre: their chief town was Pompelo, now Pampeluna. (Pliny, 3, 3.)

VARUS, I. QUINTILIUS, a Roman commander, belonging to a family more illustrious for achievements than antiquity of origin. His father had fought under the standard of Brutus at Philippi, and, not wishing to survive the destruction of liberty, had caused himself to be slain by one of his freedmen. The son, nevertheless, gained the favour of Augustus, who named him consul along with Tiberius, B.C. 13. He was afterward appointed proconsul of Syria, and, on the death of Herod, supported the claim of Archelaüs, the son of that monarch, to the vacant throne, and chastised severely all who resisted the authority of this prince. (Josephus, Ant. Jud., 17, 9, 3.—Flav. Joseph., Vit., p. 6, seqq., ed. Havercamp.)-According to Velleius Paterculus, a contemporary writer, Varus was a man of mild disposition and retiring manners (vir ingenio mitis, moribus quietus), but still very rapacious, who entered Syria a poor man and left it a VATICANUS, MONs, a hill at Rome, forming the prorich one. (Vell. Paterc., 2, 117.) Having been sub- longation of the Janiculum towards the north, and supsequently appointed commander of the forces in Ger- posed to derive its name from the Latin word vates many, he employed himself not so much in watching ("a soothsayer") or vaticinium (“divination”), as it the movements of warlike communities jealous of their was once the seat of Etruscan divination. (Festus, s. v. freedom, as in the foolish attempt to bend them to new Vaticanus.) The Campus Vaticanus included all the institutions, based upon those of the Romans. A space between the foot of this range and the Tiber. strong feeling of discontent arose, of which Arminius, According to Tacitus, the air of this part of Rome a German leader, secretly took advantage to free his was considered very unwholesome. (Hist.. 2, 93.) country from the yoke of the Romans. Varus was ap- Here Caligula erected a Circus, in which he placed prized by Segestes, king of the Catti, of the conspiracy the great Egyptian obelisk that now stands in front of that had been formed: "Arrest me and Arminius, to- St. Peter's. (Burton's Antiquities of Rome, p. 232.) gether with the other leading chieftains," said this The ground now covered by St. Peter's, the papal faithful ally of the Romans; "the people will not ven- palace, museum, and gardens, was anciently designated ture to attempt anything, and you yourself will have by Vaticani loci, "places belonging to the Vatican full time allowed you to distinguish between the in- Hill." (Tacit., Hist., l. c.-Martial, 2, 68.-Burnocent and guilty." (Tacit., Ann., 1, 55.) The rash gess, Antiquities of Rome, vol. 2, p. 256.) presumption of Varus led him to disregard this salu- VATINIA LEX, de Provinciis, by the tribune P. Vatintary advice. He advanced with his army into the in-ius, A.U.C. 694. It appointed Cæsar governor of terior of the country, where he was surprised and sur-Gallia Cisalpina and Illyricum for five years, with the

signified "Injurious God." (Aul. Gell., l. c.—Keightley's Mythology, p. 531.)

command of three legions. (Vid. Cæsar, page 282, | Marcell., 17, 10, 2.) The temple of Vejovis at Rome towards the end of the first column.) stood in the hollow between the Arx and the Capitol VATINIUS, I. a Roman of most impure life. Having ("inter duos lucos."--Ovid, Fast., 3, 430). His stat been brought forward on one occasion as a witness ue was that of a youth with darts in his hand; a sheagainst an individual whom Cicero was defending, the goat stood beside it, and a she-goat was the victim to orator inveighed against him with so much bitterness him. (Ovid, l. c.-Aul. Gell., 5, 12.) Hence some of reproach, and excited so much odium against him viewed him as Young Jupiter, while others saw in him by the picture which he drew of his vices, that odium the avenging Apollo of the Greeks. (Ovid, 1. c.— Vatinianum became proverbial for bitter and implaca- Aul. Gell., l. c.) He was, however, certainly a god ble hatred. (Compare Seneca, de Constant. Sap., of the under-world. (Mart., Capell., 2, 9.-ĺd., 2, 7. 17.)-II. A shoemaker of Beneventum, deformed in-Macrob., Sat., 3, 9.) His name is said to have body, and addicted to scurrilous invective against the members of the higher class. He lived in the reign of Nero, and exhibited a show of gladiators when that emperor passed through Beneventum. He is said to have invented a peculiar species of cup, called after his name. (Tacit., Ann., 15, 34.-Martial, 14, 96.) UBII, a people of Germany, near the Rhine, trans-here, because this part was originally swampy and ported across the river by Agrippa. Their chief town, Ubiorum oppidum, or Ara, called after this Agrippina Colonia, from the circumstance of Agrippina (the daughter of Germanicus, and mother of Nero) having been born there, is now Cologne or Köln. (Tacit., G., 28; Ann., 12, 27.-Plin., 4, 17.-Cas., 4, 30.) VECTIS INSULA, the Isle of Wight, south of Britain.mus to the foot of the Capitol, intersecting the Vicus (Suet., Vit. Vesp., 4.-Plin., 3, 4.)

VEGETIUS, a Latin writer, who flourished A.D. 386, in the reign of the Emperor Valentinian, to whom he dedicated his treatise de Re Militari. Although probably a military man, his Latinity is pure for the age in which he lived. Modern critics distinguish between this writer and Vegetius who composed a treatise on the veterinary art. The best edition of Vegetius, de Re Militari, is that of Stewechius, Vesal, 1670, 12mo. The best edition of the work of the other Vegetius, on the veterinary art, is that by Gesner, in the writer's de Re Rustica.

VEIENTES, the inhabitants of Veii. (Vid. Veii.) VEI, a powerful city of Etruria, at the distance of about twelve miles from Rome. It sustained many long wars against the Romans, and was at last taken and destroyed by Camillus, after a siege of ten years. At the time of its destruction Veii was larger and far more magnificent than the city of Rome. Its situation was so eligible that the Romans, after the burning of their own city by the Gauls, were inclined to migrate thither, and totally abandon their native home; and this would have been carried into execution if not opposed by the authority and eloquence of Camillus. (Ovid, Fast., 2, 195.-Cic., de Div., 1, 44.-Horat., Sat., 2, 3, 143.-Liv., 5, 21.) The site of ancient Veil answers to the spot known by the name of l'Insola Farnese, and situated about a mile and a half to the northeast of the modern posthouse of la Storta. The numerous remains of antiquity found there very recently have placed this fact beyond dispute.-After the capture of Rome by the Gauls, and the attempt made to transfer the seat of Roman power to Veii, we scarcely hear of the latter city. We collect only from a passage in Frontinus (de Col.) that Veii became a Roman colony under Julius Cæsar, who divided its lands among his soldiers, but in the civil wars which ensued after his death it was nearly destroyed, and left in a most desolate state, a fact which is confirmed by Lucan (7, 392) and Propertius (4, 10, 27). It is certain, however, that Veii again rose from its ruins, and was raised to municipal rank, probably under Tiberius, whose statue, with several other monuments relating to his reign, were discovered on the site of the city. It existed in the time of Pliny (3, 5), and even much later, under the emperors Constantine and Theodosia. (Cramer's Anc. Italy, vol. 1, p. 236, seq.) VEJOVIS OF VEDIUS, an Etruscan divinity worshipped at Rome. He was believed to cast lightnings, and these had the property of causing previous deafness in those whom they were to strike. (Amm.

VELABRUM, a name generally applied to all the ground lying on the left bank of the Tiber, between the base of the Capitol and the Aventine. According to Varro, the term was derived from the Latin verb re

subject to floods, when it was necessary to employ boats to pass from one hill to the other (L. L., 4, 4). We find the name subsequently restricted to two streets, distinguished from each other by the titles of Velabrum Majus and Minus. Nardini conceives that they ran parallel to each other from the Circus MaxiTuscus, the Vicus Jugarius, and the other streets which led from the forum to the Tiber. In this quarter were the shops of the oil-venders, &c. (Horat., Sat., 2, 3, 229.-Cramer's Anc. Italy, vol. 1, p. 419, seqq.)

VELIA, a city of Lucania, on the coast of the Mare Tyrrhenum, between the promontories of Palinurem and Posidium, and situate about three miles from the left bank of the river Heles or Elees. It was founded by the Phocæans after their abandonment of Alalia in Corsica. (Vid. Phocæa.) The Phocæans called the town Hyele ('Téλn), which the Latins afterward changed to Velia. Strabo asserts, that in his time the city was called Elea ('Eλéa), and so Stephanus Byzantinus gives the form of the name. The more correct mode of writing the word, however, is Helia, which the Latins, employing the Eolic digamma for the asperate, enunciated by Velia. (Compare Plin., 3, 5: "Oppidum Helia, quæ nunc Velia.")-Strabo informs us, that from the constitution adopted by its founders being so excellent a one, the new colony was enabled to resist with success the aggressions both of the Posidoniate and the Lucani, though very inferior to these adversaries both in population and fertility of soil. (Strab., 252.) Velia is particularly celebrated in the annals of Grecian science for the school of philosophy which was formed within its walls, under the auspices of Zeno and Parmenides, and which is commonly known by the name of the Eleatic sect. This sect was afterward transplanted into Greece, where it degenerated into a school of sophistry and false dialectic. (Brucker, Hist. Phil., vol. 1, p. 1142.)-Scylax leads us to infer that Velia afterward received a colony of Thurians, an event which we may suppose to have occurred about 440 A.C. (Scylax, Peripl., p. 4.) When the Romans formed the design of erecting a temple to Ceres, they sought a priestess from Velia, where that goddess was held in great veneration, to instruct them in the rites and ceremonies to be observed in her worship. (Cic., pro Balb., 24.-Val. Max, 1, 1.)—This place became subsequently a Roman maritime colony, as may be inferred from Livy; but the period at which this change in its condition took place is not mentioned; it was probably not long after the colo nization of Pæstum. Mention of Velia frequently occurs in the letters of Cicero, who occasionally resided there with his friends Trebatius and Talma. (Ep. ad Fam., 7, 20; ad Att., 16, 7.) The situation of the town seems to have been considered very healthy; as Plutarch says that Paulus Æmilius was ordered there by his physicians, and that he derived considerable

benefit from the air. Horace was also recommended | same year in which Virgil died. We have a very to visit Velia for a disorder in his eyes. (Ep., 1, 15.) In Strabo's time this ancient town was greatly reduced, its inhabitants being forced, from the poorness of their soil, to betake themselves to fishing and other seafaring occupations.-The ruins of Velia stand about half a mile from the sea, on the site now called Castelamare della Bruca. (Cramer's Anc. Italy, vol. 2, p. 370.)

VELINA, the name of one of the Roman tribes, deriving its appellation, as is said, from the lake Velinus in the Sabine territory. It was added to the other tribes, together with the one termed Quirina, A.U.C. 513. The locality of this tribe was in the vicinity of Mount Palatine. (Horat., Ep., 1, 6, 52.)

VELINUS, a river in the Sabine territory, rising in the Apennines and falling into the Nar. It occasionally overflowed its banks, and formed some small lakes before it entered the Nar. One of the lakes, and the chief of the number, was called the Lacus Velinus, now Lago di Piè di Lugo. The drainage of the stagnant waters produced by the occasional overflow of the lakes and of the river was first attempted by Curius Dentatus, the conqueror of the Sabines. He caused a channel to be made for the Velinus, through which the waters of that river were carried into the Nar, over a precipice of several hundred feet. This is the celebrated fall of Terni, known in Italy by the name of Caduta delle Marmore. The Velinus is now the Velino. (Cramer's Anc. Italy, vol. 1, p. 316.)

few particulars respecting his life, and these we obtain from the writer himself; for, what is very singular, no other ancient author makes mention of him, excepting perhaps Priscian, who cites a Marcus Velleius, and Tacitus (Ann., 3, 39), who speaks of Publius Velleius as commander of an army in Thrace. In his youth Paterculus traversed, along with Caius Cæsar, a part of the East. Augustus named him, at the age of twenty years, a prefect of horse; and in this capacity, and afterward as quæstor and lieutenant, he accompanied Tiberius on his campaigns in Germany, Pannonia, and Dalmatia, and was thus, for the space of nineteen years, his companion in arms and the witness of his exploits. He returned to Rome with Tiberius, and held the office of prætor the year that Augustus died. Sixteen years after, during the consulship of M. Vincius, he composed or else completed his historical work. The following year, A.D. 31, he was involved in the disgrace of Sejanus, who had been his patron, and was put to death along with the other friends of that aspiring minister.-The work of Paterculus is entitled Historia Romana, but it is possible that this appellation may be owing to the copyists. A single manuscript of the work was preserved at the convent of Murbach in Alsace, where Beatus Rhenanus found it. This manuscript, which was in a very bad condition, was subsequently lost. Its place is supplied by the edition of Rhenanus, published in 1520, and by a collation of the manuscript, VELITRÆ, an ancient town of Latium, southeast of made by Burer before Rhenanus returned it to the conAricia, and on the road between Rome and Tarracina.vent from which he had borrowed it. This collation is It was always reckoned one of the most important and considerable cities of the Volsci. The inhabitants were engaged in frequent hostilities with the Romans, and revolted so often that it became necessary to punish them with unusual severity. The walls of their town were razed, and its senators were removed to Rome, and compelled to reside in the Transtiberine part of the city; a severe fine being imposed upon any individual of their number who should be found on the other side of the river. (Liv., 8, 14.) The colony, however, planted by the Romans at Velitræ still subsisted in the reign of Claudius, as mention is made of it at that period. (Front., de Col.) Its chief boast was the honour of having given birth to Augustus. Suetonius states, that the house in which he was said to have been born was still shown in his time near Velitra. (Vit. Aug., 6.) The modern name of this place is Velletri. (Cramer's Anc. Italy, vol. 1, p. 83.) VELLAUNODUNUM, a city of the Senones, between Agendicum and Genabum. According to D'Anville, the modern Beaune (en Gatinois) answers to the ancient place. Lemaire, however, thinks the opinion of Goduin preferable, who makes Genabum to have been situate near Scénevière, in the neighbourhood of which some traces of a ruined city still exist. (Cas., B. G., 7, 11.-Lemaire, Index Geogr., ad Cæs., p. 395.)

added to the edition of 1546.-The beginning of the work is lost, so that we are ignorant of the plan which the author had proposed to himself to follow. It would seem, however, that he had intended to give a summary of Universal History, containing, in particular, what might prove interesting to the Romans. In the first fragment he treats of Greece, the Assyrian empire, and the kingdom of Macedonia; after this there is a lacuna, embracing the first 582 years of Rome. The remainder of the first book, and the second, which we have entire, or with the loss, perhaps, of only a few lines, give the history of Rome down to A.D. 30.— The history of Paterculus does not enter into details. It is a general picture of the times rather than a narrative of individual events. The historian states merely results, and is silent respecting the causes which combined to produce them. He loves, however, to develop and draw the characters of the principal actors, and his work is filled with delineations traced by the hand of a master. We find in him, also, a great many political and moral observations, the fruit of experience and foreign travel. In his style he imitates the concise and energetic manner of Sallust. His diction is pure and elegant, without, however, being wholly free from affectation, which shows itself in the search for archaisms or antiquated forms VELLEDA, a female of ancient Germany, belonging of expression, and in the too frequent use of moral to the tribe of the Bructeri. She was believed to be sentences and figures of rhetoric. Some Hellenisms gifted with prophetic powers, and exercised, in conse- are also found in him. The charge of adulation to quence, very great influence over the minds of her his prince, which is so often brought against this hiscountrymen, who ascribed to her a species of divine torian, may find some palliation in the fact that it was character. Tacitus first makes mention of her in not until after the death of Sejanus that the tyrannical B.C. 71, the era of Vespasian. (Hist., 4, 61.-Com-spirit of Tiberius began openly and fully to develop pare Hist., 4, 65.-Germ., 8.) From Statius it ap-itself; and of this, if Velleius were involved in the fate pears that she was subsequently made captive by the of Sejanus, he could not, of course, have been a wit Romans. (Sylv., 1, 4, 89.) The more correct form of the name, and the one more nearly approaching the German, is Welda. (Lips., ad Tacit., Germ., 8.Oberlin., ad loc.) Dio Cassius writes the name, in Greek, Beλnda, which fixes the quantity of the penult. (Dio Cass., fragm., xlix., 67, 5.)

VELLEIUS PATERCULUS, a Roman historian, descended from an equestrian family of Campania. The year of his birth is commonly fixed at 19 B.C., the

ness. Besides, Tiberius had been the military chief and the benefactor of Paterculus. The latter praises the good deeds he performed; he exaggerates his merit; he treats with indulgence his faults; but he does not push flattery so far as blindly to alter the truth, or assert things that are false. It is unjust, therefore, on account of this venial failing, to rank Paterculus among historians who are undeserving of confidence. He is impartial in the recital of events of which he

VELOCASSES OF BELOCASSES, a people of Gallia Belgica, along the northern bank of the Sequana, west of the Bellovaci, and north of the Aulerci Eburovices. Their capital was Rotomagus, now Rouen. (Cas., B. G., 7, 75.-Plin., 4, 18.)

was not himself a witness. As for those which pass- | in the year. Their horses were especially noted for ed under his own eyes, where is the historian who, their fleetness, and are known to have often gained in writing the history of his own times, is wholly ex-prizes in the games of Greece. (Eurip., Hipp., v. empt from the charge of partiality -The best edi- 231, et Schol., ad loc.-Hesych., s. v. 'Everides.) And tions of Paterculus are, that of Burmann, Lugd. Bat., Strabo affirms that Dionysius, tyrant of Sicily, kept a 1744, 2 vols. 8vo; that of Ruhnken, 1779, L. Bat., 2 stud of race-horses in their country. (Strab., 212.) vols. 8vo; that of Krause, Lips., 1800, 8vo; and that The same writer asserts, that even in his day there of Lemaire, Paris, 1822, 8vo, which last is, for the was an annual sacrifice of a white horse to Diomed. most part, a republication of Ruhnken's. (Schöll, When the Gauls had been subjugated, and their counHist. Lit. Rom., vol. 2, p. 357.) try had been reduced to a state of dependance, the Veneti do not appear to have manifested any unwillingness to constitute part of the new province, an event which we may suppose to have happened not long after the second Punic war. Their territory from that time was included under the general denomination of Cisalpine Gaul, and they were admitted to all the privileges which that province successively obtained. In the reign of Augustus Venetia was considered as a separate district, constituting the tenth region in the division made by that emperor. (Plin., 3, 18.) Its boundaries, if, for the sake of amplification, we include within them the Tridentini, Meduaei, Carni, and other smaller nations, may be considered to be the Athesis, and a line drawn from that river to the Padus, to the west; the Alps to the north; the Adriatic, as far as the river Formio (Risano), to the east; and the main branch of the Padus to the south. (Cramer's Anc. Italy, vol. 1, p. 113.)—II. A nation of Gaul, at the south of Armorica, on the western coast, powerful by sea. Their chief city is now called Vannes. (Cæs., B. G., 3, 8.)

VENAFRUM, a city of Campania, in the northeast angle of the country, and near the river Vulturnus. (Strabo, 258.) It is much celebrated in antiquity for the excellence of the oil which its territory produced. (Horat., Od., 2, 6, 16.—Id., Sat., 2, 4, 68.-- Mart., 13, 98.-Cato, R. R., 135.-Plin., 16, 2.)

VENEDI OF VENEDÆ, a German tribe, on the eastern bank of the Vistula, near its mouth. They gave name to the Venedicus Sinus, off this coast, and to the Montes Venedici, or the low range of mountains between East Prussia and Poland. (Tac., Germ., 49. -Plin., 4, 27.)

VENETIA, the country of the Veneti, in Gallia Cisalpina. (Vid. remarks at the end of the article Veneti I.)

VENETUS LACUs, the same with the Lacus Brigantinus, or Lake of Constance. (Mela, 3, 2.)

VENILIA, a nymph, sister to Amata, and mother of Turnus by Daunus. (Virg., En., 10, 76. — Ovid, Met., 14, 334.-Varro, L. L., 4, 10.)

VENTA, I. BELGARUM, a town of Britain, now Winchester.-II. Silurum, a town of Britain, now Caerwent, in Monmouthshire.-III. Icenorum, now Caster, south of Norwich, according to Mannert; but Rei

VENĚTI, I. a people of Italy, in Cisalpine Gaul, near the mouths of the Po, fabled to have come from Paphlagonia, under the guidance of Antenor, after the Trojan war. (Vid. Heneti.) On the invasion of Italy in the fifth century by the Huns, under their king Attila, and the general desolation that everywhere appeared, great numbers of the people who lived near the Adriatic took shelter in the islands in this quarter, where now stands the city of Venice. These islands had previously, in A.D. 421, been built upon by the inhabitants of Patavium for the purposes of commerce. The arrival of fresh hordes of barbarians in Italy increased their population, until a commercial state was formed, which gradually rose to power and opulence. -As regards the origin of the ancient Veneti, the tradition which makes them of Paphlagonian origin is, as we have already remarked, purely fabulous. Man-chard is in favour of Lynn. nert, on the other hand, has started a learned, and VENTIDIUS BASSUS, a native of Picenum, was plausible theory, in which he maintains, with great abil- brought captive to Rome, while yet an infant, along ity, their Northern origin. According to this writer, with his mother. When he had grown up, he followthey were a branch of the great Sclavonic race. His ed for some time the humble employment of hiring out grounds for this opinion are, 1, the fact of the Veneti horses and mules. He afterward accompanied Cæsar being not an aboriginal people of Italy; 2, the anal- to Gaul, and, by his punctual discharge of the various ogy of their name with that of the Vandals, both being tasks confided to him, rose so high in Casar's favour derived from the old Teutonic word wenden, and de- that the latter bestowed upon him several important noting a roving and unsteady mode of life; and, 3, stations. After Caesar's death he attached himself to from the existence of the amber-trade among them, Antony, to whose aid he brought three legions at Muand the proof which this furnishes of a communica- tina. He subsequently obtained the consulship, an eltion by an overland trade between them and the na-evation which exposed him to many pasquinades. Antions inhabiting the shores of the Baltic and the countries of the north. (Mannert, Geogr., vol. 10, p. 54, seqq.)--The history of the Veneti contains little that is worthy of notice, if we except the remarkable feature of their being the sole people of Italy who not only offered no resistance to the ambitious projects of Rome, but even, at a very early period, rendered that power an essential service; if it be true, as Polybius reports, that the Gauls who had taken Rome were suddenly called away from that city by an irruption of the Veneti into their territory (2, 18). The same author elsewhere expressly states that an alliance was afterward formed between the Romans and Veneti (2, 23), a fact which is confirmed by Strabo (216).— This state of security and peace would seem to have been very favourable to the prosperity of the Venetian nation. According to an old geographer, they counted within their territory fifty cities, and a population of a million and a half. The soil and climate were excellent, and their cattle were reported to breed twice

tony sent him afterward against the Parthians, whom he defeated in three battles, B.C. 39, and was the first Roman honoured with a triumph over this formidable enemy. (Appian, Bell. Civ., 3, 66, seqq.—Id., Bell. Parth., 71, seqq.)

The

VENUS, a Roman or Latin deity, generally regarded as identical with the Greek Aphrodite ('Agpodirn), though perhaps with but little correctness. Aphrodite of the Iliad is the daughter of Jupiter and Dione, and by the Alexandrean and the Latin poets she is sometimes called by the same name as her mother. (Theocr., 7, 116.-Bion, 1, 93.—Ovid, A. A., 3, 3, 769. Id., Fast., 2, 461.-Stat., Sylv., 2, 7, 2.) Hesiod says that she sprang from the foam (aspóc) of the sea, into which the mutilated part of Uranus had been thrown by his son Saturn. She first, he adds, approached the land at the island of Cythera, and thence proceeded to Cyprus, where grass grew beneath her feet, and Love and Desire attended her. Theog., 188, seqq.) One of the Homerida sings

Hes.,

a Roman colony of some importance before the war against Pyrrhus. (Dion. Hal., Excerpt. Leg.-Vell. Paterc., 1, 14.) After the disaster at Cannæ it afforded a retreat to the consul Varro and the handful of men who escaped from that bloody field. The services rendered by the Venusimi on that occasion obtained for them afterward the special thanks of the Roman senate. (Liv., 22, 54.-Id., 27, 10.) Venusia deserves our attention still more, from the associations which connect it with the name of Horace, who was born there A.U.C. 688. We may infer from Strabo (250), that this town was in a flourishing state in his day. Mention of it is also made by Cicero (Ep. ad Att., 5, 5), Appian (Bell. Civ., 1, 39), Pliny (3, 11), and others. The modern Venosa occupies the ancient site. (Cramer's Ancient Italy, vol. 2, p. 288, seqq.)

VERAGRI, an Alpine tribe, living among the Graian and Pennine Alps. Cellarius, however, reckons them as belonging to Gallia Narbonensis. (Plin., 3, 20.) VERBANUS LACUS, now Lago Maggiore, a lake of Gallia Cisalpina, through which flows the river Ticinus. The Lago Maggiore lies partly in Switzerland, but principally in Italy. It is twenty-seven miles long, and, on an average, eight broad. It contains the Borromean islands, which are the admiration of every trayelier. (Plin., 3, 19.—Strab., 209.)

VERCELLÆ, a city of Gallia Cisalpina, to the northwest of Ticinum, and the capital of the Libicii. It was situate on the river Sessites, now la Sesia, and its site corresponds with that of the modern Borgo Vercelli. Tacitus styles this place a municipium (History, 1, 70), and Strabo mentions some gold mines in the neighbourhood, near a place called Ictymulorum Vicus. (Strab., 218.) Ammianus Marcellinus writes the name Vercellum. (Cramer's Anc. Italy, vol. 1,

(Hymn., 6), that the moist-blowing west-wind wafted | the south of Aufidus. This place appears to have been her in soft foam along the waves of the sea, and that the gold-filleted Seasons received her on the shore of Cyprus, clothed her in immortal garments, placed a golden wreath on her head, rings of orichalcum and gold in her pierced ears, and golden chains about her neck, and then led her to the assembly of the immortals, every one of whom admired, saluted, and loved her, and each god desired her for his spouse. The husband assigned to this charming goddess is usually the lame artist Vulcan or Hephaestus, but her legend is also interwoven with those of Mars, Adonis, and Anchises. According to Homer, Aphrodite had an embroidered girdle (Keσròç iμág), which possessed the power of inspiring love and desire for the person who wore it; and Juno, on one occasion, borrowed the magic girdle from the goddess, in order to try its influence upon Jove. (Il., 14, 214.)-The animals sacred to Aphrodite were swans, doves, and sparrows. Horace places her in a chariot drawn by swans (Od., 3, 28, 15. Ib., 4, 1, 10), and Sappho in one whose team were sparrows. The bird called Iynx or Fritillus, of which so much use was made in amatory magic, was also sacred to this goddess, as was likewise the swallow, the herald of spring. Her favourite plants were the rose and the myrtle. She was chiefly worshipped at Cythera and Cyprus, in which latter island her favourite places were Paphos, Golgi, Idalium, and Amathus; and also at Cnidus, Miletus, Cos, Corinth, Athens, Sparta, &c. In the more ancient temples of this goddess in Cyprus, she was represented under the form of a rude conical stone. But the Grecian scuiptors and painters, particularly Praxiteles and Apelles, vied with each other in forming her image the ideal of female beauty and attraction. She appears sometimes rising out of the sea and wringing her locks; sometimes drawn in a conch by Tritons, or riding on some marine animal. She is usually nude, or but slightly p. 47.) clad. The Venus de' Medici remains to us a noble VERCINGETORIX, a young nobleman of the Arverni, specimen of ancient art and perception of the beauti-distinguished for his abilities, and for his enmity to the ful. There is none of the Olympians of whom the Romans. He was chosen commander-in-chief of the foreign origin is so probable as this goddess, and she confederate army raised by the states of Gaul, when is generally regarded as being the same with the As- the great insurrection broke out in that country against tarte of the Phoenicians: the tale of Adonis, indeed, the Roman power; and he used every endeavour to sufficiently proves the identification of this last-men- free his native land from the Roman yoke. His eftioned goddess with the Aphrodite of the Greeks; and forts, however, were unsuccessful; he was besieged yet, at the same time, the name of the latter (if we re- in Alesia, compelled to surrender, and, after being ject the common Greek derivation) appears singularly led in triumph to Rome, was put to death in prison. connected with the mythology of Scandinavia; for (Cæs., B. G., 7, 4, seqq.-Dio Cass., 40, 41.) The there one of the names of the goddess of love is Frid-a, name Vercingetorix appears to be nothing more than and we see the same root lurking in a-opod-írn. (Com- a title of command. Ver-cinn-cédo-righ, "great cappare the English name Friday, the "dies Veneris.") | tain" or "generalissimo." (Thierry, Hist. des GauWhen we turn to the Roman Venus, we find her so lois, vol. 3, p. 97.) thoroughly confounded with the Grecian Aphrodite, VERGELLUS, a small river near Cannæ, falling into that almost everything peculiar to her has disappeared. the Aufidus. It is said to have been choked with the And yet Venus cannot have been one of the original dead bodies of the Romans on the day of their disasdeities of Rome, as her name did not occur in the Sa-trous overthrow. (Flor., 2, 6.-Val. Max., 9, 2.) lian hymns, and we are assured that she was unknown in the time of the kings. (Macrob., Sat., 1, 12.) She seems to have been a deity presiding over birth and growth in general, for, as Venus Hortensis, she was the goddess of gardens. She was held to be the same as Libitina, the goddess of funerals, because, says Plutarch (Quæst. Rom., 23), the one and the same goddess superintends birth and death.-There was at Rome a temple of Venus Fruti (Festus, s. v. Frutinal), which latter term seems to be merely a corruption of Aphrodite. It may, however, be connected with fructus, and refer to her rural character. Perhaps it may form a presumption in favour of the original rural character of Venus, that, like Pales, her name is of both genders. Thus we meet with Deus and Dea Venus; and with Venus almus and Venus alma. (Keightley's Mythology, p. 515, seqq.)

VENUSIA, a city of Apulia, on the great Appian Way, leading to Tarentum, and about fifteen miles to

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VERGILIE, a name given to the Pleiades from their rising in the spring (vere.-Vid. Pleiades).

VERGOBRETUS, a term used among the ancient Gauls as a judicial appellation, and a title of office, Ver-gobreith, "a man for judging," or "a judge." (Cæs., B. G., 1, 16.—Thierry, Hist. des Gaulois, vol. 2, p. 115.)

VEROMANDUI, a people of Gallia Belgica Secunda, below the Nervii and Atrebates. Their capital was Augusta Veromanduorum, now St. Quentin. (Cæs., B. G., 2, 4.-Plin., 4, 17.)

VERONA, a city of Gallia Cisalpina, in the territory of the Cenomanni, and situate on the river Athesis, in an eastern direction from the southern extremity of the Lacus Benacus. The modern name is the same with the ancient. The history of its foundation is somewhat uncertain, for Pliny (3, 19) ascribes it to the Rhæti and Euganei, while Livy as positively attributes it to the Cenomanni (5, 35). It will be easy to