USCANA
 

VALENS.
 

Statius addressed to him a poem of consolation

nn the death of a favorite slave  (Silv , ii., 6),

and he also mentions him in the Preface to the

second book of his Silva.

  Uscana, a large  town in Illyria, on a tributary

of the Aous, and in the district Penestiana.

  Usipetes or Usipii, a German people, who,

being driven out of their abodes by the Suevi,

crossed  the  Rhine and penetrated into Gaul;

but they were defeated by Caesar, and compelled

to recross the river.   They were now received

by the Sigambri, and  allowed to dwell  on the

northern bank of the  Lippe ;  but we afterward

find them south of the Lippe ;  and at a still

later time they become lost under the general

name of Alemanni.

  [Uspe, the capital  of the Siraceni or  Siraci,

a people of Sarmatia  Asiatica.]

  Ustica, a valley  near the Sabine villa of Hor¬

ace.

  Utica (b 'lrvK-rj or Ovr'iKy :  'IrvKalog, Uticen¬

sis :  ruins at Bou-Shater), the greatest city of

ancient  Africa, after Carthage, was a Phoeni¬

cian  colony, older (and, if the chronologers are

to be trusted, much older) than Carthage  Like

others of the very ancient Phoenician colonies

in  the territory of Carthage, Utica maintained

a comparative independence, even during the

height of the Punic power, and was rather the

ally of Carthage than her subject.   It stood on

the shore of the northern part of the Cartha¬

ginian Gulf, a little west of  the  mouth of the

Bagradas, and twenty seven Roman miles north¬

west of Carthage ; but its site is now  inland,

in  consequence of the changes effected by the

Bagradas in the coast line.  Vid Bageadis. In

the third Punic war, Utica took part  with the

Romans against Carthage, and  was rewarded

with the greatest part of the Carthaginian ter¬

ritory.  It  afterward  became renowned  to all

future time as the scene ofthe last stand made

by the Pompeian  party against Caesar, and of

the glorious, though  mistaken, self-sacrifice of

the younger Cato.  Vid. Cato

  Utus (now Vid). a  river in Mcesia and a trib¬

utary of the Danube, falling into the latter riv¬

er at the town Utus.  It is  perhaps  the same

river as the Artanes  of Herodotus.

  Uxama (now Osma), a town of the Arevaci

in Hispania Tarraconensis, on  the road  from

Asturica to Caesaraugusta, fifty miles west of

Numantia.

  Uxantis (now Ushant), an island offthe north¬

western coast of Gaul.

   Uxellodunum,  a town ofthe Cadurci in Gal¬

 lia Aquitanica, situated on a steep hill, rising

 out  of the  plain, at  the foot of which  a river

 flowed.  It is probably the same as the modern

 Capedenac, on the Lot.

   Uxentum  (Uxentinus : now Ugento), a town

 in Calabria, northwest of the Iapygian promon¬

 tory.

   Uxii (OvUwi), a warlike people, of predatory

 habits, who had their strongholds  in Mount

 Parachoathras, on the northern  border of Per-

 Bis,, in  the district called Uxia (Ovinia), but who

 also extended ovei a considerable tract of ciun-

 try in Media.
 

920
 

                    V.



  Vacci, Vaga,  or Vaba (Ovaya, Bdya :  r.oM

Beja), a *ity of Zeugitana in Northern Africa

on the borders of Numidia, on an eastern  trib

utary ofthe River Tusca, a good  day's journej

south of Utica.  It was a great  emporium for

the trade between Hippo, Utica, and Carthage,

and the interior  It was destroyed by Metellus

in the Jugurthine war, but was restored and col

onized by the Romans.   Its fortifications were

renewed by  Justinian, who named it Theodo-

rias in honor of his wife

  Vacc^ei, a people in the interior of Hispania

Tarraconensis, occupying t, e modern Toro, Pa-

lencia, Burgos, and Valladodd, east of the As¬

tures, south  of the Cantabri, west of the Cel¬

tiberi, and north of the Vettones.  Their chief

towns were  Pallantia and Intercatia.

  [Vaccus, M. Viteuvius, general of the  Fun

dani and Privernates in their revolt against the

Romans in B C  330 : he had a house at Rome

on the Palatine, which was destroyed (after the

suppression ofthe revolt and the death of Vac¬

cus),  and its site made public under the name

of Vacci prata ]

  [Vaouna, a Sabine divinity,identical with Vic¬

toria.  She had an ancient sanctuary near Hor¬

ace's villa at Tibur, and another at Rome.  The

Romans, however, derived the name from va¬

cuus, and said  that she was a divinity to whom

the country  people offered sacrifices when the

labors of the field were  over, that is, when thej

were at leisure, vacui ]

  Vada   1. A fortress of the Batavi in Galli.?

Belgica, east of Batavodurum—2. Vada  Sab-

batia (now  Vado), a town  of Liguria,  on the

coast, which was the harbor of Sabbata or Savo.

—3. Vada Volateerana (now Torre di Vado).

a small town on the coast of Etruria, in the ter¬

ritory of Volaterrte.

  Vadicassii,  a  people in Gallia Belgica, near

the sources  ofthe Sequana.

  Vadimonis Lacus (now Logo  di Bassano), a

small lake of Etruria of a  ciicular  form, with

sulphureous waters, and renowned for its  float¬

ing islands, a minute  description of which  its

given by the younger Pliny.  It is celebrated  in

history for the defeat of the Etruscans in two

great battles, first by the dictator Papirius Cur¬

sor  in B C. 309, from the effects ofwhich the

Etruscans never recovered ; and again  in 283,

when the allied forces of the  Etruscans and

Gauls were  routed by the consul Cornelius Do¬

labella.  The lake has so shrunk in dimensions

in modern times as to be only a  small stagnant

pond, almost lost in the tall reeds and bulrush¬

es which grow in it.

   Vagedeusa, a small river in Sicily, between

 Camarina and Gela

   Vagienni, a small people in  Liguria, whose

 chief town was Augusta Vagiennorum.  Thflii

 site  is uncertain, but they perhaps dwelt necu

  Saluzzo.

   Vahalis    Vid Rhenus.

   [Vala, C. Numonius, a friend of Horace, wlm

  addressed to him the fifteenth of the first book

  of Epistles.]

   Valens, emperor of the East A.D. 364-37S

  was born about A D. 328.  and was made «u»