Smith, William, A new classical dictionary of Greek and Roman biography mythology and geography

(New York :  Harper & Brothers,  1884.)

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YOLUSILS MiECIANUS.
 

XANTHICLES
 

title of Csesar in A D. 251, and of Augustus in

252,   He  was slain  along with his father in

254.   Vid. Gallus.

  Volusius MiEcilNus, L., a jurist, was in the

consilium of Antoninus Pius, and was one of the

teachers of M. Aurelius. Maecianus wrote sev¬

eral works • and there  are forty-four excerpts

from  his writings  in the Digest.  A treatise,

De Asse et Ponderibus, is attributed to him, but

there  is some doubt  about the authorship.  It

is edited by Bdcking, Bonn, 1831.

  Vot.usus or Volesus.  [1. One of the most

distinguished chiefs  in the army  of Turnus  ;

had command of the infantry of the Volsci and

the  Rutuli.]—2. The reputed ancestor of the

Valeria gens, who is said to have  settled at,

Rome with Titus Tatius. Vid. Valeria Gens.

  [Volux, the son  of Bocchus, king of Maure¬

tania, sent by his father, at the head of a large

body of cavalry, to meet Sulla, and escort him

to the royal presence.]

  Vomanus, (now  Vomano),  a small river in

Pbenum.

  Vonones, the name of two kings of Parthia.

Vid. Arsaces, Nos. 18, 22.

  Vopiscus, a Roman  praenomen,  signified a

twin child who was born safe, while the other

twin died  before birth.  Like many other an¬

cient Roman praenomens, it was afterward used

as a cognomen.

  Vopiscus, Flavius, a  native of Syracuse, and

one of the six Scriptores Historia Augusta, flour¬

ished  about A D. 300.   His name is prefixed to

the  biographies of, 1. Aurelianus; 2. Tacitus;

3. Florianus ; 4. Probus ; 5. The  four tyrants,

Firmus, Saturninus,  Proculus, and  Bonosus  ;

6. Carus ;  7. Numerianus ; 8. Carinus ;  at this

point  he stops, declaring that Diocletian, and

those who follow, demand a more elevated style

of composition.   For editions, vid. Capitolinus.

  [Voranus, a person mentioned in the Satires

of Horace  as a notorious thief, said to have been

a freedman of Q. Lutatius Catulus.]

  Vosgesus.   Vid. Vogesus.

  Votienus Montanus.  Vid. Montanus.

  VulcanLe Insula.  Vid. Molue Insula.

  Vulcanus, the Roman  god of fire, whose

name seems to be connected with fulg ere, ful-

gur, and fulmcn.  His worship was  of consid¬

erable political importance at Rome, for a tem¬

ple is said to have been erected to him close x>}

the comitium as early as the time of Romulus

and  Ta'.ius, in  which the two kings  used to

meet and settle the affairs of the state, and

near  which the popular assembly  was held.

Tatius is reported to have established the  wor¬

ship of Vulcan  along with that of Vesta, and

Romulus  to have dedicated to him a quadriga

after his  victory over the Fidenates,  and to

have  set up a statue of himself near the  tem-

V>le.   According to others, the temple was built

by Romulus himself, who also planted near  it

the sacred lotus-tree which still existed in the

days of Pliny.   These circumstances, and what

is related of the lotus-tree, show that the tem¬

ple of Vulcan, like that of Vesta, was regarded

as a central point of the whole stale, and hence

it was perhaps not without a meaning that the

temple of Concord was subsequently built with¬

in the same district.   The most ancient festi¬

 val in honoi of Vulcan seems to have been the
 

Fornacalia  or Furnalia, Vulcan  being the go*'

of furnaces ; but his great festival was called

Vulcanalia, and was celebrated on  the 23d o>

August.  The Roman poets transfer all the sto

ries which are related of the Greek Hephoestus

to their own Vulcan, the two divinities having

in the  course of time been completely identi

lied.  Respecting the Greek divinity, vid He

FHJESTUS.

  Vulci.  Vid. Volci.

  Vulgientes, an Alpine people in Gallia Nat.

bonensis, whose chief town  was  Apta  Julia

(now Apt).

  Vulsinii   Vid. Volsinii.

  Vui.so, Manlius.  1. L., consul B.C. 256 wJtli

M. Atilius Regulus.  He invaded Africa  along

with his colleague.  For details, vid. Regulus,

No. 3.  Vulso returned to Italy at the fall of

the year with half of the army, and obtained the-

honor of a triumph.  In 250 Vulso was consul a

second time with T. Atilius Regulus Serranus,

and with his colleague commenced the siege of

Lilybaeum — 2.  Cn , curule aedile 197, praeto

with Sicily as his province  195, and consul 189

He  was sent into Asia in order to conclude the

peace which Scipio Asiaticus had made with

Antiochus, and  to  arrange the affairs of Asia

He  attacked and conquered the Gallograeci  oi

Galatians in Asia Minor without waiting for any

formal instructions from the  senate   He set

out on his  return to  Italy in 188, but in his

march  through Thrace he  suffered much from

the attacks  of the Thracians, and  lost a cor.

siderable part of the booty he had obtained  ir

Asia.  He reached Rome in 187   His triumph

was a brilliant  one, but  his campaign in Asii,

had a pernicious influence upon the morals of

his countrymen.   He had allowed  his army ev

ery kind of license, and his soldiers introduced

into the city the luxuries of the East.

  [Vulteius Mena, an auctioneer in Rome, a

freedman ofthe family ofthe Vulteii or Volteii

who was leading  a happy life till Marcius Phi

lippus took him under his protection and at

tempted to  better his condition;  from the ill ef

fects produced by this change or elevation, Hor

ace draws a lesson of instruction.]

  Vultue,  a mountain dividing Apulia and Lu

cania near Venusia, is a branch of the Apen¬

nines.   It  is celebrated by Horace as one  of

the haunts of his youth.  From it the southeas

wind was called Vultuenus by the Romans

   [Vultuecius, T.   Vid. Volturcius.]

  Vultuenum (now Castel di Volturno), a town

in Campania, at the mouth ofthe River Vultur

nus, was originally a fortress erected by the Ro¬

mans in the second Punic war.  At a later time

it was made a colony.

  Vultuenus  (now Volturno), the chief river

in Campania, rising in the Apennines in Sam¬

nium,  and  falling into the Tynhene  Sea.  Its

principal affluents are the Calor (now Galore),

Tamarus (now Tamaro), and Sabatus (now Sa-

bato).





                     X.



   [Xantiiicles (BavdiKXyg), an Achaean, chosen

general by the  Greek mercenaries of Cyrus ir,

the place of his countryman Socrates, when tho

latter  had been treacherously seized  by  Tissa

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