VACCUS, M. VITRUVIUS, a citizen of Fundi, was the leader of the revolt of the Fundani and Privernates against Rome in B. c. 330. He was a man of considerable reputation both in his own state and also at Rome, where he had a house on the Palatine. The consul L. Plautius Venno was sent to quell the revolt, which he effected without difficulty. On the capture of Privernum, Vaccus fell into the consul's hands, and was put to death after his triumph. His property was confiscated to the state, his house on the Palatine destroyed, and the site on which it stood was ever after called the Vacci Prata. (Liv. viii. 19, 20; Cic. pro Dom. 38.)

VACU'NA, a Sabine divinity identical with Victoria. She had an ancient sanctuary near Horace's villa at Tibur, and another at Rome. The Romans however derived the name from Vacuus, and said that she was a divinity to whom the country people offered sacrifices when the labours of the field were over, that is, when they were at leisure, vacui. (Schol. ad Horat. Epist. i. 10. 49; Ov. Fast vi. 307; Plin. H. N. iii. 17.) From the Scholiast on Horace, we also learn that some identified her with Diana, Ceres, Venus, or Minerva.

[L. S.]

VALA, NUMO'NIUS. 1. C. NUMONIUS VALA, known only from coins, from which it ap pears that he had obtained renown by storming a vallum, and had hence obtained the surname of Vala, which, according to the usual custom, became hereditary in his family. The coins were struck by one of his descendants in commemoration of the exploit. The one annexed has on the obverse the head of Numonius, with c. NVMONIVS VAALA, and on the reverse a man storming the vallum of a camp, which is defended by two others, with VAALA. Vaala is an ancient form of Vala, just as on the coins of Sulla we find Feelix instead of Felix. (Eckhel, vol. v. p. 263.)

VAAL

AALA

COIN OF C. NUMONIUS VALA.

2. NUMONIUS VALA, to whom Horace addresses one of his Epistles (i. 15), appears to have had estates in the neighbourhood of Velia and Salernum, since the poet makes inquiries of Vala about the climate of those places, as he intended to pass the winter in one of them. As this poem was probably written about B. c. 22, the friend of Horace was most likely the father of No. 3, if not the same

person.

3. NUMONIUS VALA, legate of Quintilius Varus in A. D. 9, left the infantry when they were attacked by the enemy in the fatal battle of that year, and fled with the cavalry to the Rhine, but was overtaken in his flight and slain. (Vell. Pat. ii. 119.)

VALENS, one of the thirty tyrants enumerated by Trebellius Pollio [see AUREOLUS], was nominated proconsul of Achaia by Gallienus in consequence of his high character as a soldier, and a statesman. The usurper Macrianus [MACRIANUS]

fearing him as a rival, and hating him as a private foe, despatched an emissary [Piso, No. 33], to put him to death. Valens, upon receiving intelligence of this design, conceived that he might best avoid the threatened danger by assuming the purple. Accordingly he was proclaimed emperor, and was soon after murdered by his soldiers. (Trebell. Poll. Trig. Tyrann. xviii.) [W. R.]

VALENS, the maternal granduncle or uncle of the preceding, rebelled in Illyria during the reign of Gallienus, and perished after having held sway for a few days. He also, as well as his nephew, is pressed into the list of the thirty tyrants by Pollio. (Trebell. Poll. Trig. Tyrann. xix.) {W. R.]

VALENS, emperor of the East A. D. 364–378, the brother of Valentinian [VALENTINIANUS I.], was born about A. D. 328. The name of his wife was Albia Dominica, by whom he had a son and two daughters. Under Julian he was one of the Domestici. He was made emperor of the East by his brother on the 28th of March A. D. 364, as is told in the article VALENTINIANUS.

Valens had in his service the Prefect Sallustius, and the generals Lupicinus, Victor, and Arinthaeus. By a constitution of the 16th of December of this year, he forbade the practice of giving presents to those who carried to the provinces important news, such as the accession of an emperor or his assumption of the consulship: he allowed the carriers of such news to receive the presents which persons of property or condition might choose to give, but not to exact anything from those who were not in easy circumstances. The Goths are spoken of as having made their appearance in Thrace in this year, but they were induced to retire, probably by money. Valens left Constantinople in the spring of a. D. 365, for Asia Minor, and he was at Caesarea in Cappadocia in the month of July, when the great earthquake happened, which shook all the country round the Mediterranean. The revolt of Procopius for a time rendered the throne of Valens insecure. Procopius assumed the imperial title at Constantinople, on the 28th of September, A. D. 365, and Valens received the intelligence as he was going to leave Caesarea. [PROCOPIUS]. After the death of Procopius, A. D. 366, Valens treated the partisans of the rebel with great clemency according to Themistius; but Ammianus and Zosimus say that he punished many innocent persons. The fact of some persons being punished is certain: the nature and degree of their participation in the revolt may be doubtful. The emperor had sworn to demolish the walls of Chalcedon for the share which it had taken in the insurrection, but at the prayer of the people of Nicaea, Nicomedia, and Constantinople, he satisfied his superstition by pulling down some small portion of the walls and rebuilding it. Probably about this time he did Constantinople the service of improving the supply of water by building an aqueduct.

The year A. n. 367 is memorable in the reign of Valens for an extraordinary event, the diminution of the taxes by one fourth, a measure which rarely happens in the history of a nation, the general rule being progressive taxation till people can pay no more. The diminution was the less expected as a war with the Goths was imminent. These barbarians had for some time hung on the northern frontier, and occasionally pillaged the Roman lands. Three thousand Goths, who had been sent by Athanaric to aid Procopius, were

compelled to surrender after the death of the rebel, and were distributed in the towns along the Danube and kept under surveillance. The Gothic king, Ermenric, demanded these Goths back, but Valens refused them, and resolved on war, as he had nothing else to do.

Before undertaking the war, for which he made great preparation, Valens received the rite of baptism from Eudoxus, the chief of the Arians who was then seated in the chair of Constantinople. Thus, says Tillemont, "he began by an act which involved him in a thousand mishaps, and finally precipitated his body and his soul to death." The emperor posted his troops on the Danube, and fixed his camp at Marcianopolis, the capital of Lower Maesia. He was ably assisted by Auxonius, who was made Praefectus Praetorio in place of Sallustius, who was relieved of his office on account of his age. Valens crossed the Danube, and finding no resistance, ravaged the country of the enemy. He was again at Marcianopolis in January A. D. 368, where he appears to have passed the winter. An incursion of the Isaurians, who extended their ravages to Cilicia and Pamphylia, and cut to pieces Musonius, the Vicarius of Asia, and his troops, may perhaps be referred to this year.

The military events of the year a. D. 368 were unimportant. Valens was unable to cross the Danube, and he passed the winter again at Marcianopolis. On the 10th of October, the city of Nicaea was destroyed by an earthquake. On the 3d of May, A. D. 369, Valens left Marcianopolis for Noviodunum, where he crossed the Danube and entered the country of the Goths. The Goths sustained considerable loss; and Valens also defeated Athanaric, who opposed him with a numerous army. He returned to Marcianopolis, intending to pass another winter there, but the Goths sued for peace, which was granted on the condition that they should not cross the Danube, and should only be allowed to trade at two towns on the river. The treaty between Valens and Athanaric was concluded on vessels in the Danube, for Athanaric refused to set his foot on the Roman territory. At the end of this year, Valens was at Constantinople.

The year A. D. 370 is memorable for the cruel punishment of eighty ecclesiastics. The Arians were persecuted by the Catholics at Constantinople, and the Catholics sent a deputation of eighty ecclesiastics to Valens, who was then at Nicomedia. It is said that Valens ordered them to be put to death, and that his order was executed by Modestus, Praefectus Praetorio, by placing them in a vessel on the sea, and setting fire to it. "This inhumanity," observes Tillemont, "was punished by a famine which desolated Phrygia and the neighbouring country;" but the pious historian does not explain how the sufferings of the innocent are to be considered as a punishment on the guilty.

padocia into two provinces, and made Tyana the capital of the second.

In A. D. 372 Modestus, the Praefect, and Arinthaeus were consuls. Arinthaeus, who was a man of extraordinary stature, and of perfect form, of great courage and superior military skill, had been employed both by Julian and Jovian, and he had served Valens well in the war against Procopius. On the 13th of April, Valens was at Antioch in Syria, whither he had gone to conduct the war against Sapor king of Persia. Sapor had made a treaty with Jovian, in which it seems that Armenia was comprehended. However this may be, Sapor had set his mind on getting possession of Armenia, and about A. D. 369, having prevailed on Arsaces, the Armenian king, to come to an entertainment, he made him prisoner, put out his eyes, and finally ordered him to be executed. He gave the government of Armenia to Cylax and Artabanus, two natives, and creatures of his. Olympias, the wife of Arsaces, escaped with her son Para and her treasures to a strong place, which Cylax and Artabanus with some Persian troops made an unsuccessful attempt to take: it is said that Cylax and Artabanus were treacherous to their Persian allies.

Para implored the assistance of Valens, who supported him at New Caesarea in Pontus, in a manner suitable to his rank, and he sent Comes Terentius to put him in possession of Armenia, but without conferring on him the insignia of royalty, which, it was supposed, might be taken as an infraction of the treaty with the Persians. On hearing of this Sapor sent troops into Armenia, who drove Para into the mountains. Sapor, not being able to seize Para, made a show of reconciliation and Para of submission, one of the tokens of which was the heads of Cylax and Artabanus, for which Sapor had asked, on the ground that they were rather the masters than the servants of Para. Valens upon this sent Arinthaeus into Armenia, who checked the approach of the Persian troops. Sapor complained, but Valens paid no attention to his complaints. The Persian king threatened an attack, but nothing was done this year, though Valens appears to have advanced into Mesopotamia.

In the following year A. D. 373, the Roman and the Persian armies met; the Romans, commanded by Comes Trajanus and Vadomarus, formerly a king of the Allemanni. (Amm. Marc. xxix. 1.) Mesopotamia was apparently the seat of the war. Sapor was defeated, and retired to Ctesiphon after a truce was agreed on. Valens spent the winter at Antioch.

in the empire, and whom he put to death a few months afterwards, when he concluded a peace with Constantine, who stipulated positively for the deposition of this puppet Caesar. Eckhel assigns a medal bearing on the obverse the legend IMP. C. AUR. VAL. VALENS. P. F. AUG., and on the reverse JOVI CONSERVATORI AUGG., to this Valens; but it seems doubtful whether he ever received, formally at least, any higher title than that of Caesar. [Compare MARTINIANUS.] (Excerpta | Vales. 17, 18; Aurel. Vict. Epit. 40; Zosim. ii. 19, 20.) [W. R.]

VALENS, DONATIUS, a centurion in the army of Hordeonius Flaccus in Germany, attempted with some few others to protect the images of Galba, when the rest of the soldiers revolted to Vitellius, but was seized, and shortly afterwards put to death. (Tac. Hist. i. 56, 59.)

VALENS, FA'BIUS. 1. One of the principal generals of the Emperor Vitellius in A. D. 69. His character is drawn in the blackest colours by Tacitus; and among the various profligate commanders in that civil war, Valens seems to have been the most notorious for his avarice, venality, and cruelty. He was of an equestrian family, and was born at Anagnia, a town of Latium. He entered freely into the debaucheries of Nero's court, and at the festival of the Juvenalia, in which the most distinguished persons of the state were obliged to take a part (see Dict. of Antiq. s. v. Juvenalia, 2d ed.), he was accustomed to act the licentious part of a mime, at first, as if by compulsion, but afterwards evidently from choice. He was subsequently appointed by Nero legatus of the first legion in Germany. In the troubles immediately preceding and following Nero's death, Valens endeavoured to persuade Verginius Rufus, who governed Upper Germany, to assume the purple; and when Rufus refused to do so, Valens sought to blacken his character, and accused him to Galba of attempting to make himself emperor. Soon after Galba's accession, Valens, in conjunction with the legate of another legion, Cornelius Aquinus, put to death Fonteius Capito, the governor of Lower Germany, on the plea that he was intending to revolt, but, as many thought, because he had refused to take up arms at the solicitation of Valens and Aquinus. However this may be, Valens claimed great merit with Galba for the services he had rendered him in exposing the plots of Verginius Rufus, and destroying Fonteius Capito, who might have been a dangerous rival; and upon receiving no reward, he complained bitterly that he had been treated with ingratitude. Accordingly, upon the arrival of Vitellius in Lower Germany as the successor of Capito, Valens was one of the first to urge him to seize the empire, and this time he was more successful than he had been with his former commanders. The legions in Upper Germany refused to take the oath of allegiance to Galba on the 1st of January, A. D.

Valens was entrusted with 40,000 men belonging to the army of Lower Germany, with orders to march through Gaul, and persuade it to submit to Vitellius, or, if he could not succeed in so doing, to lay it waste with fire and sword, and finally to cross over into Italy by Mont Genevre (Cottianis Alpibus). Caecina received 30,000 men belonging to the army of Upper Germany, with orders to march direct into Italy by the pass of the Great St. Bernard (Poeninis jugis).

Valens commenced his narch early in January. His formidable army secured him a friendly recep tion in Gaul; but upon his arrival at Diviodurum (Metz), his soldiers were seized with a panic terror, and slaughtered 4000 of the inhabitants. This massacre, however, instead of provoking any resistance in Gaul, only made the people still more anxious to deprecate the wrath of the troops. On reaching the capital of the Leuci, the modern Toul, Valens received intelligence of the death of Galba and the accession of Otho; and this news produced the recognition of Vitellius throughout the whole of Gaul, the inhabitants of which detested alike both Otho and Vitellius, but were more afraid of the latter. Valens, therefore, continued to advance without any interruption. The inhabitants of Lugdunum (Lyons) persuaded him to march against Vienna (Vienne), which had espoused the cause of Vindex and Galba; but the Viennenses averted the impending danger by throwing themselves before the army as suppliants, and by giving an immense sum of money to Valens, of which the soldiers likewise received a small portion. The avarice of Valens knew no bounds, and he employed the great power which he now possessed, to gratify it in every possible manner. Throughout his march the proprietors of the lands and the magistrates of the cities paid him large sums of money not to march through their property or encamp upon it; and if money failed, they were obliged to appease him by sacrificing their wives and daughters to his lusts. On his arrival in Italy, Valens took up his quarters at Ticinum (Pavia), where he nearly lost his life in an insurrection of the soldiers. He took refuge in the dress of a slave in the tent of one of his officers, who concealed him till the danger was over. Valens afterwards put this man to death on suspicion of his having taken a thousand drachmae from his baggage. (Dion Cass. lxiv. 16; comp. Tac. Hist. ii. 29.) Caecina, who had arrived in Italy before Valens, had meantime been defeated by the generals of Vitellius in the neighbourhood of Cremona; and although Valens and Caecina disliked each other, and it was thought that the latter had been defeated, because Valens had purposely not made sufficient haste to join him, yet their mutual interests now led them to unite their forces, and to act in harmony against the common enemy. Otho's generals earnestly dissuaded him from risking a battle, but their opinion was overruled by the emperor, who was anxious to bring the war to a close. The result was the battle of Bedriacum, in which Valens and Fabius gained a decisive victory, and thus secured for Vitellius the sovereignty of Italy. [OTHо.] The two generals remained in northern Italy for some time after the battle, till they were joined by Vitellius, whom they accompanied to Rome. Vitellius advanced them to the consulship, which they entered upon on the 1st of September, and he left the whole government in their hands.