VOLSINII (ORVIETO, THE PROBABLE ETRUSCAN SITE; BOLSENA, THE ROMAN)

Volsinii was an ancient and powerful Etruscan city not far from Clusium. Its site was probably on a hill and should not be confused with that of the later Roman city which lay on a plain near a lake (now Bolsena). Soon after the fall of Veii the ancient city came into contact with Rome with which it continued to fight at intervals until its final subjugation by the latter in 280 B. C. Livy gives an account of one of these early struggles in v. 31-32. At the time of its fall the place was known for its wealth and artistic treasures, one writer saying even that its luxury brought its downfall by reason of the effe minacy it produced (Val. Max. ix. 1, Ext. 2). The Roman city is known as the birth-place of Sejanus, the corrupt minister and favorite of Tiberius (Tac. Ann. iv. 1; vi. 8). Several marvellous stories are told of the lake-one, that it contained two floating islands whose contacts produced changing forms (Plin. N. H. ii. 209); another, that during the second Punic War its waters flowed red with blood (I iv. xxvii. 23). Its banks are said to have supplied the Roman markets with water-fowl. Noted quarries, also, upon its shores afforded building material. A vivid account of the imprisonment and death of Theodoric's daughter upon an island in the lake (6th century A. D.) is given by Procopius v. 4, 14-29.

Positis nemorosa inter iuga Volsiniis.

Juv. iii. 191.

At Volsinii amid its leafy hills.

G. G. RAMSAY

Tres validissimae urbes, Etruriae capita, Volsinii, Perusia, Arretium.

Liv. x. 37, 4.

Three very powerful cities, Volsinii, Perusia, and Arretium, capitals of Etruria.

VOLTURNUS FLUMEN (VOLTURNO)

At flavum caput umidumque late crinem mollibus impeditus ulvis. Volturnus levat.

Stat. Silv. iv. 3, 67-69.

Volturnus with his yellow locks and far-streaming ooze of moisture on his sedge-crowned head, arose.

E. D. SLATER

Multamque trahens sub gurgite harenam
Volturnus.

Ov. Met. xv. 714-715.

The Volturnus, sweeping along vast quantities of sand beneath its whirling waters.

APPENDIX

BRIEF MENTION OF PLACES TOO IMPORTANT TO BE OMITTED ENTIRELY

ABELLA (Avella)

"Quos maliferae despectant moenia Abellae." (Vir. Aen. vii. 740.) ALSIUM (Palo), a favorite resort for wealthy Romans. Fronto thus characterizes it, "maritimus et voluptarius locus."

AMITERNUM (S. Vittorino Sabina), famous as the birth-place of Sallust,

the Roman historian.

AMPSANCTUS (Mefita), a valley and lake in the Apennines whose fame rests chiefly upon these lines from Virgil:

"Est locus Italiae medio sub montibus altis,
nobilis et fama multis memoratus in oris,
Ampsancti valles: densis hunc frondibus atrum
urguet utrimque latus nemoris, medioque fragosus
dat sonitum saxis et torto vertice torrens.
hic specus horrendum et saevi spiracula Ditis
monstrantur, ruptoque ingens Acheronte vorago
pestiferas aperit fauces."

Aen. vii. 563-570.

ANAGNIA (Anagni), characterized by Virgil in the words, "dives Anagnia” (Aen. vii. 684). Marcus Aurelius, when a boy, made a horseback trip from this place to Lanuvium. In a letter to Fronto, his tutor, he says that "it is a small ancient town containing antiquities, especially shrines and sacred memorials." Cicero had a villa at Anagnia (ad Att. xii. 1).

ANTEMNAE (Antenne), a very ancient city belonging to the Sabines and prominent in the days of Rome's infancy. In historical times it was either an insignificant village or, as Strabo says, land owned by private individuals. Virgil refers to it as "turrigerae Antemnae" (Aen. vii. 631).

APULIA (Puglie), a region in southern Italy famous for its production of wool and the rearing of cattle (Juv. ix. 54-55; Hor. C. iii. 16, 26). It was very hot in summer, as indicated by Horace's adjective, "siticulosa." (Epod. iii. 16.) This poet was born at Venusia near the limits of Apulia and so mentions its "well-known heights" in connection with his journey to Brundisium:

"Incipit ex illo montes Apulia notos ostentare mihi, quos torret Atabulus et quos numquam erepsemus, nisi nos vicina Trivici villa recepisset lacrimoso non sine fumo, udos cum foliis ramos urente camino."

Hor. S. i. 5, 77-81.

ARCANUM (Arce), a small village near Arpinum where Cicero's brother had a country home. The orator happened to be taking lunch there one day when his sister in-law had a fit of temper. After an angry remark on the part of his wife, Quintus turned to Cicero with the words, "There you are. That's what I have to put up with every day" (Cic. ad Att. v. 1.).

ASISIUM (Assisi), the birth-place of Propertius (iv. 1, 63, 121 ff.). BARIUM (Bari), interesting as a place where Horace stopped on his famous trip:

"Postera tempestas melior, via peior ad usque
Bari moenia piscosi."

S. i. 5, 96-97.

BONONIA OF FELSINA (Bologna), an ancient city whose situation on the Aemilian Road and proximity to important towns made it a conspicuous commercial and military center. It played a considerable part in the civil wars of Antony and Octavian (Dio Cass. xlvi. 36; 54) and was the spot where the political arrangement known as the Second Triumvirate was drawn up (Suet. Aug. 96). Martial calls it "culta" (iii. 59) and Pomponius Mela, "opulentissima" (ii. 60). Its chief fame, however, belongs to ages later than the classical period. BOVILLAE (on the Appian Way between the xii and xiii milestones), a small town which is interesting as the spot to which the body of the emperor Augustus was first taken after his death at Nola. Its neighborhood was also the scene of the murder of Clodius at the hands of Milo (Cic. pro Milon. 29.). Propertius speaks of it thus: "Quippe suburbanae parva minus urbe Bovillae.” (iv. i, 33.) - ›. BRIXIA (Brescia),

“Brixia ex illa nostra Italia, quae multum adhuc verecundiae, frugalitatis atque etiam rusticitatis antiquae retinet ac servat" (Plin. Ep. i. 14). BRUTTII, a district of southern Italy thus described in the letters of Cassiodorus (viii. 31) as summarized by Thomas Hodgkin:

"In truth it is a lovely land. Ceres and Pallas have crowned it with their respective gifts; the plains are green with pastures, the slopes are purple with vineyards. Above all it is rich in its vast herds of horses, and no wonder, since the dense shade of its forests protects them from the bites of flies, and provides them with ever verdant pastures even in the height of summer. Cool waters flow from its lofty heights; fair harbors on both its shores woo the commerce of the world."

Jordanes in his History of the Gothic Wars (30), says that the body of Alaric was buried in the bed of the river Busentus, a stream in Bruttii near the city of Consentia. The waters were turned off for this purpose and afterwards allowed to return to their channel so that the exact spot of the burial of the conqueror of Rome together with much of the spoils taken in 410 A. D. from the imperial city might be forever unknown. This is an interesting story, whether based upon facts or not.

For an account of this district, see Strabo vi. 1, 4.

CAECUBUS AGER, a district in Latium famous for its wine. The following passage is characteristic of many:

"Absumet heres, Caecuba dignior

servata centum clavibus et mero
tinguet pavimentum superbo,
pontificum potiore cenis."

Hor. C. ii. 14, 25-28..

"Thy hoarded Caecuban shall share,

And on the tesselated floor

The purple nectar madly pour-
Nectar more worthy of the halls,
Where pontiffs hold high festivals."

SIR STEPHEN E. DEVERE

See also Hor. C. i. 20, 9; i. 37, 5; iii. 28, 3; Epod. ix. 1; 36; S. ii. 8, 15; and Mart. xiii. 115.

CALABRIA, a region of southern Italy widely known for its herds and flocks. Horace thus alludes to it:

"Pecusve Calabris ante sidus fervidum

Lucana mutet pascuis." (Epod. i. 27–28.)

"Aestuosae Calabriae." (C. i. 31, 5.)

CALES (Calvi), a town whose surrounding territory was celebrated for its wine. See Hor. C. i. 31, 9; iv. 12, 14–16.

CENTUM CELLAE (Civita Vecchia), a favorite resort of the emperor
Trajan who constructed an artificial island with long moles extending
out from the town. Pliny (Ep. vi. 31) gives a pleasant picture of the
place in connection with a meeting of Trajan's privy council.
CIMINIUS SALTUS (Monte Cimino near Lago di Vico), a forest which
formed a vast boundary wall between Rome and Etruria, and the
object of superstitious dread. It was entered in 310 B. C. by the
Roman consul, Fabius Maximus, during a war with the Etruscans
although this act was in direct defiance of an order from Rome for-
bidding him to risk so great a danger; but by so doing, he forced the
enemy to seek peace from the Romans (Liv. ix. 36-38).
CURES (Correse), a small village in the country of the Sabines important
only as the neighborhood in which Numa, one of the early kings
of Rome, was born. Strabo says that in his time it was a small village
although formerly it had been a famous city (Strab. v. 3, 1). Virgil
refers to it thus:

“Quis procul ille autem ramis insignis olivae
sacra ferens? nosco crinis incanaque menta
regis Romani, primam qui legibus urbem
fundabit, Curibus parvis et paupere terra
missus in imperium magnum."

Aen. vi. 808-812.

ETRURIA, a region north of Rome inhabited in early days by the Etruscans, an ancient and powerful race which largely influenced Roman civilization. For Strabo's account of the country, see v. 2, 2; 8-9. EUGANEI COLLES (Euganei Monti), a district between Patavium and Verona, widely famed for its wool.

FAESULAE (Fiesole), interesting to classical students as the military center for Catiline's conspiracy.

FALERII (Civita Castellana), a large city in southern Etruria which in the early centuries joined with Veii in withstanding Roman supremacy, and in other ways proved a source of annoyance to Rome. It was besieged by Camillus in the early part of the fourth century B. C. and in 240 it was finally destroyed by the Romans who started a new settlement known as Novi Falerii a few miles from the site of the former city. Plutarch (Camill. 9-11) tells an interesting story of a