A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology. By various writers. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

1240 VENUS. VERGASILLAUN US.
Quaest. Rom. 20.) It must however be observed a very late date. (P. Vict. Reg. U1b. v. x. xii.)
that some of the ecclesiastical writers preferred Lastly, we may remark, that Venus is also said to
taking the surname Murcia in the sense of "stupid " have presided over gardens. (Varro, De R. R. i.
or " dull" (from murcus). Another ancient sur- 1; Plin. H. N. xix. 4; Fest. p. 58, ed. Miiller;
name of Venus was Cloacina, which, according to compare Hartung, Die Relig. der Rifm. vol. ii. p.
Lactantius (i. 20), was derived from the fact that 248, &c.) [L. S.]
her image was found in the great sewer (cloaca), VENUSTUS, artist. This name is found on
and was set up by the Sabine king, T. Tatius, in the celebrated marble of Antium, as that of a
a temple near the forum. (Comp. Liv. iii. 48; freedman of the imperial family, in the time of
Plaut. Curcul. iv. 1. 10.) If Venus had been one Claudius, whose profession is described by the
of the divinities of the lower world, this story letters SPEC, which Vulpi interprets Speculator,
might be intelligible enough, but as such was not but which, according to Raoul-Rochette, should be
the case, it appears to be nothing but an etymo- read Speclarius, that is, a manufacturer of the glass
logical inference from the name. Cloaca is con- ornaments employed in the decoration of houses.
nected with cluere, Cluilia, Cloelia, icXvESiv, luere M. R. Rochette brings forward strong arguments
(i. e. purgare), and there is a tradition that T. in support of his opinion, showing that there was a
Tatius and Romulus, after the war which had distinct class of such artists, speclarii, speculorum
arisen out of the rape of the Sabine women, or- or speculariorum.fi/bri, and that they existed at
dered their subjects to purify themselves before Rome as a body corporate, Colleqizn Speclariorum.
the image of Venus Cluacina. (Plin. H. N. xv. 29; (Tabul. Antiat. v. 23. p. 15, Rom. 1726, 4to; R.
comp. Serv. ad Aen. i. 7-24, where pur.qare must Rochette, Lettre a ~i. Schorn, pp. 422-425, 2d
be read for pugnare.) This explanation agrees ed.) [P. S.]
perfectly with the belief of the ancients that T. VENU'TIUS. [CARTIMANDUA].
Tatius was the founder of marriage; and Venus VERA'NIA, the wife of Piso Licinianus, who
Cloacina, accordingly, is the goddess presiding was adopted by the emperor Galba. After the
over and purifying the sexual intercourse in mar- murder of her husband in A. D. 69, she obtained
riage. A third ancient surname of the goddess is his head from Otho and buried it together with
Calva, under which she had two temples in the his body. (Tac. Hist. i. 47; Plut. Galb. 28; Plin.
neighbourhood of the Capitol. Some believed that Ep. ii. 20.) [PIso, No. 31.]
one of them had been built by Ancus Marcius, Q. VERA'NIUS, was appointed by Tiberius
because his wife was in danger of losing her hair; the Caesar's legatus or governor of Cappadocia,
others thought that it was a monument of a pa- when the country was reduced to the form of a
triotic act of the Roman women, who during the Roman province in A. D. 18. Veranius was one of
siege of the Gauls cut off their hair and gave it the friends of Germanicus, and accordingly took an
to the men to make strings for their bows, and active part in A. D. 20 in the prosecution of Cn. Piso,
others again to the fancies and caprices of lovers, who was believed to have poisoned Germanicus.
calnere signifying "to teaze." (Serv. ad Aen. i. After the death of Piso in this year [PIso, No. 23],
724; Lactant. i. 20; Nonius, p. 6.) But it probably Veranius was rewarded with one of the priestly
refers to the fact that on her wedding day the dignities. He was consul in the reign of Claudius
bride, either actually or symbolically, cut off a lock A. D. 49 with C. Pompeius Gallus. In the reign
of hair to sacrifice it to Venus. (Pers. Sat. ii. 70, of Nero, A. D. 58 he succeeded Didius Gallus as
with the Schol.) In these, the most ancient sur- governor of Britain, but died there within a year,
names of Venus, we must recognise her primitive and was followed in the government by Suetonius
character and attributes. In later times her wor- Paulinus. (Tac. Ann. ii. 56, 74, iii. 10, 13, 17,
ship became much more extended, and the identi- 19, xii. 5, xiv. 29, Agr. 14.) It was probably to
fication with the Greek Aphrodite introduced va- this Veranius that Onosander dedicated his work
rious new attributes. At the beginning of the on military tactics. [ONOSANDER.]
second Punic war, the worship of Venus Erycina VERA'TIUS, CN. EGNA'TIUS, a Roman
or Erucina was introduced from Sicily, and a historian, mentioned only by Aurelius Victor (de
temple was dedicated to her on the Capitol, to Orig. Gent. Rom. init.).
which subsequently another was added outside the VERA'TIUS orNERA/TIUS, P. FU'LVIUS,
Colline gate. (Liv. xxii. 9, 10, xxiii. 30, 31, xl. called by Cicero lectissimus 7Lomo, accused Milo in
34; Ov. Rein. Am. 54.9; P. Victor, Reg. Urb. v.) B.C. 52. (Cic. pro Flacc. 20; Ascon. in Mil.
In the year B.C. 114, a Vestal virgin was killed pp. 40, 54, ed. Orelli.)
by lightning, and her body was found naked; as VERAX, the nephew of Civilis, assisted the
the general moral corruption, especially among latter in his war against the Romans, A. D. 70.
the Vestals, was believed to be the cause of this (Tac. [list. v. 20.) [CIVILIS.]
disaster, the Sibylline books were consulted which VERCINGETORIX, the celebrated chieftain
contained the order to build a temple of Venus of the Arverni, who carried on war with great
Verticordia (the goddess who turns the hearts of ability against Caesar ill B. c. 52. The history of
men) on the via Salaria. (Ov. Fast. iv. 160; Val. this war, which occupies the seventh book of
Max. viii. 15. ~ 12.) After the close of the Caesar's Commentaries on the Gallicwar, has been
Samnite war, Fabius Gurges founded the worship related elsewhere. [CAESAR, P. 548.] It is only
of Venus Obsequens and Postvota; Scipio Africa- necessary to mention here that after Vercingetorix
nus the younger that of Venus Genitrix, in which fell into Caesar's hands on the capture of Alesia, he
he was afterwards followed by Caesar, who was kept in chains and subsequently taken to Rome,
added that of Venus Victrix. (Serv. ad Aen. i where he adorned the triumph of his conqueror in
724.) The antiquity of the worship of Venus B.C. 45 and was afterwards put to death. (Dion
Militaris, Barbata and Equestris is unknown (Serv. Cass. xl. 41, xliii. 19; Plut. Caes. 27.)
1. c.; Macrob. Sat. iii. 8); but the sanctuaries of VERGASILLAUNUS, a chief of the Arverni
Venus Rhamnusia, Placida, and Alma are all of and a consobrinus of Vercingetorix, was one of the