only Vindomagus [VINDOMAGUS] and Nemansus Colonia (Nismes). These two nations occupied all the Provincia from the Rhône to its western limits; and if Livy is not mistaken (xxi. 26), at the time of Hannibal's invasion of Italy, the Volcae had also possessions east of the Rhône.

ties. Among these the most conspicuous are the sepulchral urns, or rather chests, for ashes, resembling small sarcophagi, and generally formed of alabaster, a material which is quarried in the immediate neighbourhood. Many of them are adorned with sculptures and bas-reliefs, some of them purely Etruscan in character, others taken from the Greek mythology, and there is no doubt that many of them belong to a period long after the fall of Etruscan independence. The inscriptions are for the most part merely sepulchral, and of little interest; but those of one family are remarkable as preserving to us the original Etruscan form (Ceicna) of the well-known family of the Caecinae, who figure frequently in Roman history [CAE-Arecomici to have possessed the greater part of the CINA, Biogr. Diet.]. Indeed, the first of this family of whom we have any knowledge-the Aulus Caecina defended by Cicero in B. C. 69 - was himself a native of Volaterrae (Cic. pro Caec. 7). His son was the author of a work on the "Etruscan discipline," which is frequently referred to as a valuable source of information in regard to that department of antiquities (Cic. ad Fam. vi. 6; Plin. i. Arg. Lib. ii; Senec. Nat. Quaest. ii. 39).

The Cebenna (Cévennes) formed a natural boundary between the Volcae Arecomici and the Gabali and Ruteni. As to the limits between the Tectosages and the Arecomici there is great difficulty; for while Ptolemy assigns Narbo to the Tectosages, Strabo (iv. p. 203) says that Narbo is the port of the Arecomici; and it is clear that he supposed the Provincia, which is west of the Rhône, and that be limited the country of the Tectosages to the part which is in the basin of the Garonne. He makes the Tectosages extend also northwards to the Cévennes, in the western prolongation of this range. The chief city of the Arecomici was Nemausus [NEMAUSUS]; and the chief city of the Tectosages was Tolosa; and if Narbo belonged to the Arecomici, we must limit the Tolosates, as already observed, to the basin of the | Garonne. [NARBO; TOLOSA.]

There is no doubt that Volaterrae in the days of its independence possessed an extensive territory. There is some resemblance between the names Strabo distinctly tells us (v. p. 223) that its territory Volcae and Belgae, and there is some little evidence extended down to the sea-coast, where the town of that the Volcae were once named Belcae or Belgae. VADA, or as it was called for distinction's sake, But it would be a hasty conclusion from this reVADA VOLATERRANA, constituted its sea-port. It semblance to assume a relationship or identity bewas not indeed a harbour or port in the strict sense tween these Volcae and the Belgae of the north of of the word; but a mere roadstead, where the shoals, Gallia. There was a tradition that some of the from which it derived its name, afforded a good Volcae Tectosages had once settled in Germany anchorage and some shelter to shipping. Hence it about the Hercynia Silva; and Caesar (B.G. vi. 24) was, in the Roman times, a frequented station for affirms, but only from hearsay, that these Volcae vessels proceeding along the coast of Etruria (Cic. in his time still maintained themselves in those pro Quinct. 6: Plin. iii. 5. s 8; Itin. Marit. p. 501); parts of Germany, and that they had an honourable and Rutilius, in particular, has left us an exact de- character and great military reputation. He adds scription of the locality (Rutil. Itin. i. 453–462). that they lived like the other Germans. The TecThe site is still marked by a mediaeval tower on the tosages also were a part of the Gallic invaders who coast, called Torre di Vada. entered Macedonia and Greece, and finally fixed themselves in Asia Minor in Galatia [GALATIA]. With the Roman conquest of Tolosa ended the fame of the Volcae Tectosages in Europe. [G. L.] VOLCARUM STAGNA. [STAGNA VOLCARUM.]

The coins of Volaterrae are numerous, and belong to the class called Aes Grave, from their large size and weight: but they are distinguished from all other Etruscan coins of this class by their having the name of the city in full; whence we learn that the Etruscan form of the name was FELATHRI, or VELATHRI, as on the one of which a figure is annexed. [E. H. B.]

E

COIN OF VOLATERRAE.

VOLCAE, a people of South Gallia, divided into Volcae Arecomici and Volcae Tectosages (Ovóλkα 'Apikóμioi, Ovóλkaι Tekтoσάyes, Ptol. ii. 10.§§ 9,10; Ουώλκαι Αρικόμισκοι, Strabo).

Ptolemy says that the Tectosages occupied the most western parts of the Narbonensis, and that these are their cities: Illiberis, Ruscino, Tolosa Colonia, Cessero, Carcaso, Baeterrae, and Narbo Colonia. Next to them and extending to the Rhône he places the Arecomici, or Aricomii, as the name is in Ptolemy's text; and he assigns to the Arecomii |

VOLCEIUM or VOLCENTUM (Eth. Volcentanus, Plin.; Volceianus, Inscr.: Buccino), a municipal town of Lucania, situated in the mountains W. of Potentia, a few miles from the valley of the Tanager. The name is variously written by ancient authors. Livy mentions the Volcentes as a people who in the Second Punic War revolted to Hannibal and received a Carthaginian garrison into their town, but, in B. c. 209, returned to the Roman alliance. (Liv. xxvii. 15.) There can be no doubt that these are the same people as the Volcentani of Pliny, who are enumerated by that author among the municipal communities of the interior of Lucania (Plin. iii. 10. s. 15), and it is certain that the Ulci er Volci of Ptolemy (O&Aкo, Ptol. iii. 1. § 70) refers to the same place, the correct name of which, as we learn from inscriptions, was Volceii or Vulceii, and the people Volceiani. (Mommsen, Inscr. R. N. pp. 15, 16.) The discovery of these inscriptions at Buccino leaves no doubt that this town occupies the site of the Lucanian city of Volceii. (Romanelli, vol. i. p. 422; Holsten. Not. ad Cluver, p. 290.) It appears to have been a considerable municipal town under the Roman Empire, and is one of the "Praefecturae Lucaniae" mentioned in the Liber Coloniarum (p. 209). [E. H. B.]

VOLCI (O3óλкo, Ptol.: Eth. Volciens: Ru. near plored since these discoveries have attracted so much Ponte della Badia), a city of Etruria, situated in the interest to the spot. It stood on the right bank of plain on the right bank of the river Armina (Fiora), the river Armina, just below the point where that about 8 miles from its mouth. Very little mention is stream is spanned by a noble bridge, now called the found of it in history. The name of the city is Ponte della Badia, undoubtedly a work of Roman known from Ptolemy as well as from Pliny, who times, though the foundations may be Etruscan. enumerates, among the municipal towns of Etruria, The few remaining relics of antiquity still visible on the "Volcentini cognomine Etrusci," an appellation the site of the city, which occupied a plateau of evidently used to distinguish them from the people of about 2 miles in circumference, are also of Roman Volcentum in Lucania. (Plin. iii. 5. s. 8; Ptol. iii. date, and mostly belong to a late period. Inscrip1. § 49.) The name is quoted also by Stephanus tions also have been discovered, which prove it to of Byzantium, who writes it "OXxtov, from Polybius. have continued to exist under the Roman Empire; (Steph. B. s. v.) But the only indication that they and the series of coins found there shows that it was had once been a powerful people, and their city a still in existence, at least as late as the fourth place of importance, is found in the Fasti Capitolini, century of the Christian era. In the middle ages it which record a triumph in the year B. C. 280 over the seems to have totally disappeared, though the plain Volsinienses and Volcientes (Fast. Capit. ad ann. in which it stocd continued to be known as the Pian 473). This was one of the last struggles of the di Voci, whence Holstenius correctly inferred that Etruscans for independence, and it was doubtless in this must have been the site of Volci. (Holsten. consequence of the spirit shown on this occasion by Not. ad Cluver. p. 40.) The necropolis was, for the Volcientes that the Romans shortly afterwards the most part, on the other side of the river; and it (in B. C. 273) established a colony at Cosa, in their is here that the excavations have been carried on territory. (Vell. Pat. i. 14; Plin. iii. 5. s. 8.) It is most diligently. The site of Volci (which is now expressly stated on this occasion by Pliny, that Cosa wholly uninhabited) is about 8 miles from Montalto, was a dependency of Volci (Cosa Volcientium), a a small town at the mouth of the Fiora, where statement which has been ignored by those modern that river was crossed by the Via Aurelia. writers who have represented Cosa as an independent nis, l. c.) [E. H. B.] and important Etruscan city. But while this is VOLCIANI, a people in Hispania Tarraconensis. very doubtful in the case of Cosa, the evidence, (Liv. xxi. 19.) [T. H. D.] though scanty, is conclusive that Volci was such; VOLENOS, a fort in Rhaetia, in the territory of and there is even reason to suppose, from a monu-Tridentum, which was destroyed by the Franks ment discovered at Cervetri, that it was at one time (Paul. Diac. Longob. iii. 31), and is generally idenreckoned one of the twelve chief cities of the Etruscan tified with the modern village of Volano on the League. (Ann. d. Inst. Arch. 1842, pp. 37-40.) Adige, south of Culiano. [L. S.]

But notwithstanding these obscure hints of its greatness, the name of Volci was almost forgotten, and its site unknown, or at least regarded as uncertain, when the first discovery of its necropolis in 1828 led to subsequent researches on the spot, which have brought to light a number of painted vases greatly exceeding that which has been discovered on any other Etruscan site. The unprecedented number, beauty, and variety of these works of art have given a celebrity in modern times to the name of Volci which is probably as much in excess of its real importance in ancient times as in the somewhat parallel case of Pompeii. It is impossible here to enter into any detailed account of the result of these excavations. It is calculated that above 6000 tombs in all have been opened, and the contents have been of the most varied kind, belonging to different periods and ages, and varying from the coarsest and rudest pottery to the finest painted vases. The same tombs have also yielded very numerous objects and works of art in bronze, as well as delicate works in gold and jewellery; and after making every allowance for the circumstance that the cemetery at Volci appears to have enjoyed the rare advantage of remaining undisturbed through ages, it affords incontestable proof that it must have belonged to a wealthy and populous city. The necropolis and its contents are fully described by Mr. Dennis (Etruria, vol. i. pp. 397-427). The results of the excavations, in regard to the painted vases discovered, are given by Gerhard in his Rapporto su i Vasi Volcenti, published in the Annali dell' Instituto for 1831. It is remarkable that only one of the thousands of tombs opened was adorned with paintings similar to those found at Tarquinii, and, in this instance, they are obviously of late date. The site of the city itself has been carefully ex

(Den

VOLIBA (Ovóxica, Ptol. ii. 3. § 30), a town of the Dumnonii in Britannia Romana, near the W. extremity of the island. Most probably Falmouth. (Camden, p. 16.) [T. H. D.]

VOLOBRIGA (Ovoλóspıya, Ptol. ii. 6. § 41), a town in Gallaecia in Hispania Tarraconensis belonging to the Nemetatae. [T. H. D.]

VOLOGATIS, in Gallia Narbonensis, is placed by the Jerusalem Itin. after Lucus (Luc), on the road to Vapincuni (Gap) past Mons Saleucus. The distance from Lucus is ix.; and D'Anville supposes that Vologatis may be a place named Lèches, but the distance ix. is too much. Others fix the place at Beaurière; and others propose Lethes or Beaumont. All this is uncertain. [G. L.]

VOLOGE'SIA (Ovoλyería, Ptol. v. 20. § 6), a city built by and named after Vologeses, one of the Arsacidan kings of Parthia, in the immediate neighbourhood of Selenceia upon the Tigris. It is called by Pliny, Vologesocerta (vi. 26. s. 30), the latter portion of the name implying the "city of." The extensive ruins, still existing, on both sides of the Tigris, are probably those of the two great cities of Seleuceia and Vologesia.

[V.]

VOLSAS (Oυóλσas кóλños, Ptol. ii. 3. § 1), a bay on the W. coast of Britain, probably Loch Brey. (Horsley, p. 378.) [T. H. D.]

VOLSCI (QUÓλñoι, Strab.; Ovoλovσко, Dionys.), an ancient people of Central Italy, who bear a prominent part in early Roman history. Their territory was comprised within the limits of Latium as that name was employed at a late period, and under the Roman Empire; but there is no doubt that the Volscians were originally a distinct people from the Latins, with whom, indeed, they were almost always on terms of hostility. On the other hand they appear as constantly in alliance with the Aequi; and

there is little doubt that these two nations were kindred races, though always distinguished from each another as two separate peoples. We have no statement in any ancient writer as to the ethnic origin or affinities of the Volscians, and are left almost wholly to conjecture on the subject. But the remains of the language, few and scanty as they are, afford nevertheless the safest foundation on which to rest our theories; and these lead us to regard the Volscians as a branch of the same family with the Umbrians and Oscans, who formed the aboriginal population of the mountain tracts of Central Italy. It would appear, indeed, as if they were more closely connected with the Umbrians than either the Sabines and their Sabellian offshoots, or the Oscans properly so called; it is probable, therefore, that the Volscians had separated at a still earlier period from the main stock of the Unibrian race. (Mommsen, Unter-Ital. Dialekt. pp. 319-326; Schwegler, Röm. Gesch. vol. i. p. 178.) The only notice of their language that occurs in Roman authors, also points to it distinctly as different from Oscan (Titinius, ap. Fest. v. Obscum, p. 189), though the difference was undoubtedly that of two cognate dialects, not of two radically distinct languages.

But the dissolution of the power of Tarquin, and the loss of the supremacy of Rome over the Latins, seem to have allowed the Volscians to regain their former superiority; and though the chronology of the earliest years of the Republic is hopelessly confused, we seem to discern clearly that it was the increasing pressure of the Volscians and their allies the Aequians upon the Latins that caused the latter people to conclude the celebrated treaty with Rome under Sp. Cassius, B. c. 493, which became the foundation of the permanent relation between the two states. (Liv. ii. 33; Dionys. vi. 95.) According to the received annals, the wars with the Volscians had already recommenced prior to this period; but almost immediately afterwards occurs the great and sudden development of their power which is repre sented in a legendary form in the history of Coriolanus. Whatever may have been the origin of that legend, and however impossible it is to receive it as historically true, there is no doubt that it has a historical foundation in the fact that many of the Latin cities at this period fell successively into the power of the Volscians and their allies the Aequians; and the two lines of advance, so singularly mixed up in the received narrative of the war, which represents all these conquests as made in a single campaign, appear to represent distinctly the two separate series of conquests by which the two nations would respectively press on towards Rome. (Niebuhr, vol. ii. pp. 95, 259; Schwegler, Röm. Gesch. vol. ii. pp. 274, 275.)*

When the Volscians first appear in Roman history, it is as a powerful and warlike nation, who were already established in the possession of the greater part at least of the territory which they subsequently occupied. Their exact limits are not, indeed, to be determined with accuracy; and it is probable that they underwent considerable fluctuations during their long wars with the Latins and Romans. But there seems no doubt that from a very early period they held the whole of the detached mountain group S. of the Tolerus (Sacco), termed by modern geographers the Monti Lepini, together with the valley of the Liris, and the mountain district of Arpinum, Sora, and Atina. Besides this they were certainly masters at one time of the plains extending from the Volscian Apennines to the sea, including the Pomp-(as remarked by Niebuhr), into four periods. The tine Marshes and the fertile tract that borders on them. This tract they had, according to Cato, wrested from the Aborigines, who were its earliest possessors (Cato ap. Priscian. v. p. 668).

The first mention of the Volscians in Roman history is in the reign of the second Tarquin, when they appear as a numerous and warlike people. It is clear that it was the great extension of the Roman power under its last king (which must undoubtedly be admitted as a historical fact), and the supremacy which he had assumed over the Latin League, that first brought him into collision with the Volscians. According to the received history he marched into their country and took their capital city, Suessa Pometia, by assault. (Liv. i. 53; Dionys. iv. 50; Cic. de Rep. ii. 24.) The tradition that it was the spoils there obtained which enabled him to build the Capitol at Rome, sufficiently proves the belief in the great power and wealth of the Volscians at this early period; and the foundation of the two colonies of Circeii and Signia, both of which are expressly ascribed to Tarquin, was doubtless intended to secure his recent conquests, and to impose a permanent check on the extension of the Volscian power. It is evident, moreover, from the first treaty with Carthage, preserved to us by Polybius (iii. 22), that the important cities of Antium and Tarracina, as well as Circeii, were at this time subject to Tarquin, and could not, therefore, have been in the hands of the Volscians.

It is impossible here to give more than a very brief outline of the long series of wars with the Volscians which occupy so prominent a place in the early histery of Rome for a period of nearly two centuries. Little historical value can be attached to the details of those wars as they were preserved by the annalists who were copied by Livy and Dionysius; and it belongs to the historian of Rome to endeavour to dispel their confusion and reconcile their discrepancies. But in a general point of view they may be divided

first of these would comprise the wars down to B. C. 459, a few years preceding the Decemvirate, including the conquests ascribed to Coriolanus, and would seem to have been the period when the Vol. scians were at the height of their power. The second extends from B. C. 459 to 431, when the dictator A. Postumius Tubertus is represented as gaining a victory over the allied forces of the Volscians and Aequians (Liv. iv. 26—29), which appears to have been really an important success, and proved in a manner the turning point in the long struggle between the two nations. From this time till the capture of Rome by the Gauls (B. C. 390) the wars with the Volscians and Aequians assume a new character; the tide had turned, and we find the Romans and their allies recovering one after another the towns which had fallen into the hands of their enemies. Thus Labicum and Bola were regained in B. C. 418 and 414, and Ferentinum, a Hernican city, but which had been taken by the Volscians, was again wrested from them in B. C. 413. (Liv. iv. 47, 49, 51.) The frontier fortresses of Verrugo and Carventum were indeed taken and retaken; but the capture of Anxur or Tarracina in B. c. 399, which from that period

*It is worthy of notice that Antium, which at the commencement of the Republic appears as a Latin city, or at least as subject to the supremacy of Rome, is found at the very outbreak of these wars already in the hands of the Volscians.

continued constantly in the hands of the Romans, must have been a severe blow to the power of the Volscians, and may be considered as marking an era in their decline. Throughout this period it is remarkable that Antium, one of the most powerful cities of the Volscians, continued to be on peaceful terms with Rome; the war was carried on almost exclusively upon the NE. frontier of the Volscians, where they were supported by the Aequians, and Ecetra was the city which appears to have taken the lead in it.

:

under the protection of Rome, for security against their common enemy. It seems certain, at all events, that before the close of the Second Samnite War (B. c. 304), the whole of the Volscian people had submitted to the authority of Rome, and been admitted to the privileges of Roman citizens.

From this time their name disappears from history. Their territory was comprised under the general appellation of Latium, and the Volscian people were merged in the great mass of the Roman citizens. (Strab. v. pp. 228, 231; Plin. iii. 5. s. 9; Cic. pro Balb. 13.) But a rude and simple mountainpeople would be naturally tenacious of their customs and traditions; and it is clear, from the manner in which Juvenal incidentally alludes to it, that even under the Roman Empire, the name of the Volscians was by no means extinct or forgotten in the portion of Central Italy which was still occupied by their descendants. (Juv. Sat. viii. 245.)

The physical geography of the land of the Volscians will be found described in the article LATIUM. Of the peculiar characters of the people themselves, or of any national customs or institutions that distinguished them from their Latin neighbours, we know absolutely nothing. Their history is a record only of the long struggle which they maintained against the Roman power, and of the steps which led to their ultimate subjugation. This is the only memory that has been transmitted to us, of a people that was for so long a period the most formidable rival of the [E. H. B.]

The capture of Rome by the Gauls marks the commencement of the fourth period of the Volscian Wars. It is probable that their Aequian allies suffered severely from the same invasion of the barbarians that had so nearly proved the destruction of Rome [AEQUI], and the Volscians who adjoined their frontier, may have shared in the same disaster. But on the other hand, Antium, which was evidently at this period a powerful city, suddenly broke off its friendly relations with Rome; and during a period of nearly 13 years (B. c. 386-374), we find the Volscians engaged in almost perpetual hostilities with Rome, in which the Antiates uniformly took the lead. The seat of war was now transferred from the Aequian frontier to the southern foot of the Alban hills and the towns of Velitrae and Satricum were taken and retaken by the Volscians and Romans. Soon after the conclusion of peace with the Antiates we hear for the first time of Privernum, as engaging in hostilities with Rome, B. C. 358, and it is remark-Roman Republic. able that it comes forward single-handed. Indeed, if there had ever been any political league or bond of union among the Volscian cities, it would seem to have been by this time completely broken up. The Antiates again appear repeatedly in arms; and when at length the general defection of the Latins and Campanians broke out in B. C. 340, they were among the first to join the enemies of Rome, and laid waste the whole sea-coast of Latium, almost to the walls of Ostia. But they shared in the defeat of the Latin armies, both at Pedum and on the Astura: Antium itself was taken, and received a colony of Romans within its walls, but at the same time the citizens themselves were admitted to the Roman franchise. (Liv. | viii. 14.) The people of Fundi and Formiae, both of them probably Volscian cities, received the Roman franchise at the same time, and Tarracina was soon after occupied with a Roman colony. The Privernates alone ventured once more to provoke the hostility of the Romans in B. c. 327, but were severely punished, and their city was taken by the consul C. Plautius. Nevertheless, the inhabitants were admitted to the Roman Civitas; at first, indeed, without the right of suffrage, but they soon afterwards obtained the full franchise, and were enrolled in the Ufentine tribe. The greater part of the Volscians, however, was included in the Pomptine tribe.

Of the fate of the cities that were situated on the borders of the valley of the Trerus, or in that of the Liris, we have scarcely any information; but there is reason to suppose that while the Antiates and their neighbours were engaged in hostilities with Rome, the Volscians of the interior were on their side fully occupied with opposing the advance of the Samnites. Nor were their efforts in all cases successful. We know that both Arpinum and Fregellae had been wrested from the Volscians by the Samnites, before the Romans made their appearance in the contest (Liv. viii. 23, ix. 44), and it is probable that the other cities of the Volscians readily took shelter

It

VOLINIENSIS LACUS (ἡ περὶ Οὐολσινίους Aíuvn, Strab. v. p. 226: Lago di Bolsena), a considerable lake of Etruria, scarcely inferior in size to that of Trasimene. It took its name from the town of Volsinii, which stood on its NE. shore; but it was also sometimes called Lacus Tarquiniensis, as its western side adjoined the territory of Tarquinii. (Plin. ii. 96.) Notwithstanding its great size, it is probable, from the nature of the surrounding hills and rocks, that it is the crater of an extinct volcano (Dennis, Etruria, vol. i. p. 514). In this lake the river Marta has its source. abounded in fish, and its sedgy shores harboured large quantities of water-fowl, with which articles it supplied the Roman markets. (Strab. I. c.; Colum. viii. 16.) It contained two islands, of which, as well as of the lake itself, wonderful stories were related by the ancients. They were remarked to be ever changing their forms (Plin. Lc.), and on one occasion during the Second Punic War its waters are said to have flowed with blood. (Liv. xxvii. 23.) The shores of the lake were noted for their quarries. (Plin. xxxvi. 22. a. 49.) In a castle on one of the islands queen Amalasontha was murdered by order of her husband Theodatus. (Procop. B. Goth. i. c. 4, p. 23, ed. Bonn.) [T. H. D.]

VOLSINII or VULSINII (Ovoλσivio, Strab. v. p. 226; Ovoλσívov, Ptol. iii. 1. § 50: Bolsena), an ancient city of Etruria, situated on the shore of a lake of the same name (Lacus Volsiniensis), and on the Via Clodia, between Clusium and Forum Cassii. (Itin. Ant. p. 286; Tab. Peut.) But in treating of Volsinii we must distinguish between the Etruscan and the Roman city. We know that the ancient town lay on a steep height (Zonaras, Ann. viii. 7; cf. Aristot. Mir. Ausc. 96); while Bolsena, the representative of the Roman Volsini, is situated in the plain. There is considerable difference of opinion as to where this height should be sought. Abeken (Mittelitalien, p. 34, seq.) looks for it at Monte Fiascone,

at the southern extremity of the lake; whilst Müller | (Etrusker, i. p. 451) seeks it at Orvieto, and adduces the name of that place Urbs Vetus, "the old city," as an argument in favour of his view; but Mr. Dennis (Etruria, vol. i. p. 508) is of opinion that there is no reason to believe that it was so far from the Roman town, and that it lay on the summit of the hill, above the amphitheatre at Bolsena, at a spot called Il Piazzano. He adduces in support of this hypothesis the existence of a good deal of broken pottery there, and of a few caves in the cliffs below.

Volsinii appears to have been one of the most powerful cities of Etruria, and was doubtless one of the 12 which formed the Etruscan confederation, as Volsinii is designated by Livy (x. 37) and Valerius Maximus (ix. 1. extern. 2) as one of the "capita Etruriae." It is described by Juvenal (iii. 191) as seated among well-wooded hills.

We do not hear of Volsinii in history till after the fall of Veii. It is possible that the success of the Roman arms may have excited the alarm and jealousy of the Volsinienses, as their situation might render them the next victims of Roman ambition. At all events, the Volsinienses, in conjunction with the Salpinates, taking advantage of a famine and pestilence which had desolated Rome, made incursions into the Roman territory in B. c. 391. But they were easily beaten: 8000 of them were made prisoners; and they were glad to purchase a twenty years' truce on condition of restoring the booty they had taken, and furnishing the pay of the Roman army for a twelvemonth. (Liv. v. 31, 32.)