Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/1303

 VERODUNUM. writings it is Viredunum, Vii'idunum, and Virdu- num, which last abbreviated form comes nearest to Verdun, which is the capital of the Verodunenses. Verdun is west of Metz, in the department of Meuse, and on the Meuse or Maas. There was a place named Fines [Fines, No. 13] between Virodu- num and Divodurum, which probably marked the limit between the Verodunenses and the Wedioma- trici. [G. L.] VERODUNUM. [Vekodunenses.] VEROLA'MIUM and VERULA'MIUM {OvpoXi- viov, Ptol. ii. 3. § 21), the capital of the Catyeuch- lani in Britannia Romana, on the road from Lon- dinium toLindumand Eboracum. {Itin. /I n<. pp.471, 476, 479.) It was probably the residence of Cassi- vellaunus, which was taken by Caesar (i?. Gall. v. 21), and subsequently became a considerable Roman munieipium, (Tac. Ann. xiv. 33.) It is Old Ve- rulam, near St. Albans, in Hertfordshire, which latter town rose from its ruins; and its celebrated abbey church is said to be built in great part of Roman bricks. (Camden, p. 350, seq.) [T. H. D.] VEROxMANDUI (Ouep o^uaVSues, Ptol. iii. 9. § 1 1), a Belgic people, who in b.c. 57 were supposed to be able to raise 10,000 fighting men (Caesar, B. G. ii. 4); unless Caesar's text means that they and the VeLicasses together mustered this number [Ve- LOCASSEsJ. They joined the Nervii and the Atre- bates in the attaclc on Caesai"'s army on the Sabis {Sambre'). The Veromandui attacked the eleventh and eighth legions, which were in Caesar's centre, and they were driven back to the river. They are not mentioned again in the Commentaries. The Veromandui had the Ambiani and the Atrebates on the west, and the Suessiones on the south. On the north they were neighbours of the Nervii. Their chief town was afterwards Augusta Veromanduorum, St. Quentin, on the Somme, in the department of Aisne, and in the old division of France named Vermandois. The name Civitas Ve- romanduorum occurs in the Notitia of the Gallic Provinces. [Augusta Veuomanduorum.] [G.L.] VEROJMETUM, a town of the Coritani in Bri- tannia Romana, between Ratae and Margidunum. (^ftln. Ant. pp. 477, 479, where it is also called Vernometum.) Camden (p. 575) places it at £«?•- rough Hill, near Willomjhby on the Wold, in tlie S. part of Nottinghanishlre. [T. II. D.] VERONA {Ovr^fjuivci, Ptol. iii. 1. § 31 ; @ur}poov, Strab. iv. p. 206, v. p. 213; Bepwj/r), Prucop. B.G. ii. 29, iii. 3, &c.; and Bepdova, lb. iv. 33 : Eth. Vero- nensis : VeromC), an important tow-n in Gallia Transpadana, seated on the river Athesis ('' Verona Athesi circumfiua," Sil. It. viii. 595), and chiefly on its W. bank. There is some difficulty in deter- mining whether Verona was a city of the Euganei or of the Cenomani, from the little knowledge which we possess of the respective boundaries of those peoples, and from the confusion which prevails upon the subject in ancient authors. By Ptolemy (l. c), who does not mention the Euganei, it is ascribed to the Cenomani ; and Catullus (Ixvii. 34), in a passage, however, which has been banished by some editors as not genuine, Brixia, which undoubtedly belonged to the Cenomani, is styled the mother city of Verona. Pliny, on the other hand (iii. 19. s. 23), gives Verona partly to the Rhaeti and partly to the Euganei, and Strabo (I. c.) attributes it to the former. Some have sought a solution of this difficulty by assuming that the city belonged originally to the Euganei, but was subsequently occupied by the Cenomani, referring to VERONA. 1279 Llvy, V. 35. (Cf. Justin, xs. 5.) We know little or nothing of the early history of Verona. Under the Roman dominion it became a colony with the surname of Augusta, and one of the finest and most flourishing cities in that part of Italy (Tac. II. iii. 8; Itin. Ant. p. 128 ; Strab. v. p. 213; Grut. Inscr. p. 166. 2.) The surrounding country was exceed- ingly fruitful, producing good wine, excellent apples, and abundance of spelt (alica, Plin. xviii. 11. s. 29, xiv. 1. s. 3, XV. 14. s. 14; Cassiod. Var. xii. 4). The Rhaetian wine also is praised by Viriril. {G. ii. 94; cf. Strab. iv. 206; Suet. Oct. 77.) The situation of Verona rendered it a great thorouirhfaro and the centre of several highroads {Itin. Ant. pp. 128, 174, 275, 282; Itin. Hier. p. 558.) Verona was celebrated in liistory for the battle fought by Marius in the Campi Raudii, in its neighbourhood, againt the Cinibri. (Veil. Pat. ii. 12; Florus, iii. 3.) From an inscription still extant on one of its gates, now called the Porta de' Borsari, the walls of Verona appear to have been newly erected in the reign of the emperor Gallienus, A. D. 265. It was besieged by Constantine on his march from Gaul to Rome, and, though obstinately defended by Ruricins Pompeianus, obliged to surrender at dis- cretion. {Paneg. Vet. ix. 9, sqq.) It was likewise the scene of the victory of Theodoric over Odoacei. (Jornand. Get. 57.) Theodoric made it one of his residences, and often held his court there: a repre- sentation of his palace is still extant upon a seal. (Gibbon, Bed. and Fall, vol. v. p. 22, ed. Smith.) It was at Verona that the splendid wedding took place between king Autharis and Theudelinda. (Procop. B. G. iii. 5 ; Paul. Diac. iii. 29.) But, more than by all these events, Verona is illustrious as having been the birthplace of Catullus (Ovid. Amor. iii. 15. 7; Slart. x. 103; Plin.xxxvi. 6. s. 7); though it is exceedingly doubtful whether the re- mains of a villa on the Lago di Garda, commonly called the villa of Catullus, could really have be- longed to him. The honour sometimes claimed for Verona of having given birth to the architect Vi- truvius Pollio arises from a mistaken interpretation of the inscription on the arch of the Gavii, formerly existing at Verona, but pulled down in the year 1805. The inscription related to the great architect's less celebrated namesake, Vitruvius Cerdo. (^Descriz. di Verona, pt. i. p. 86.) Some are of opinion that the elder Pliny also was born at Verona, but it is more probable that he was a native of Comum. In the life of him ascribed to the pen of Suetonius, he is styled Novocomensis ; and when he calls himself in his Preface the conterraneus of Catullus, that epi- thet by no means necessarily implies that he was the fellow-citizen of the poet, but rather that he was merely his fellow-countryman, or from the same province. The amphitheatre at Verona is a very striking monument of antiquity. Although not nearly so large as the Colosseum, it is in a much better state of preservation, owing to the pains which have al- ways been taken to keep it in repair. It is also of a more costly material than the Roman amphitheatre; for whilst tlie latter is built of travertino, that at Verona is of marble, from some quarries in the neigh- bourhood. The substructions are of Roman brick- work. The date of its erection cannot be ascer- tained, but it must undoui)tediy have been posterior to the time of Augustus. A great part of the ex- ternal arcade was thrown down by an earth(iuake in the year 1184. Its form is elliptical, the larger