Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/1342

 1318 UNELLI. has a course of above 50 miles in a SSW. direction till it flows into the Tyrrhenian sea, about 16 miles N. of the proniuntory of Monte Ai'gentaro. Pliny terms it a navigable river (" navigiorum capax "), and Rutilius describes it as forming at its mouth a tranquil and secure port. (Plin . iii. 5. s. 8; Eutil. Itin. i. 337 — 340.) It flows near the modern city of Grosseto, and within a few miles of the ruins of Ruselke. The name of Tfmbro is considered to be connected with the Umbrians, who held this part of Italy previous to its conquest by the Etrus- cans : and according to Pliny, the coast dihtrict ex- tending from its mouth to Tehimon, was siill known as the " tractus Umhriae." (Plin. I. c.) [E. H. B.] UNELLI or VENELl (OueVeAoi). one of the Ar- moric or maritime states of Gallia. (5. G. ii. 34, iii. 11.) Caesar mentions them with the Veneti, Osisnii, Curiosolit:ie, and other maritime states, i'he Unelli and the rest submitted to P. Crassus in B.C. .57; but in B.C. 56 it was necessary to send a force again into the country of the Unelli, Curiosolitae, and Lexovii. Q. Titurius Sabinus had the command of the three legions who were to keep the Unelli and their neigh- bours quiet. The commander of the Unelli was Viri- dovix, and he was also at the head of all the forces of the states which had joined the Unelli, among ■whom were the Aulerci Eburovices and the Lexovii. The force of Viridovix was very large, and he was joined by desperate men from all parts of Gallia, robbers and tlio.se who were too idle to till the ground. The Eoman general entrenched himself in his camp, and made the Galli believe that lie was afraid and V!a.s intending to shp away by night. The trick deceived the Galli, and they attacked the Roman camp, which was well placed on an eminence with a sloping ascent to it about a mile in length. On the Galli reaching the Roman camp exhausted by a rapid march up the hill and encumbered with the fascines which they carried for filling up the ditch, the Romans sallied out by two gates and punished the enemy well for their temerity. They slaughtered an immense number of the Galli, and the cavalry pursuing the remainder let few escape. This clever feat of arms is told clearly in the Commentaries. The Unelli sent a contingent of 6000 men to attack Caesar at the siege of Alesia. (B. G. vii. 75.) Ptolemy (ii. 8. § 2) names Crociatonum the capital of the Veneli. [Crociatonu.m.] The people occupied the peninKula of Cotantin or Cotentin, which is now comprehended in the department of La Manche, except a small part which is included in the department of Calvados. [G. L.] UNSINGIS, according to a reading in Tacitus (-4?m. i. 70), a river in the north-west of Germany; but the correct reading in that passage is ad Ami- sium, as Ritter has shown in his note upon it, Un- singin being only a conjecture of Alting manufactured out of the modern name of a river called Unse or Bunse. [L. S.] VOBARNA [Brixia]. VOCANUS AGER, a district in Africa Propria, between Carthage and Thapsus. (Liv. xxsiii. 48.) [J. R.] VOCARIUM or VACORIUM (OvaKopiov), a place in Noricum, on the great road leading from Augusta Vindelicorum to Aemona. (Ptol. ii. 14. § 3 ; Tah. Pent.) Its exact site is matter of con- jecture only. [L. S.] VOCATES. [Vasates.] VOCE'TIUS MONS. This name occurs in VOLATERRAE. Tacitus {Illst. i. 68), and nowhere else. The history shows that Tacitus is speaking of the country of the Helvetii. The Vocetius is conjectured to be that part of the Jura which is named Boetzherg. The road from Bale runs through the Fricklhal over the Botzherg to Baden and Zurich. The Helvetii fled from Caecina (a. d. 70) into the Vocetius, where many were caught and massacred. Aventicum, the chief city (caput gentis), surrendered to Caecina. [Aventicum.] It has been proposed to write Vogesus for Vocetius in the passage of Tacitus; but there is no rea>on for the alteration. [G. L.] VOCONII FORUM. [Forum Voconii.] VOCO'NTII (OuKoj/Tioi), a people of Gallia Nar- bonensis, between the Rhone and the Alps. The only city which Ptolemy (ii. 10. § 17) assigns to them is Vasio [Vasio]. On the north they bor- dered on the Allobroges, as we learn from Caesar's march (fi. G. i. 10). Strabo places the Cavares west of the Vocontii, but he has not fixed the position of the Cavares well [Cavares]. The position of the Vocontii, and the extent of their country, are best shown by looking at the position of Vasio, which was in the south part of their territory, and of Dea [Dea], which is in the north part, and Lucus Au- gust!, which lies between them [Lucus Augusti]. In the Nolitia of the Gallic Provinces we find both Civitas Deentium and Civitas Vasiensium or Vasionensium. The Vocontii were between the Isere and the Durance, their southern limit being probably a little south of Vaison. D'Anville supposes that the Vocontii occupied the dioceses of Vaison and Die, and also a part of the country comprised in the diocese of Gap [VAriNCUM], and a part of the diocese of Sisteron, which borders on Vaison. Pliny (iii. 4) calls the Vocontii a " Civitas foederata," a people who had a "foedus" with Rome; and besides the chief places, Vasio and Lucus Au- gusti, he says they have nineteen small towns. Pliny (ii. 58) mentions that he had been in the country of the Vocontii, where he saw an aerolite which had lately fallen ("delatum" should perhaps be " delapsum "). The Vocontii occupied the eastern part of the department of Drome, which is a mountainous country, being filled with the lower offsets of the Alps, and containing numerous valleys drained by mountain streams. Part of the country is fitted for pasture. Silius Ital. (iii. 466) has: — " Turn faciles campos, jam rura Vocontia carpit;" for he makes Hannibal pass through the Vocontii to the Alps, as Livy (xxi. 31) does. [G. L.] VODGORIACUM, in Gallia, is the first place in the Itins. on the road from Bagacum (Bavai) to Aduatuca (^Tongern'). This remarkable Roman road is called the Chaussee de Brunehaut, or the Haut Chemin. The distance of Vodgoriacum from Bagacum is xii., and the place is supposed to be Voudrei or Vaudre. (D'Anville, Notice, ^c.) [G.L.] VOGESUS. [Vosegus.] VOLANA. [Samnium] VOLANDUJI, a castle in Armenia Major, lying a day's journey W. of Artasata, (Tac. Ann. xiii. 39.) [T. H. D.] VOLATERRAE (OvoAare^paL: Eth. Volater- ranus: Volterra), one of the most important and powerful of all the Etruscan cities. It was situ- ated on a lofty hill, rising above the valley of the Cecina, about 5 miles N. of that river and 15 from the sea. Strabo has well described its remark.