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 resorts. The department now forms the bishopric of Frejus (4th century), which is in the ecclesiastical province of Aix en Provence: in 1801 there was annexed to it the episcopal see of Toulon, founded in the 5th century, and in the ecclesiastical province of Aries. There are in the department 135 m. of broad gauge railways, and 148 m. of narrow gauge lines. The principal towns are Toulon, La Seyne, Hyères, Draguignan, its political capital, Brignoles and Fréjus. There are a number of mines (chiefly iron and coal) in the department, and salt is extracted from the marshes near Hyeres, while there are manufactories of pottery and extensive vineyards. La Seyne is the principal centre of industrial activity. Cut flowers are largely exported from Hyères. In 1901 the population of the department was 326,384.

VARALLO SESIA, a town of Piedmont, Italy, in the province of Novara, from which it is 34 m. N.N.W. by rail, situated in the valley of the Sesia, 1480 ft. above sea-level. Pop. (1901) 3330 (town); 4265 (commune). The churches of S Gaudenzio, S. Maria delle Grazie and S Maria di Loreto, all contain works by Gaudenzio Ferrari (1471–1546), who was born in the neighbouring Val Duggia, while the Sacro Monte, a place of pilgrimage rising above the town (1995 ft.), is approached by a path leading past forty-five chapels containing groups of life-size painted terra-cotta figures representing scenes from sacred history, with backgrounds in fresco (by Ferrari and others), to the pilgrimage church built by Pellegrino Tibaldi after 1578. In the works mentioned, as Burckhardt remarks, Ferrari’s whole development may be traced.

VARCHI, BENEDETTO (1502–1565), Florentine historian. He fought in the defence of Florence during the siege by the Mediceans and imperialists in 1530, and was exiled after the surrender of the city. In 1536 he took part in Piero Strozzi’s unsuccessful expedition against Medicean rule, but seven years later he was called back to Florence by Cosimo I., who gave him a pension and commissioned him to write a history of the city; the work covers the period from 1527 to 1538. Varchi also wrote a number of plays, poems, dialogues and translations from the classics. His history, in sixteen books, was first published in Florence in 1721.

VARDANES, the name of two Parthian kings.

, succeeded Artabanus II., probably his father, in 40 (Joseph. Ant. xx. 3, 4), but had continually to fight against his rival  (q.v.). The coins show that he was in full possession of the throne from 42 to 45. In 43 he forced Seleucia on the Tigris to submit to the Parthians again after a rebellion of seven years (Tac. Ann. xi. 9). Ctesiphon, the residence of the kings on the left bank of the Tigris, opposite to Seleucia, naturally profited by this war; and Vardanes is therefore called founder of Ctesiphon by Ammianus Marc, xxiii. 6. 23. He also prepared for a war against Rome, with the aim of reconquering Armenia (cf. Joseph, Ant. xx. 3, 4), but did not dare to face the Roman legions (Tac. Ann. xi. 10). In a new war with Gotarzes he gained a great success against the eastern nomads. He is praised by Tacitus as a young and highly gifted ruler of great energy (cf. Philostratus, Vita Apollon. Tyan. i. 21. 28), but lacking in humanity. In the summer of 45 he was assassinated while hunting, and Gotarzes became king again.

rebelled against his father Vologaeses I. in 54 (Tac. Ann. xiii. 7). We know nothing more about him and it is not certain whether the coins of a young beardless king, which are generally attributed to him, really belong to him (Wroth, Catalogue of the Coins of Parthia, p. L. ff.).

VARENIUS, BERNHARDUS [] (1622–1650), German geographer, was born at Hitzacker on the Elbe, in the Lüneburg district of Hanover. His early years (from 1627) were spent at Uelzen, where his father was court preacher to the duke of Brunswick. Varenius studied at the gymnasium of Hamburg (1640–42), and at Konigsberg (1643–45) and Leiden (1645–49) universities, where he devoted himself to mathematics and medicine, taking his medical degree at Leiden in 1649. He then settled at Amsterdam, intending to practise medicine. But the recent discoveries of Tasman, Schouten and other Dutch navigators, and his friendship for Blaeu and other geographers, attracted Varenius to geography. He died in 1650, aged only twenty-eight, a victim to the privations and miseries of a poor scholar's life.

In 1649 he published, through L. Elzevir of Amsterdam, his Descriptio Regni Japoniae, an excellent compilation. In this was included a translation into Latin of part of Jodocus Schouten’s account of Siam (Appendix de religione Siamensium, ex Descriptione Belgica Iodoci Schoutenii), and chapters on the religions of various peoples. Next year (1650) appeared, also through Elzevir, the work by which he is best known, his Geographia Generalis, in which he endeavoured to lay down the general principles of the subject on a wide scientific basis, according to the knowledge of his day. The work is divided into—(1) absolute geography, (2) relative geography and (3) comparative geography. The first investigates mathematical facts relating to the earth as a whole, its figure, dimensions, motions, their measurement, &c. The second part considers the earth as affected by the sun and stars, climates, seasons, the difference of apparent time at different places, variations in the length of the day, &c. The third part treats briefly of the actual divisions of the surface of the earth, their relative positions, globe and map -construction, longitude, navigation, &c.

VARESE, a town of Lombardy, Italy, in the province of Como, 18 m. by rail W. of that town, and 37 m. N.W. of Milan, 1253 ft. above sea-level. Pop. (1901) 7692 (town); 17,666 (commune). It is a well-to-do place, beautifully situated near the Lake of Varese, and for this reason a favourite summer and autumn resort of the Milanese, who have numerous country houses in the vicinity. Among them the Villa Litta and the Villa Ponte may be specially mentioned. The principal church is that of S. Victor (rebuilt 1580–1615 and 1795), to which is attached an ancient baptistery (dating from the 9th century but rebuilt in the 13th century). The fine campanile of the church is 246 ft. high. There is an archaeological museum with pre-historic antiquities from the lake-dwellings on an island in the Lake of Varese. To the N.W. (a journey of 2 hours) is the pilgrimage church of the Madonna del Monte (2885 ft.), approached by a path which passes fourteen chapels adorned with 17th-century frescoes and groups in stucco illustrating the mysteries of the rosary. Varese is the seat of active silk-spinning, tanning, paper-making and the manufacture of organs and vehicles. Excellent wine is made. Varese is a junction for Porto Ceresio and Laveno.

VARIA (mod. Vicovaro), an ancient village of Latium, Italy, in the valley of the Anio, on its right bank, and on the Via Valeria, 8 m. N.E. of Tibur (Tivoli). It was probably an independent town and not within the territory of Tibur, and Horace speaks of it as Sabine. Some remains of its walls, in rectangular blocks of travertine, still exist. One mile to the east is a picturesque gorge of the Anio, in which may be seen remains of the ancient aqueducts which supplied Rome, consisting partly of rock-cut channels and partly of ruined bridges: above it is the monastery of S Cosimato. Close to this point begins the valley of the Digentia (mod. Licenza) in which Horace's Sabine farm was situated. On the hill at the east of the entrance is the village of Cantalupo or Bardella, which has now assumed the name of Mandela, being identified thus