Velīnus, a lake in the country of the Sabines, formed by the stagnant waters of the Velinus, between some hills near Reate. The river Velinus rises in the Apennines, and after it has formed the lake, it falls into the Nar, near Spoletium. Virgil, Æneid, bk. 7, li. 517.—Cicero, De Divinatione, bk. 1, ch. 36.
Veliocassi, a people of Gaul.
Veliterna, or Velitræ, an ancient town of Latium on the Appian road, 20 miles at the east of Rome. The inhabitants were called Veliterni. It became a Roman colony. Livy, bk. 8, ch. 12, &c.—Suetonius Augustus.—Silius Italicus, bk. 8, li. 378, &c.
Vellari, a people of Gaul.
Vellaunodūnum, a town of the Senones, now Beaune. Cæsar, [♦]Gallic War, bk. 7, ch. 11.
[♦] Book name omitted from text.
Velleda, a woman famous among the Germans, in the age of Vespasian, and worshipped as a deity. Tacitus, Germania, ch. 8.
Velleius Paterculus, a Roman historian, descended from an equestrian family of Campania. He was at first a military tribune in the Roman armies, and for nine years served under Tiberius in the various expeditions which he undertook in Gaul and Germany. Velleius wrote an epitome of the history of Greece, and of Rome, and of other nations of the most remote antiquity, but of this authentic composition there remain only fragments of the history of Greece and Rome from the conquest of Perseus, by Paulus, to the 17th year of the reign of Tiberius, in two books. It is a judicious account of celebrated men and illustrious cities; the historian is happy in his descriptions, and accurate in his dates; his pictures are true, and his narrations lively and interesting. The whole is candid and impartial, but only till the reign of the Cæsars, when the writer began to be influenced by the presence of the emperor, or the power of his favourites. Paterculus is deservedly censured for his invectives against Cicero and Pompey, and his encomiums on the cruel Tiberius, and the unfortunate Sejanus. Some suppose that he was involved in the ruin of this disappointed courtier, whom he had extolled as a pattern of virtue and morality. The best editions of Paterculus are those of Ruhnkenius, 8vo, 2 vols., Leiden, 1779; of Barbou, Paris, 12mo, 1777; and of Burman, 8vo, Leiden, 1719.——Caius, the grandfather of the historian of that name, was one of the friends of Livia. He killed himself when old and unable to accompany Livia in her flight.
Velocasses, the people of Vexin, in Normandy. Cæsar, Gallic War, bk. 2, ch. 4.
Venāfrum, a town of Campania near Arpinum, abounding in olive trees. It became a Roman colony. It had been founded by Diomedes. Horace, bk. 2, ode 6, li. 16.—Martial, bk. 13, ltr. 98.—Juvenal, satire 5, li. 86.—Strabo, bk. 5.—Pliny, bk. 3, ch. 5.