Ventĭdius Bassus, a native of Picenum, born of an obscure family. When Asculum was taken, he was carried before the triumphant chariot of Pompeius Strabo, hanging on his mother’s breast. A bold, aspiring soul, aided by the patronage of the family of Cæsar, raised him from the mean occupation of a chairman and muleteer to dignity in the state. He displayed valour in the Roman armies, and gradually arose to the offices of tribune, pretor, high priest, and consul. He made war against the Parthians, and conquered them in three great battles, B.C. 39. He was the first Roman ever honoured with a triumph over Parthia. He died greatly lamented by all the Roman people, and was buried at the public expense. Plutarch, Antonius.—Juvenal, satire 7, li. 199.——Cumanus, governor of Palestine, &c. Tacitus, Annals, bk. 13, ch. 54.——Two brothers in the age of Pompey, who favoured Carbo’s interest, &c. Plutarch.
Venŭleius, a writer in the age of the emperor Alexander.——A friend of Verres. Cicero, Against Verres, bk. 3, ch. 42.
Venŭlus, one of the Latin elders sent into Magna Græcia to demand the assistance of Diomedes, &c. Virgil, Æneid, bk. 8, li. 9.
Vĕnus, one of the most celebrated deities of the ancients. She was the goddess of beauty, the mother of love, the queen of laughter, the mistress of the graces and of pleasures, and the patroness of courtesans. Some mythologists speak of more than one Venus. Plato mentions two, Venus Urania the daughter of Uranus, and Venus Popularia the daughter of Jupiter and Dione. Cicero speaks of four, a daughter of Cœlus and Light, one sprung from the froth of the sea, a third, daughter of Jupiter and the Nereid Dione, and a fourth born at Tyre, and the same as the Astarte of the Syrians. Of these, however, the Venus sprung from the froth of the sea, after the mutilated part of the body of Uranus had been thrown there by Saturn, is the most known, and of her in particular ancient mythologists, as well as painters, make mention. She arose from the sea near the island of Cyprus, or, according to Hesiod, of Cythera, whither she was wafted by the zephyrs, and received on the sea-shore by the seasons, daughters of Jupiter and Themis. She was soon after carried to heaven, where all the gods admired her beauty, and all the goddesses became jealous of her personal charms. Jupiter attempted to gain her affections and even wished to offer her violence, but Venus refused, and the god, to punish her obstinacy, gave her in marriage to his ugly and deformed son Vulcan. This marriage did not prevent the goddess of Love from gratifying her favourite passions, and she defiled her husband’s bed by her amours with the gods. Her intrigue with Mars is the most celebrated. She was caught in her lover’s arms, and exposed to the ridicule and laughter of all the gods. See: [Alectryon]. Venus became mother of Hermione, Cupid, and Anteros by Mars; by Mercury she had Hermaphroditus; by Bacchus, Priapus; and by Neptune, Eryx. Her great partiality for Adonis made her abandon the seats of Olympus [See: [Adonis]], and her regard for Anchises obliged her often to visit the woods and solitary retreats of mount Ida. See: [Anchises], Æneas. The power of Venus over the heart was supported and assisted by a celebrated girdle, called zone by the Greeks, and cestus by the Latins. This mysterious girdle gave beauty, grace, and elegance, when worn even by the most deformed; and it excited love and rekindled extinguished flames. Juno herself was indebted to this powerful ornament to gain the favours of Jupiter, and Venus, though herself possessed of every charm, no sooner put on her cestus, than Vulcan, unable to resist the influence of love, forgot all the intrigues and infidelities of his wife, and fabricated arms even for her illegitimate children. The contest of Venus for the golden apple of Discord is well known. She gained the prize over Pallas and Juno [See: [Paris], [Discordia]], and rewarded her impartial judge with the hand of the fairest woman in the world. The worship of Venus was universally established; statues and temples were erected to her in every kingdom, and the ancients were fond of paying homage to a divinity who presided over generation, and by whose influence alone mankind existed. In her sacrifices and in the festivals celebrated in her honour, too much licentiousness prevailed, and public prostitution was often part of the ceremony. Victims were seldom offered to her, or her altars stained with blood, though we find Aspasia making repeated sacrifices. No pigs, however, or male animals were deemed acceptable. The rose, the myrtle, and the apple, were sacred to Venus; and among birds, the dove, the swan, and the sparrow, were her favourites; and among fishes, those called the aphya and the lycostomus. The goddess of beauty was represented among the ancients in different forms. At Elis she appeared seated on a goat, with one foot resting on a tortoise. At Sparta and Cythera, she was represented armed like Minerva, and sometimes wearing chains on her feet. In the temple of Jupiter Olympius, she was represented by Phidias, as rising from the sea, received by love, and crowned by the goddess of persuasion. At Cnidos her statue, made by Praxiteles, represented her naked, with one hand hiding what modesty keeps concealed. Her statue at Elephantis was the same, with only a naked Cupid by her side. In Sicyon she held a poppy in one hand, and in the other an apple, while on her head she had a crown, which terminated in a point, to intimate the pole. She is generally represented with her son Cupid, on a chariot drawn by doves, or at other times by swans and sparrows. The surnames of the goddess are numerous, and only show how well established her worship was all over the earth. She was called Cypria, because particularly worshipped in the island of Cyprus, and in that character she was often represented with a beard, and the male parts of generation, with a sceptre in her hand, and the body and dress of a female, whence she is called duplex Amathusia by Catullus. She received the name of Paphia, because worshipped at Paphos, where she had a temple with an altar, on which rain never fell, though exposed in the open air. Some of the ancients called her Apostrophia or Epistrophia, as also Venus Urania, and Venus Pandemos. The first of these she received as presiding over wantonness and incestuous enjoyments; the second because she patronized pure love, and chaste and moderate gratifications; and the third because she favoured the propensities of the vulgar, and was fond of sensual pleasures. The Cnidians raised her temples under the name of Venus Acræa, of Doris, and of Euploea. In her temple under the name of Euploea, at Cnidos, was the most celebrated of her statues, being the most perfect piece of Praxiteles. It was made with white marble, and appeared so engaging, and so much like life, that, according to some historians, a youth of the place introduced himself in the night into her temple, and attempted to gratify his passions on the lifeless image. Venus was also surnamed Cytheræa, because she was the chief deity of Cythera; Exopolis, because her statue was without the city of Athens; Phallommeda, from her affection for the phallus; Philommedis, because the queen of laughter; Telessigama, because she presided over marriage; Caliada, Colotis, or Colias, because worshipped on a promontory of the same name in Attica; Area, because armed like Mars; Verticordia, because she could turn the hearts of women to cultivate chastity; Apaturia, because she deceived; Calva, because she was represented bald; Ericyna, because worshipped at Eryx; Etaira, because the patroness of courtesans; Acidalia, because of a fountain of Orchomenos: Basilea, because the queen of love; Myrtea, because the myrtle was sacred to her; Libertina, from her inclinations to gratify lust; Mechanitis, in allusion to the many artifices practised in love, &c., &c. As goddess of the sea, because born in the bosom of the waters, Venus was called Pontia, Marina, Limnesia, Epipontia, Pelagia, Saligenia, Pontogenia, Aligena, Thalassia, &c., and as rising from the sea, the name of Anadyomene is applied to her, and rendered immortal by the celebrated painting of Apelles, which represented her as issuing from the bosom of the waves, and wringing her tresses on her shoulder. See: [Anadyomene]. Cicero de Natura Deorum, bk. 2, ch. 27; bk. 3, ch. 23.—Orpheus, Hymn 54.—Hesiod, Theogony.—Sappho.—Homer, Hymn to Aphrodite, &c.—Virgil, Æneid, bk. 5, li. 800, &c.—Ovid, Heroides, poems 15, 16, 19, &c.; Metamorphoses, bk. 4, fable 5, &c.—Diodorus, bks. 1 & 5.—Hyginus, fables 94, 271.—Pausanias, bk. 2, ch. 1; bk. 4, ch. 30; bk. 5, ch. 18.—Martial, bk. 6, ltr. 13.—Euripides, Helen, Iphigeneia in Taurus.—Plutarch, Amatorius.—Ælian, Varia Historia, bk. 12, ch. 1.—Athenæus, bk. 12, &c.—Catullus.—Lactantius, de Falsa Religione.—Quintus Calaber [Smyrnæus], bk. 11.—Lucian, Dialogi, &c.—Strabo, bk. 14.—Tacitus, Annals, bk. 3, &c.—Valerius Maximus, bk. 8, ch. 11.—Pliny, bk. 36.—Horace, bk. 3, ode 26; bk. 4, ode 11, &c.——A planet called by the Greeks Phosphorus, and by the Latins Lucifer, when it rises before the sun, but when it follows it, Hesperus or Vesper. Cicero, de Natura Deorum, bk. 2, ch. 20; Somnium Scipionis.
Venus Pyrenæa, a town of Spain near the borders of Gaul.
Venŭsia, or Venŭsium, a town of Apulia, where Horace was born. Part of the Roman army fled thither after the defeat at Cannæ. The town, though in ruins, contains still many pieces of antiquity, especially a marble bust preserved in the great square, and said falsely to be an original representation of Horace. Venusia was on the confines of Lucania, whence the poet said Lucanus an Apulus anceps, and it was founded by Diomedes, who called it Venusia or Aphrodisia, after Venus, whose divinity he wished to appease. Strabo, bks. 5 & 6.—Horace, bk. 2, satire 1, li. 35.—Livy, bk. 22, ch. 54.—Pliny, bk. 3, ch. 11.
Veragri, a people between the Alps and the Allobroges. Livy, bk. 21, ch. 38.—Cæsar, Gallic War, bk. 3, ch. 1.
Verania, the wife of Piso Licinianus, whom Galba adopted.
Veranius, a governor of Britain under Nero. He succeeded Didius Gallus. Tacitus, Annals, bk. 14.
Verbānus lacus, now Majora, a lake of Italy, from which the Ticinus flows. It is in the modern duchy of Milan, and extends 50 miles in length from south to north, and five or six in breadth. Strabo, bk. 4.