Vestalium Mater, a title given by the senate to Livia the mother of Tiberius, with the permission to sit among the vestal virgins at plays. Tacitus, bk. 4, Annals, ch. 16.
Vestia Oppia, a common prostitute of Capua.
Vesticius Spurina, an officer sent by Otho to the borders of the Po, &c. Tacitus.
Vestilius Sextus, a pretorian disgraced by Tiberius, because he was esteemed by Drusus. He killed himself. Tacitus, Annals, bk. 4, ch. 16.
Vestilla, a matron of a patrician family, who declared publicly before the magistrates that she was a common prostitute. She was banished to the island of Seriphos for her immodesty.
Vestīni, a people of Italy near the Sabines, famous for the making of cheese. Pliny, bk. 3, ch. 5.—Martial, bk. 13, ltr. 31.—Strabo, bk. 5.
Lucius Vestīnus, a Roman knight appointed by Vespasian to repair the capitol, &c. Tacitus, Histories, bk. 4, ch. 53.—Livy, bk. 8, ch. 29.——A consul put to death by Nero in the time of Piso’s conspiracy.
Vesvius. See: [Vesuvius].
Vesŭlus, now Viso, a large mountain of Liguria, near the Alps, where the Po takes its rise. Virgil, Æneid, bk. 10, li. 708.—Pliny, bk. 3, ch. 19.
Vesŭvius, a mountain of Campania, about six miles at the east of Naples, celebrated for its volcano, and now called Mount Soma. The ancients, particularly the writers of the Augustan age, spoke of Vesuvius as a place covered with orchards and vineyards, of which the middle was dry and barren. The first eruption of this volcano was in the 79th year of the christian era under Titus. It was accompanied by an earthquake, which overturned several cities of Campania, particularly Pompeii and Herculaneum, and the burning ashes which it threw up were carried not only over the neighbouring country, but as far as the shores of Egypt, Libya, and Syria. This eruption proved fatal to Pliny the naturalist. From that time the eruptions have been frequent. Vesuvius continually throws up a smoke, and sometimes ashes and flames. The perpendicular height of this mountain is 3780 feet. Dio Cassius, bk. 46.—Varro, de Re Rustica, bk. 1, ch. 6.—Livy, bk. 23, ch. 39.—Strabo, bk. 5.—Tacitus, Histories, bk. 1, ch. 2.—Mela, bk. 2, ch. 4.—Pliny, bk. 6, ltr. 16.—Silius Italicus, bk. 12, li. 152, &c.—Virgil, Georgics, bk. 2, li. 224.—Martial, bk. 4, ltrs. 43 & 44.