DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.785#0611
chap, xxvii.] CHARMS OF A SOUTHERN WINTER.
503
about a mile distant—un miglio grasso—" a fat mile," as
the natives say—occupies an Etruscan site.3
It was a glorious day when I approached Bolsena. The
sky was without a cloud—the lake, its islets, and every
object on its shores, were in a summer blaze of light and
warmth—the olive-groves were full of half-clad labourers,
gathering the unctuous harvest—myriads of water-fowl
darkened the sail-less waters—my eye roved round the
wide amphitheatre which forms the ancient crater, and on
every hand beheld the hills from base to summit dark with
variegated foliage. How then discredit the evidence of
my eyes—of every sense, and admit it to be the depth of
winter, ere vegetation had put forth a single bud or
blossom ? Yet so it was, — but it was the winter of
Southern climes.
Bolsena is the representative of the ancient Volsinii,4
3 In the cliffs around and beneath the
walls are many caves, originally sepul-
chres. This cannot have been anciently
a town. Its circumscribed area, not
larger than that of a small castle, rather
indicates it as one of the strongholds—
castella—which Volsinii possessed. Liv.
IX. 41.
4 Volsinii must have been called
Velsina by the Etruscans, or perhaps
Velsuna, as it would appear from coins.
If the first, it had anciently the same
appellation as Bologna—Felsina. Velsi,
or Velsina, was a common family name,
often found on sepulchral inscriptions.
The change of the Etruscan e into the
Latin o was frequent—Volumnius for
Velimnas in the celebrated tomb of
Perugia, for instance. The two letters,
indeed, were interchangeable among the
Romans, who had originally benus for
bonus, delor for dolor, &c, which holds
also among their Iberian descendants,
who have bueno, duclo, &c. The ori-
ginal name of Volsinii may well have
been Velsuna, as we find " Volsonianus"
in an inscription found near Viterbo,
referring to places in the neighbour-
hood. Ann. Inst. 1829, p. 175. Pro-
pertius (IV. eleg. 2, 4) has Volsanus,
though in some editions written Volsi-
nius. But the name of Vulsine has also
been found; and at Bolsena itself
(Lanzi, II. p. 406) ; and Vuisina, or Vu-
sina, occurs several times in the Lecne
Tomb, near Siena. Lanzi, II. p. 361.
There is a gold coin, with the type of a
woman's head and a dog, and the legend
"Velsu" in Etruscan letters, which
Sestini has assigned to Velia or Felsina
(Bologna), but which Miiller (Etrusk. I.
p. 334) attributes to Volsinii (Velsine or
Velsune) ; and he thinks that many
copper coins that have been referred to
Volterra, or Bettona, more properly be-
long to Volsinii. Chev. Bunsen (Bull.
Inst. 1833, p. 97) considers this conjec-
ture of Muller's, as to the gold coin, to
503
about a mile distant—un miglio grasso—" a fat mile," as
the natives say—occupies an Etruscan site.3
It was a glorious day when I approached Bolsena. The
sky was without a cloud—the lake, its islets, and every
object on its shores, were in a summer blaze of light and
warmth—the olive-groves were full of half-clad labourers,
gathering the unctuous harvest—myriads of water-fowl
darkened the sail-less waters—my eye roved round the
wide amphitheatre which forms the ancient crater, and on
every hand beheld the hills from base to summit dark with
variegated foliage. How then discredit the evidence of
my eyes—of every sense, and admit it to be the depth of
winter, ere vegetation had put forth a single bud or
blossom ? Yet so it was, — but it was the winter of
Southern climes.
Bolsena is the representative of the ancient Volsinii,4
3 In the cliffs around and beneath the
walls are many caves, originally sepul-
chres. This cannot have been anciently
a town. Its circumscribed area, not
larger than that of a small castle, rather
indicates it as one of the strongholds—
castella—which Volsinii possessed. Liv.
IX. 41.
4 Volsinii must have been called
Velsina by the Etruscans, or perhaps
Velsuna, as it would appear from coins.
If the first, it had anciently the same
appellation as Bologna—Felsina. Velsi,
or Velsina, was a common family name,
often found on sepulchral inscriptions.
The change of the Etruscan e into the
Latin o was frequent—Volumnius for
Velimnas in the celebrated tomb of
Perugia, for instance. The two letters,
indeed, were interchangeable among the
Romans, who had originally benus for
bonus, delor for dolor, &c, which holds
also among their Iberian descendants,
who have bueno, duclo, &c. The ori-
ginal name of Volsinii may well have
been Velsuna, as we find " Volsonianus"
in an inscription found near Viterbo,
referring to places in the neighbour-
hood. Ann. Inst. 1829, p. 175. Pro-
pertius (IV. eleg. 2, 4) has Volsanus,
though in some editions written Volsi-
nius. But the name of Vulsine has also
been found; and at Bolsena itself
(Lanzi, II. p. 406) ; and Vuisina, or Vu-
sina, occurs several times in the Lecne
Tomb, near Siena. Lanzi, II. p. 361.
There is a gold coin, with the type of a
woman's head and a dog, and the legend
"Velsu" in Etruscan letters, which
Sestini has assigned to Velia or Felsina
(Bologna), but which Miiller (Etrusk. I.
p. 334) attributes to Volsinii (Velsine or
Velsune) ; and he thinks that many
copper coins that have been referred to
Volterra, or Bettona, more properly be-
long to Volsinii. Chev. Bunsen (Bull.
Inst. 1833, p. 97) considers this conjec-
ture of Muller's, as to the gold coin, to