Smith, William: A smaller dictionary of Greek and Roman antiquities (London, 1871)

VITTA.

XEXAGI.

wrought according to the different methods
now practised, being fashioned into the re-
quired shape by the blowpipe, cut, as we
term it, although ground [teritv/r) is a more
accurate phrase, upon a wheel, and engraved
•with a sharp tool like silver. The art of
etching upon glass, now so common, was en-
tirely unknown, since it depends upon the
properties of fluoric acid, a chemical discovery
of the last century. The following were the
chief uses to which glass was applied:—1.
Bottles, vases, cups, and cinerary urns. 2.
Glass pastes, presenting fac-similes either in
relief or intaglio of engraved precious stones.
3. Imitations of coloured precious stones,
such as the carbuncle, the sapphire, the ame-
thyst, and, above all, the emerald. 4. Thick
sheets of glass of various colours appear to
have been laid down for paving floors, and to
have been attached as a lining to the walls
and ceilings of apartments in dwelling houses,
just as scagliuola is frequently employed in
Italy, and occasionally in our own country
also. Rooms fitted up in this way were called
vitreae camerae, and the panels vitreae quad-
raturae. Such was the kind of decoration
introduced by Scaurus for the scene of his
theatre, not columns nor pillars of glass as
some, nor bas-reliefs as others have imagined.
5. Glass was also used for windows. [Domus,
p. 144.]

VITTA, or plural VITTAE, a ribbon or
fillet, is to he considered, 1. As an ordinary
portion of female dress. 2. As a decoration
of sacred persons and sacred things. 1.
When considered as an ordinary portion of
female dress, it was simply a band encircling
the head, and serving to confine the tresses
(crinales vittae), the ends when long (longae
taenia vittae) hanging down behind. It was
worn by maidens, and by married women
also, the vitta assumed on the nuptial day
being of a different form from that used by
virgins. The Vitta was not worn by liber-
tinae even of fair character, much less by
meretrices; henee it was looked upon as an
insigne pudoris, and, together with the stola
and instita, served to point out at first sight
the freeborn matron. The colour was proba-

Vittae. (Statues from HerculaneumO

hly a matter of choice : white and purple arc
both mentioned. When employed for sacred
purposes, it was usually twisted round the
infula [Infula], and held together the loose
flocks of wool. Under this form it was em-
ployed as an ornament for 1. Priests, and
those who offered sacrifice. 2. Priestesses,
especially those of Vesta, and hence vittata
sacerdos for a vestal, xar tgoxqv. 3. Pro-
phets and poets, who may be regarded as
priests, and in this case the vittae were fre-
quently intertwined with chaplets of olive or
laurel. 4. Statues of deities. 5. Victims
decked for sacrifice. G. Altars. 7. Temples.
8. The iKenjpia of suppliants. The sacred
vitta'-, as well as the infulae, were made of
wool, and hence the epithets lanca and mollis.
They were white(niveae), or purple (puni-
ceae), or azure [caeruleae), when wreathed
round an altar to the manes.

VOLOXES is synonymous with Yoluntarii
(from volo), and might hence be applied to
all those who volunteered to serve in the
Roman armies without there being any obli-
gation to do so. But it was applied more
especially to slaves, when in times of need
the}- offered or were allowed to fight in the
Roman armies. Thus when during the second
Punic war, after the battle of Cannae, there
was not a sufficient number of freemen to
complete the army, about 8000 young and
able-bodied slaves offered to serve. Their
proposal was accepted ; they received armour
at the public expense, and as they distin-
guished themselves they were honoured with
the franchise. In after times the name vo-
lones was retained whenever slaves chose or
were allowed to take up arms in defence of
their masters, which they were the more
willing to do, as they were generally re-
warded with the franchise.
VOLUMEN. [Liber.]
VOLUXTARII. [Voi.ones.]
VOMITORIA. [Amphitheatrum.]
VULCAXALIA, a festival celebrated at
Rome in honour of Vulcan, on the 23rd of
August, with games in the circus Flaminius,
where the god had a temple. The sacrifice
on this occasion consisted of fishes, which the
people threw into the fire. It was also cus-
tomary on this day to commence working by
candle-light, which was probably considered
as an auspicious beginning of the use of fire,
as the day was sacred to the god of this
element.

VULGARES. [Servus.]

XEXAGI (fevayoi'). The Spartans, as being
the head of that Peloponnesian and Do-
rian league, which was formed to secure the