Venus Libitina That aspect of Venus (the goddess of the life-force) which ruled the extinction of the life-force. An underworld deity of great importance in Rome. Her temple was sited beyond the Servian Walls more or less at the central point of Rome's vast necropolis (cemetery) on the Campus Esquilinus. Its exact location is not known. The temple precinct was large and had a grove of trees, presumably cypresses, as they are associated with death. In this precinct Rome's undertakers and funeral directors had their headquarters, operating, it would seem likely, from stalls or booths. The temple itself contained a register of Roman citizen deaths and was rich thanks to the accumulation of the coins which had to be paid to register a death. Should Rome for whatever reason cease to have consuls,-the fasces of the consuls were deposited on a special couch inside the temple; the axes which were only inserted into the consuls' fasces outside Rome were also kept in the temple. I imagine that Rome's burial clubs, of which there were many, were in some way connected with Venus Libitina.
vermeil Silver plated with gold.
verpa A Latin obscenity used more in verbal abuse than as a sign of contempt. It referred to the penis-apparently in the erect state only, when the foreskin is drawn back-and had a homosexual connotation. Note Servilia's choice of this epithet to hurl at another woman-the bossy, overpowering Portia Liciniana.
Vesta, Vestal Virgins Vesta was a very old and numinous Roman goddess having no mythology and no image. She was the hearth, the center of family life, and Roman society was cemented in the family. Her official public cult was personally supervised by the Pontifex Maximus, but she was so important that she had her own pontifical college, the six Vestal Virgins. The Vestal Virgin was inducted at about seven or eight years of age, took vows of complete chastity, and served for thirty years, after which she was released from her vows and sent back into the general community still of an age to bear children. Few retired Vestals ever did marry; it was thought unlucky to do so. The chastity of the Vestal Virgins was Rome's public luck: a chaste college was favored by Fortune. When a Vestal was accused of unchastity she was formally brought to trial in a specially convened court; her alleged lover or lovers were tried in a separate court. If convicted, she was cast into an underground chamber dug for the purpose; it was sealed over, and she was left there to die. In Republican times the Vestal Virgins shared the same residence as the Pontifex Maximus, though sequestered from him and his family. The temple of Vesta was near this house, and was small, round, and very old. It was adjacent to the Regia of the Pontifex Maximus and to the well of Juturna, which in early days had supplied the Vestals with water they had to draw from the well each day in person; by the late Republic this ritual was a ritual only. A fire burned permanently inside Vesta's temple to symbolize the hearth; it was tended by the Vestals, and could not be allowed to go out for any reason.
vexillum A flag or banner. The study of flags nowadays is called vexillology.
via A main thoroughfare or highway. vicus A good-sized street.
Villa Publica A parklike piece of land on the Campus Martius; it fronted onto the Vicus Pallacinae, and was the place where the various components and members of the triumphal parade forgathered before the parade commenced. viri capitales The three young men of presenatorial age who were deputed to look after Rome's prisons and asylums. As Rome was a society which did not imprison save on a purely temporary basis, this was not a very onerous task. The viri capitales, however, seem to have lingered in the lower Forum Romanum on days when there were no public or Senate meetings and the praetors' tribunals were not open, apparently so some sort of public figure of authority was available for citizens in need of protection or help. This Cicero reveals in his pro Cluentio.
vir militaris See the entry under Military Man.
voting Roman voting was timocratic, in that the power of the vote was powerfully influenced by economic status, and in that voting was not "one man, one vote" style. Whether an individual was voting in the Centuries or in the Tribes, his own personal vote could only influence the verdict of the Century or Tribe in which he polled. Election outcomes were determined by the number of Century or Tribal votes going a particular way: thus in the Centuries of the First Class there were only 91 votes all told, the number of Centuries the First Class contained, and in the tribal Assemblies only 35 votes all told, the number of Tribes. Juridical voting was different. A juror's vote did have a direct bearing on the outcome of a trial, as the jury was supposed to have an odd number of men comprising it, and the decision was a majority one, not a unanimous one. If for some reason the jury was even in number and the vote was tied, the verdict had to be adjudged as for acquittal. Jury voting was timocratic also, however, in that a man without high economic status had no chance to sit on a jury.
Wooden Bridge Rome's oldest bridge, the Pons Sublicius, spanned the Tiber downstream of Tiber Island, and was the only one made of wood. It was reputed to have been built in the time of King Ancus Marcius.
yoke The yoke was the crossbeam or tie which rested upon the necks of a pair of oxen or other animals in harness to draw a load. In human terms it came to mean the mark of servility, of submission to the superiority and domination of others. There was a yoke called the Tigillum located somewhere on the Carinae inside the city of Rome; the young of both sexes were required to pass beneath it, perhaps a sign of submission to the burdens of adult life. However, it was in military terms that the yoke came to have its greatest metaphorical significance. Very early Roman (or possibly even Etruscan) armies forced a defeated enemy to pass beneath the yoke: two spears were planted upright in the ground, and a third spear was lashed from one to the other as a crosstie; the whole apparatus was too low for a man to pass under walking upright, he had to bend right over. Other people in Italy than the Romans also had the custom, with the result that from time to time a Roman army was made to pass under the yoke, as when the Samnites were victorious at the Caudine Forks. To acquiesce to passing under the yoke was regarded as an intolerable humiliation for Rome; so much so that the Senate and People usually preferred to see an army stand and fight until the last man in it was dead. That at least was honorable defeat.
Colleen McCullough, Fortune's Favorites
(Series: Masters of Rome # 3)
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