=Ve´nus.= One of the most celebrated deities of the ancients; the goddess of beauty, and mother of love. She sprang from the foam of the sea, and was carried to heaven, where all the gods admired her beauty. Jupiter gave her in marriage to Vulcan, but she intrigued with some of the gods, and, notably, with Mars, their offspring being Hermione, Cupid, and Anteros. She became enamored of Adonis, which caused her to abandon Olympus. Her contest for the golden apple, which she gained against her opponents Juno and Minerva, is a prominent episode in mythology. She had numerous names applied to her, conspicuous amongst which may be named Anadyomene, under which cognomen she is distinguished by the picture, representing her as rising from the ocean, by Apelles. She was known under the Grecian name of Aphrodite. =Vespasia´nus Ti´tus Fla´vius.= A Roman emperor of obscure descent. He began the siege of Jerusalem, which was continued by his son Titus. He died A.D. 79, in his seventieth year. =Ves´ta.= A goddess, daughter of Rhea and Saturn. The Palladium, a celebrated statue of Pallas, was supposed to be preserved within her sanctuary, where a fire was kept continually burning. =Vesta´les.= The Vestals, priestesses consecrated to the service of Vesta. They were required to be of good families and free from blemish and deformity. One of their chief duties was to see that the sacred fire of Vesta was not extinguished. =Virgil´ius, Pub´lius Ma´ro=, called the prince of the Latin poets, was born at Andes, near Mantua, about seventy years before Christ. He went to Rome, where he formed an acquaintance with Mæcenas, and recommended himself to Augustus. His Bucolics were written in about three years, and subsequently he commenced the Georgics, which is considered one of the most perfect of all Latin compositions. The Æneid is supposed to have been undertaken at the request of Augustus. Virgil died in his fifty-first year B.C. 19. =Virgin´ia.= Daughter of the centurion L. Virginius. She was slain by her father to save her from the violence of the decemvir, Appius Claudius. =Virgin´ius.= A valiant Roman, father of Virginia. (See Virginia.) The story of Virginius and his ill-fated daughter is the subject of the well-known tragedy of "Virginius," one of the early productions of J. Sheridan Knowles. It is rarely performed in the present day. =Vulca´nus.= The god who presided over fire, and who was the patron of those who worked in iron. According to Homer, he was the son of Jupiter and Juno, and was so deformed, that at his birth his mother threw him into the sea, where he remained nine years; but other writers differ from this opinion. He married Venus at the instigation of Jupiter. He is known by the name of Mulciber. The Cyclopes were his attendants, and with them he forged the thunderbolts of Jupiter.