VITRUM (ὕαλος), glass. A story has been preserved by Pliny, that
glass was first discovered accidentally by some merchants who, having
landed on the Syrian coast at the mouth of the river Belus, and
being unable to find stones to support their cooking-pots, fetched
for this purpose from their ships some of the lumps of nitre which
composed the cargo. This being fused by the heat of the fire, united
with the sand upon which it rested, and formed a stream of vitrified
matter. No conclusion can be drawn from this tale, even if true, in
consequence of its vagueness; but it probably originated in the fact,
that the sand of the district in question was esteemed peculiarly
suitable for glass-making, and exported in great quantities to
the workshops of Sidon and Alexandria, long the most famous in
the ancient world. Alexandria sustained its reputation for many
centuries: Rome derived a great portion of its supplies from this
source, and as late as the reign of Aurelian we find the manufacture
still flourishing. There is some difficulty in deciding by what
Greek author glass is first mentioned, because the term ὕαλος
unquestionably denotes not only artificial glass but rock-crystal, or
indeed any transparent stone or stone-like substance. Thus the ὕελος
of Herodotus, in which the Ethiopians encased the bodies of their
dead, cannot be glass, for we are expressly told that it was dug in
abundance out of the earth; and hence commentators have conjectured
that rock-crystal or rock-salt, or amber, or oriental alabaster, or
some bituminous or gummy product, might be indicated. But when the
same historian, in his account of sacred crocodiles, states that they
were decorated with ear-rings made of melted stone, we may safely
conclude that he intends to describe some vitreous ornament for which
he knew no appropriate name. Glass is, however, first mentioned with
certainty by Theophrastus, who notices the circumstance alluded to
above, of the fitness of the sand at the mouth of the river Belus for
the fabrication of glass. Among the Latin writers Lucretius appears
to be the first in which the word _vitrum_ occurs; but it must have
been well known to his countrymen long before, for Cicero names
it along with paper and linen, as a common article of merchandise
brought from Egypt. Scaurus, in his aedileship (B.C. 58), made a
display of it such as was never witnessed even in after-times; for
the _scena_ of his gorgeous theatre was divided into three tiers, of
which the under portion was of marble, the upper of gilded wood, and
the middle compartment of glass. In the poets of the Augustan age it
is constantly introduced, both directly and in similes, and in such
terms as to prove that it was an object with which every one must be
familiar. Strabo declares that in his day a small drinking-cup of
glass might be purchased at Rome for half an as, and so common was
it in the time of Juvenal and Martial, that old men and women made
a livelihood by trucking sulphur matches for broken fragments. When
Pliny wrote, manufactories had been established not only in Italy,
but in Spain and Gaul also, and glass drinking-cups had entirely
superseded those of gold and silver; and in the reign of Alexander
Severus we find _vitrearii_ ranked along with curriers, coachmakers,
goldsmiths, silversmiths, and other ordinary artificers whom the
emperor taxed to raise money for his thermae. The numerous specimens
transmitted to us prove that the ancients were well acquainted with
the art of imparting a great variety of colours to their glass;
they were probably less successful in their attempts to render it
perfectly pure and free from all colour, since we are told that it
was considered most valuable in this state. It was wrought according
to the different methods now practised, being fashioned into the
required shape by the blowpipe, _cut_, as we term it, although
_ground_ (_teritur_) 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 entirely 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 amethyst, 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 quadraturae_. 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 be 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 libertinae even of fair character, much less by
meretrices; hence 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 probably a matter of
choice: white and purple are 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 employed
as an ornament for 1. Priests, and those who offered sacrifice. 2.
Priestesses, especially those of Vesta, and hence _vittata sacerdos_
for a vestal, κατ’ ἐξόχην. 3. Prophets and poets, who may be regarded
as priests, and in this case the vittae were frequently intertwined
with chaplets of olive or laurel. 4. Statues of deities. 5. Victims
decked for sacrifice. 6. Altars. 7. Temples. 8. The ἱκετήρια of
suppliants. The sacred vittae, as well as the infulae, were made of
wool, and hence the epithets _lanea_ and _mollis_. They were white
(_niveae_), or purple (_puniceae_), or azure (_caeruleae_), when
wreathed round an altar to the manes.
[Illustration: Vittae. (Statues from Herculaneum.)]
VŎLŌNES is synonymous with _Voluntarii_ (from _volo_), and might
hence be applied to all those who volunteered to serve in the Roman
armies without there being any obligation to do so. But it was
applied more especially to slaves, when in times of need they 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 distinguished
themselves they were honoured with the franchise. In after times the
name volones 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 rewarded with the franchise.