V I T 



excited by the mournful habit and diftreffing circumilances 

 in which lie left the palace, obliged him to return. Upon 

 this the city-guards attacked Sabinus, who had fought re- 

 fuge for himfelf and his adherents in the Capitol. The 

 partjfaiis of Vitellius, yielding to the impulfe that had been 

 excited, ftormed this facred place, and in the tumult the 

 temple of Jupiter Capitolinus was confumed by fire. Sa- 

 binus wa;? feized, and carried before Vitellius, who wanted 

 to fave him ; but he was mafiacred in the mod ignominious 

 manner. Thefe outrages were in a httle while dreadfully 

 revenged. The viftorious army approached the city; and 

 the Vitelliaa foldiers, well apprized that no mercy awaited 

 them, made a defperate refillance ; fo that Rome, in the 

 midft of the licentious feftivities of the Saturnaha celebrated 

 at this time, was a fceue of flaughter and blood. ViteUius 

 took no part in this bufmefs, but withdrew to the houfe of 

 his wife on mount Aventine ; from hence he removed again 

 to the palace, and was at length found in the porter's 

 lodge, intreating in the moft abjedl manner that his life 

 might be fpared. But all his intreaties were inefFeftual. 

 With his hands tied behind him, and a cord about his neck, 

 he vn& dragged liis.e a common criminal in the midll of in- 

 fults of every kind. Having cfcaped the murderous aim of 

 a German foldier, he was at length taken to the Gemonian 

 ilairs, down which the body of Sabinus had been thrown, 

 and being difpatclied in a barbarous manner, his head was 

 cut off, and iluck upon a fpear, to be carried through the 

 city, and his trunk was linown into the Tiber. Thus he 

 clofed a ftiort and ignominious reign in the 55th year of 

 his age, A.D. 69. Suetonius. Tacitus. Crevier. Gen. 

 Biog. 



VITEPSK, in Geography, a town of Ruflia, in the go- 

 vernment of Polotdi, on the Duna, taken from Poland in 

 the year 1654; 56 miles E.S.E. of Polotlk. N. lat. 55° 

 15'. E. long. 30° 50'. 



VITERBO, a town of the Popedom, and capital of tlie 

 Patrimonio, given by the emprefs Matilda to the pope ; in 

 memory of which donation, an infcription, on ilone, is put 

 up on the town-houfe. This city lies in a beautiful and fer- 

 tile valley, is large, the ftreets, for the greater part, broad 

 and well paved, the lioufes good, but thinly peopled, the 

 number of the inhabitants being fcarcely 15,000, though 

 that of the churches, convents, and hofpitals, is not lefs 

 than 69. The bidiop is immediately under the pope. Four 

 popes lie interred in the catliedral. Not far from the city 

 is a warm mineral fpring ; 34 miles N.N.W. of Rome. N. 

 lat. 42^25'. E.long. 12° 6'. 



VITES, in Botany, the leventy-fecond natural order in 

 Juffieu's fyftem, the twelfth of his thirteenth clafs, is fo 

 called from Vit'u, one of its genera. For the charafters of 

 this clafs, fee Gerania. The order, which confifts of 

 Cijfus and Vhis only, is thus defined. 



Calyx of one leaf, (fuperior, ) fhort, nearly entire. Petals 

 definite, four, five, or fix, broad at the bafe. Stamens equal 

 in number to the petals, and oppofite thereto, with diftinft 

 filaments, mferted into the di(k, or receptacle of the flower. 

 Germen fimple ; ilyle one, or none ; Jligma fimple. Berry 

 of one or many cells, witli one feed, or feveral, in a deter- 

 minate number, whofe furface is unequal, and which are in- 

 ferted into the bottom of the cells. Corculum defcending, 

 its lobes ftraight, dellitute of albumen. Stem Ihrubby, or 

 rarely arBoreous, trailing, knotty. Lea-ves alternate, with 

 fiipulas. The tendrils, or fioiver-Jlalks, are oppofite to the 

 leaves. Thefe plants are akin to Aquiluia ( Leea ) and Melia 

 in the broad bafe of their petals, fometimes in- their leaves 

 and inflorefcence. On the other hand, fome of the fhrubby 

 Gerania [Pclargonia) betray an affinity in habit to the Files, 



V i T 



and hke them are occafionally acid in the lalle of their 

 herbage. 



VITESSA, or Vittessa, in Mythology, a name of the 

 Hindoo Kuvera, regent of wealth. See Kuvera. 



VITETZ, in Geography, a town of Bofnia ; 14 miles S. 

 of Serajo. 



VITEX, in Botany, an old Latin name, of whofe origin 

 Linnceus profelTed ignorance, but which evidently comes from 

 vieo, to bind, and alludes to the flexible nature of the twigs 

 of the original fpecies of this genus, the ayio; of the 



Greeks Linn. Gen. 326. Schreb. 427. Willd. Sp. PI. 



v. 3. 390. Mart. Mill. Di£l. v. 4. Ait. Hort. Kew. 

 V. 4. 66. Sm. Prodr. Fl. Grxc. Sibth. v. i. 441. Brown 

 Prodr. Nov. Holl. v. i. 511. Jufl". 107. Tourn. t. 373. 

 Lamarck Dift. v. 2. 611. Illuftr. t. 541. Gsertn. t. 56. 

 — Clafs and order, Didynamia Angiofperma. Nat. Ord. 

 Perfonatce, Linn. Vittces, Jufl". 



Gen. Ch. Cal. Perianth inferior, of one leaf, tubular, 

 cylindrical, fhort, with five broad {hallow teeth. Cor. of 

 one petal, ringent ; tube cylindrical, flender, curved : limb 

 fiat, two-lipped ; the upper lip in two fegments ; lower in 

 three, the middle one largeft. Stam. Filaments four, capil- 

 lary, rather longer than the tube, two of them Ihorter than 

 the reft ; anthers verfatile. Pijl. Germen roundifii, in the 

 bottom of the calyx ; ftyle thread-fhaped, the length of the 

 ftamen.i ; (ligrnas two, a\vl-fliaped, fpreading. Peric. 

 Drupa globole. Seed. Nut fohtarj-, bony, of four cells, 

 with a folitary kernel in each. 



Eff. Ch. Calyx with five teeth. Limb of the corolla 

 two-hpped ; middle fegmcnfof the lower lip largeft. Drupa 

 with a nut of four cells. 



Obf. Linnseus^ and even .Tufiieu, mifled perhaps by 

 Tournefort's figure, defcribe the corolla as having fix feg- 

 ments. We have never feen more than five in any fpecies, 

 though, if Tournefort be correft, fix or feven may acci- 

 dentally occur. — The fpecies are Ihrubby or arborefcent, 

 with oppofite, ftalked, almoft always digitate, leaves, 

 without Jlipulas. Flowers aggregate, numerous, panicled, 

 fometimes v;horled, moftly blueifti. Juffieu, with great 

 reafon, doubts th? genus of V. pinnata, becaufe of its alter- 

 nate pinnrate leaves. 



1. V. ovata. Ovate-leaved Chafte-tree. Thunb. Jap. 

 257. Willd. n. I. Ait. n. I. (V. rotundifolia ; Linn. 

 Suppl. 294.) — Leaves fimple, ovate. — Native of Japan, 

 near the fea-ftiore. Stem fhrubby, traihng, with quadrangu- 

 lar branches, downy when young. Leaves on fliort ftalks, 

 elliptical, or roundifli, entrte, with one rib, and feveral 

 tranfverfe veins ; green and fmooth above ; white and finely 

 downy beneath. Panicle terminal, oblong, filvery, with 

 three-forked branches. Calyx hoary. Corolla purplifh ; 

 downy and white on the outfide. Fruit globular, the fize 

 of a pepper-corn, greeniih, half covered by the permanent 

 calyx. 



2. V. triflora. Three-flowered Chafte-tree. Vahl Eclog. 

 fafc. 2. 49. — Leaves ternate, entire, fmooth on both fides. 

 Stalks axillary and terminal, three-flowered. — Gathered by 

 Von Rohr, in Cayenne. Branches purpli/h ; downy and 

 rufty when young. Leajlets elliptic-lanceolate, or obovate, 

 quite entire, from tv/o to five inches long ; their com- 

 mon ftalks an inch and half. Calyx near an inch in length. 

 Corolla twice as much, clothed externally with tawny pu- 

 befcence. J^ahl. 



3. V. divaricata. Spreading Chafte-tree. Swartz Ind. 

 Occ. 1078. Willd. n. 3. Vahl Symb. v. 2. 76. — Leaves 

 ternate, entire, fmooth on both fides ; the middle one very 

 large. Panicle forked, divaricated. — Native of the Vv'ell 

 Indies. Gathered by Maffon in St. Luci* ; by Ryan in ^ 



Martinico ^ 



