Volusus
or VOLESUS, the reputed ancestor of the Valeria gens, who is said to have settled at Rome with Titus Tatius [VALERIA GENS].
The name afterwards became a cognomen in the Valeria gens. Thus we read of M. VALERIUS VOLUSUS, the brother of Publicola, who was consul B. C. 505, the fifth year of the republic, with P. Postumius Tubertus.
He fought, together with his colleague, against the Sabines, and obtained a triumph on account of his victory over them.
He fell at the battle of the Lake Regillus, B. C. 498 or 496 (
Liv. 2.16,
20;
Dionys. A. R. 5.37 ;
Plut. Publ. 20). We also read of another brother of Publicola, v. who bore the same cognomen, namely, M'. VALERIUS VOLUSUS MAXIMUS, who was dictator in B. C. 494, and to whom the family of the Valerii Maximi traced their origin. [
MAXIMUS, p. 1001a.] It may be, however, that a mistake has been made in the Annals, and that
Manius, the dictator, was the same person as
Marcus, the consul : his praenomen would have been changed, because it was stated in some of the Annals that the consul fell at the battle of the Lake Regillus. Volusus likewise occurs as a praenomen of one of the Valerii Potiti. [POTITUS, No. 3.] At a later period the name was revived in the Valeria gens, and was borne as an agnomen by L. Valerius Messalla, who was consul A. D. 5. [MESSALLA, No. 11.]
