temples, whose decorations included the head of a lion. According to Stopponi, ‘This would have been the sacred spring.’" History Volsinii veteres Etruscan Volsinii (Velzna or Velusna; or sometimes in Latin Volsinii Veteres – Old Volsinii) appears to have been one of the most powerful cities of Etruria, the cult centre of the god Voltumna, and was doubtless one of the 12 which formed the Etruscan confederation, as Volsinii is designated by Livy and Valerius Maximus as one of the capita Etruriae ("heads of Etruria"). It is described by Juvenal as seated among well-wooded hills. Volsinii first appears in history after the fall of Veii (396 BC). The Volsinienses, in conjunction with the Salpinates, taking advantage of a famine and pestilence which had desolated Rome, made incursions into the Roman territory in 391 BC. They were defeated, and 8,000 of them were taken prisoner. However, they purchased a twenty-year truce in exchange for returning the booty they had taken, and furnishing the pay of the Roman army for a year. They appear next in 310 BC, when, in common with the rest of the Etruscan cities, except Arretium (modern Arezzo), they took part in the siege of Sutrium (modern Sutri), a city in alliance with Rome. This war was terminated by the defeat of the Etruscans at the First Battle of Lake Vadimo (310 BC), a major blow to their power. Three years afterwards the consul Publius Decius Mus captured several of the Volsinian fortresses. In 295 BC, Lucius Postumius Megellus ravaged their territory and defeated them under the walls of their own city, slaying 2,800 of them. Consequently they, together with Perusia (modern Perugia) and Arretium, purchased a forty-year peace by paying a heavy fine. Not more than fourteen years, however, had elapsed, when, with their allies the Vulcientes, they again took up arms against Rome. But this attempt ended in their final subjugation in 280 BC. Pliny tells an absurd story, taken from the Greek writer Metrodorus of Scepsis, that the object of the Romans in capturing Volsinii was to make themselves masters of 2,000 statues which it contained. The story, however, suffices to show that the Volsinians had attained great wealth, luxury, and art. This is confirmed by Valerius Maximus, who also adds that this luxury was the cause of their ruin, by making them so indolent that they at length allowed the administration of their commonwealth