Vuitasse, Chaklks, a French divine, was born Nov. 11, UitJO, at Chauny, near Noyon. After studying at I'aris, ajid entering the religious ranks, he cultivated theology, Church history, and the Greek and Hebrew languages. In 1688 he was admitted to the Sorbonne, >vas made doctor in IGSK), and soon after professor of theology. His refusal to submit to the bull Uniffettiti/g led to his removal in 1714, and he died April 10, 1716. His theological compilations are enumerated in the Jlioff. Univei-selle, s. v.
Vulcan (fir. "H(;Ja(iTrotO, in Greek and Roman my- thology, was the son of .lupiter and .Juno, and conse- (piently the brother of Mars, to whom, therefore, he bears a close relation, because he prepares for him the weapons of warfare. A later story says Juno gave birth to Vulcan, being jealous because of the birth of Miner- va, without the assistance of man, having been made fruitfid in eating a certain plant. Vulcan is the god of lire, and es|iecially in two ways — first as a subterra- n ^ous power of nature, showing himself in tire-ejecting volcanoes, and second as an indispensable aid for the trades and arts of man. The god was born as a weak- ling, and was therefore so hated by his mother that she plaimed to dispense with him, whereupon he fell down from Olyinpus. Thetis and Eurjnome, goddesses of the sea, caught him in their laps. With them he then remained nine j'ears, and made for them all kinds of Costly apparel. He also made at this time an enchant- eil chair, from which no one who had seated himself in it could rise again without his consent, and sent it to his mother as a present, to punish her for her dislike of him. When she was accordingly held fast by the chair, no god could persuade him to withdraw the enchant- nient save Bacchus, who intoxicated hira. Vulcan then returned from his hiding-jjlace and was obedient to his mother, although she had wished to kill him in his chililhood. When Jupiter at one time quarrelled with her, he actually took her part, for which his father took him by the foot and uirled him from heaven. According to some, in conse(iiieiice of this fall, according to others, from l)irth, he was lame and limi)ed. By Homer he has a place of work upon Olympus, built by him- self, where he also built dwellings for the other gods. Later his work- ing-places are in the fire- ejecting volcanoes — as, for instance, in ^tna or upon Lemnos — and his '<^(' helpers are the Cyclops (<1. V.) Brontes, .Steropes, and I'vracmon. His wife, according to the Iliad, is Charis ((irace) ; accord- ing to the 0'/y.<.s''y,Venus, who,however,wasuntrue
Antique Head of Vulcau.
to him. As an ingenious god, who, similar to Minerva, teaches men the delightful and conducive arts, he was as- sociated with her in religious worshijj by the Athenians, who dedicated feasts to both, and placed their statues side by side in their temples. According to Homer, Vulcan had no otlsjiring. Others atlirm tlial he had children by ditfi-rent mothers: Cupid, Erichthonius, I'eripletes, I'ahemon, Hhadamanthus, Olenus, Cacus, Cae- culus, Servius TuUius, the nymph Thalia, Casmilus, and the three Cabiri. The Romans called Vulcan also Mul- ciber, that is, •' the melter." In Rome he had a number of temples, among them one by the Comilium.tho mass- nieeling jjlace, whose erection was sometimes accredit- ed to Romidus, at other times again to Titus Tatius. His festival, the Vulcanalia. was celebrated Aug. 23, with plays, in the Flaminian Circus, where also a temple of the god was erected, and at this feast the liomans began to work by light, in order to inaugurate the |irac- tice of working by light, a gift of Vulcan. See Smith, Diet, of Class. Biog. and Mythol. s. v.
Vulgar Tongue is the ordinary common language of the jteople or couiury. The jdirase '■ vulgar tongue" occurs in two or three of the rubrics and exhortations of the English Book of Common Prayer ; e. g., in the service for bajjtism, which makes it obligatory ''that baptism be ministered in the vulgar tont/ue." The preface to the Prai/er-book, however, contains a reser- vation, that "it is not meant but that when men say morning and evening prayer privately, they may say the same in any lanyiiage that they theinstlres do under- stand.'''' The exi)ression stood formerly in the Lnylish tongue, and was changed in compliance with the sug- gestion that ■' suppose, as it often falls out, that children of strangers who never intend to stay in England shoidd be brought there for baptism," it would be objectionable that they should be required to learn the principles of religion in the English tongue. See Veknaculah.
Vulgate is the popular and convenient designation of the common Latin version of tiie Bible, usually at- tributed to Jerome. (In the following treatment of this important version we chiefly follow Westcott's elaborate article in Smith's Diet, of the Bible.) See Vehsions.
I. Origin and History of the Name. — 1. The name "Vulgate," which is equivalent to Vulguta editio (the curi-ent text of Holy Scripture), has necessarily been used differently in various ages of the Church. There can be no douiit that the phrase originally answered to the Koivi) tKCorrii; of the Greek Scriptures. In this sense it is used const.^ntly by Jerome in his commenta- ries, and his language explains sufficiently the origin of the term : " Hoc juxta LXX intery)retes diximus, quorum editio tofo orbe vulgata est" (Hieron. Comm. in Jsa. Ixv, 20). "Multum in hoc loco LXX editio Hebrai- ciimque discordant. Priraum ergo de Vulgata editione tractabimus et postea sequemur ordinem veritatis" {ib'id. xx3r,22). In some places Jerome distinctly quotes the Greek text : " Forro in editione Vulgata dupliyiter Icgi- mus; quidam enim codices habent cifKo'i timr, hoc est manifesti sunt: alii cetXaloi t'laiv, hoc est meticiilosi sive tniseri sunt" {Comm. in Osee, vii, 13; comp. 8-11, etc.). But generally he regards the Old Latin, which was rendered from the Sept., as substantially identical with it, and thus introduces Latin quotations under, the name of the- Sept. or Vulgata editio: "IMiror ()uo-: modo rulgata editio . , . testimonium alia interi)retatio- ne subverterit : Congregabor et glorificabor coram Do- mino. . . . Illud autem quod in LXX legitur: Congre- gabor et glorificabor coram Domino . . ." (Comm. in Isa. xlir, b). So again : " Philisthseos . . . alienigenas Vulgata scribit editio" {ibid, xiv, 29). " Palsestinis, (pios indifterenter LXX alienigenas vocant" {Comm. in Kzek. xri, 27). In fids way the transference of the name from the current Greek text to the current Latin text became easy and natural; but there docs not ap- pear to be any instance in the age of Jerome of the ap- plication of the term to the Latin version of the Old