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Updated: May 13, 2025
There is extant a memoir addressed by Quintus Eulogius to Quintus Vitellius, quaestor to the Divine Augustus, in which it is said, that the Vitellii were descended from Faunus, king of the aborigines, and Vitellia , who was worshipped in many places as a goddess, and that they reigned formerly over the whole of Latium: that all who were left of the family removed out of the country of the Sabines to Rome, and were enrolled among the patricians: that some monuments of the family continued a long time; as the Vitellian Way, reaching from the Janiculum to the sea, and likewise a colony of that name, which, at a very remote period of time, they desired leave from the government to defend against the Aequicolae , with a force raised by their own family only: also that, in the time of the war with the Samnites, some of the Vitellii who went with the troops levied for the security of Apulia, settled at Nuceria , and their descendants, a long time afterwards, returned again to Rome, and were admitted into the patrician order.
All these men were, on the mother's side, nephews of the consul Collatinus, and the Vitellii were also related to Brutus, for he had married their sister, and by her had a large family.
These men were selling some part of it, keeping some safe, and sending some of it away, and meanwhile intrigued so successfully that they won over two of the best families in Rome, that of the Aquillii, in which were three senators, and that of the Vitellii, among whom were two.
The matter was first intrusted to the brothers Vitellii and Aquilii. A sister of the Vitellii was married to Brutus the consul, and the issue of that marriage was the grown-up sons, Titus and Tiberius; they also were admitted by their uncles to share the plot; several young nobles also were taken into their confidence, recollection of whose names has been lost from lapse of time.
That he himself, having survived his glory, now remained as an object of accusation and calumny; that from the liberator of his country he had fallen to the level of the Aquilii and Vitellii. Will no merit then, says he, ever be so tried and approved by you, as to be exempted from the attacks of suspicion.
The letters, given to be a pledge of their sincerity, discovered the plot; for when, the day before the ambassadors set out to the Tarquins, they had supped by chance at the house of the Vitellii, and the conspirators there in private discoursed much together concerning their new design, as is natural, one of the slaves, who had already perceived what was going on, overheard their conversation; but waited for the occasion when the letters should be given to the ambassadors, the detection of which would prove the transaction; when he perceived that they were given, he laid the whole affair before the consuls.
I therefore have no hesitation in asserting, that the Watling Street Way is a Roman road, and probably planned and formed by Vespasian, the celebrated Roman general in Britain, who named this road in compliment to the emperor, Vitellius, Vitellii Strata Via, Watling Street Way.
The matter was first intrusted to brothers of the name of Vitellii and those of the name of Aquilii.
The letters, given as an intended pledge of their sincerity, caused the plot to be discovered: for when, the day before the ambassadors set out to the Tarquins, they had supped by chance at the house of the Vitellii, and the conspirators had there discoursed much together in private, as was natural, concerning their revolutionary design, one of the slaves, who had already observed what was on foot, overheard their conversation; he waited, however, for the opportunity when the letters should be given to the ambassadors, the detection of which would put the matter beyond a doubt.
A sister of the Vitellii had been married to Brutus the consul, and the issue of that marriage were young men, Titus and Tiberius; these also their uncles admit into a participation of the plot: several young noblemen also were taken in as associates, the memory of whose names has been lost from distance of time.
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