[1] Little is known of Volesus, but it is generally assumed that he was himself a Sabine, and that he came from the town of Cures.
The few historical mentions of him imply that he was a powerful warrior, which would explain his presence in the retinue of Titus Tatius, although his character may also have been suggested by his name, which was believed to derive from the Latin verb, valere, to be strong, or its Oscan cognate.
[2] As related by the historian Titus Livius and others, much of the early Roman populace was of Sabine origin, and Volesus was claimed as ancestor by one of the oldest, largest, and noblest houses at Rome.
[3][4] The praenomen Volesus was also used occasionally by the Valerii, who also used it as a cognomen, usually with the spelling Volusus.
The name was used by a few other gentes, including the gens Publilia, who used the form Volero, but the memory of Volesus, first of the Valerii, was the most enduring.