We demonstrate that the five vortex equations recently introduced by Manton ariseas symmetry reductions of the anti-self-dual Yang--Mills equations in four dimensions. In particular the Jackiw--Pi vortex and the Ambj\o rn--Olesen vortex correspond to the gauge group $SU(1,1)$, and respectively the Euclidean or the $SU(2)$ symmetry groups acting with two-dimensional orbits. We show how to obtain vortices with higher vortex numbers, by superposing vortex equations of different types. Finally we use the kinetic energy of the Yang--Mills theory in 4+1 dimensions to construct a metric on vortex moduli spaces. This metric is not positive-definite in cases of non-compact gauge groups.