[A] [Greek: Labôron], also [Greek: labouron]; derived, not from _labor_,
nor from [Greek: laphuron], i.e., _præda_, nor from [Greek: labein], but
probably from a barbarian root, otherwise unknown, and introduced into
the Roman terminology, even before Constantine, by the Celtic or
Germanic recruits. Comp. Du Cange, Glossar., and Suicer, Thesaur. s.h.v.
The labarum, as described by Eusebius, who saw it himself (Vita Const.
i. 30), consisted of a long spear overlaid with gold, and a cross piece
of wood, from which hung a square flag of purple cloth, embroidered and
covered with precious stones. On the top of the shaft was a crown
composed of gold and precious stones, and containing the monogram of
Christ (see next note), and just under this crown was a likeness of the
emperor and his sons in gold. The emperor told Eusebius (I. ii. c. 7)
some incredible things about this labarum, _e.g._ that none of its
bearers was ever hurt by the darts of the enemy.
[B] X and P, the first two letters of the name of Christ,
so written upon one another as to make the form of the cross:
[Illustration] (_i.e._ Christos--Alpha and Omega, the beginning and
the end), and similar forms, of which Münter (Sinnbilder der Alten
Christen, p. 36 sqq.) has collected from ancient coins, vessels, and
tombstones more than twenty. The monogram, as well as the sign of the
cross, was in use among the Christians long before Constantine, probably
as early as the Antonines and Hadrian. Yea, the standards and trophies
of victory generally had the appearance of a cross, as Minucius Felix,
Tertullian, Justin, and other apologists of the second century told the
heathens. According to Killen (Ancient Church, p. 317, note), who quotes
Aringhus (Roma Subterranea, II. p. 567) as his authority, the famous
monogram (of course in a different sense) is found even before Christ on
coins of the Ptolemies. The only thing new, therefore, was the _union_
of this symbol in its _Christian_ sense and application with the Roman
_military standard_.
[C] Cicero says, pro Raberio, c. 5: 'Nomen ipsum _crucis_ absit non modo
a corpore civium Romanorum, sed etiam a cogitatione, oculis, auribus.'
With other ancient heathens, however, the Egyptians, the Buddhists, and
even the aborigines of Mexico, the cross seems to have been in use as a
religious symbol. Socrates relates (H.E. v. 17) that at the destruction
of the temple of Serapis, among the hieroglyphic inscriptions, forms of
crosses were found which pagans and Christians alike referred to their
respective religions. Some of the heathen converts, conversant with
hieroglyphic characters, interpreted the form of the cross to mean _the
Life to come_. According to Prescott (Conquest of Mexico, iii. 338-340)
the Spaniards found the cross among the objects of worship in the idol
temples of Anahnac.