SIGNA MĪLĬTĀRĬA (σημεῖα, σημαίαι), military ensigns or standards.
The most ancient standard employed by the Romans is said to have
been a handful of straw fixed to the top of a spear or pole. Hence
the company of soldiers belonging to it was called _Manipulus_. The
bundle of hay or fern was soon succeeded by the figures of animals,
viz. the eagle, the wolf, the minotaur, the horse, and the boar.
These appear to have corresponded to the five divisions of the Roman
army as shown on p. 165. The eagle (_aquila_) was carried by the
_aquilifer_ in the midst of the _hastati_, and we may suppose the
wolf to have been carried among the _principes_, and so on. In the
second consulship of Marius, B.C. 104, the four quadrupeds were
entirely laid aside as standards, the eagle being alone retained.
It was made of silver, or bronze, and with expanded wings, but was
probably of a small size, since a standard-bearer (_signifer_) under
Julius Caesar is said in circumstances of danger to have wrenched the
eagle from its staff, and concealed it in the folds of his girdle.
Under the later emperors the eagle was carried, as it had been for
many centuries, with the legion, a legion being on that account
sometimes called _aquila_, and at the same time each cohort had
for its own ensign the serpent or dragon (_draco_, δράκων), which
was woven on a square piece of cloth, elevated on a gilt staff,
to which a cross-bar was adapted for the purpose, and carried by
the _draconarius_. Another figure used in the standards was a ball
(_pila_), supposed to have been emblematic of the dominion of Rome
over the world; and for the same reason a bronze figure of Victory
was sometimes fixed at the top of the staff. Under the eagle or other
emblem was often placed a head of the reigning emperor, which was to
the army the object of idolatrous adoration. The minor divisions of a
cohort, called _centuries_, had also each an ensign, inscribed with
the number both of the cohort and of the century. By this provision
every soldier was enabled with the greatest ease to take his place.
The standard of the cavalry, properly called _vexillum_, was a
square piece of cloth expanded upon a cross in the manner already
indicated, and perhaps surmounted by some figure. The following cut,
containing several standards, represents the performance of the
sacrifice called _suovetaurilia_. The imperial standard from the time
of Constantine was called _labarum_; on it a figure or emblem of
Christ was woven in gold upon purple cloth, and this was substituted
for the head of the emperor. Since the movements of a body of troops
and of every portion of it were regulated by the standards, all the
evolutions, acts, and incidents of the Roman army were expressed by
phrases derived from this circumstance. Thus _signa inferre_ meant
to advance, _referre_ to retreat, and _convertere_ to face about;
_efferre_, or _castris vellere_, to march out of the camp; _ad signa
convenire_, to re-assemble. Notwithstanding some obscurity in the
use of terms, it appears that, whilst the standard of the legion was
properly called _aquila_, those of the cohorts were in a special
sense of the term called _signa_, their bearers being _signiferi_,
and that those of the manipuli or smaller divisions of the cohort
were denominated _vexilla_, their bearers being _vexillarii_. In time
of peace the standards were kept in the AERARIUM, under the care of
the QUAESTOR.
[Illustration: Military Standards. (Bellori, Vet. Arc. Aug.)]