Set III-6-lab-002. A collection of selected literary quotations associated with "Labarum" (in combination with vexillum, signum, insigne, cantabrum, aquila, imago, and crux) as the main subject. The entries are organised chronologically, from the the earliest to the latest. The intentionally omitted textual fragments are indicated by an ellipsis placed inside angle brackets. The translator's notes and curator's commentaries are placed inside square brackets and indicated by the quartz colour. Direct mentions of the main subject are indicated by the azure colour. Direct mentions of snakes/serpents and their derivatives are indicated by the amber colour and complemented by references to the sources' original language and the words' lemmas. Important descriptive details that inform the artefacts' iconographic interpretation are indicated by the malachite colour.
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“
Standards [signum], eagles [aquila] and banners [vexillum] were, it is true, lacking, but the citizens of one and the same city [Rome] were as sharply divided as if they formed two camps.
„
| Author: |
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Collection & Publisher: |
(Publius Annius?) (Julius?) (Lucius Annaeus?) Florus
(c. 70s-130s AD) |
Epitome of Roman History |
● II: V. The Revoluti-on of Drusus, xvii, 5 |
Edward Seymour Forster |
Loeb Classical Library
(LCL 231) © Harvard
University Press, 1929 |
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“
⟨...⟩ by summoning the slaves to their standard [vexillum], they had quickly collected more than 10,000 adherents ⟨...⟩
„
| Author: |
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(Publius Annius?) (Julius?) (Lucius Annaeus?) Florus
(c. 70s-130s AD) |
Epitome of Roman History |
● II: VIII. The War Against Spartacus, xx, 3 |
Edward Seymour Forster |
Loeb Classical Library
(LCL 231) © Harvard
University Press, 1929 |
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“
The Scythian banners [Greek lemma needed] are dracontes [Greek lemma needed] held aloft on standard-length [Greek lemma needed] poles. They are made of colored cloths stitched together, and from the head along the entire body to the tail, they look like snakes [Greek lemma needed]. When the horses bearing these devices are not in motion, you see only variegated streamers hanging down. During the charge is when they most resemble creatures: they are inflated by the wind, and even make a sort of hissing sound as the air is forced through them.
„
| Author: |
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Arrian of Nicomedia
(c. 86-160 AD) |
Tactical Handbook |
● XXXV, 2-4 |
James G. DeVoto |
Technē Taktika (Tactical Handbook) and Ektaxis kata Alanōn (The Expe-dition Against the Alans) © Ares Publishers, 1993 |
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“
You would fault philosophers for their sack and stick: would you then you fault horsemen for their medallions, infantrymen their shields, standard-bearers [signifer] their standards [vexillum], finally triumph holders their chariot drawn by four white horses and their palm-embroidered toga? True, sack and stick are not what followers of Plato [c. 428-347 BC] carry, but are emblems [insignia] of the Cynic sect, but even so these items were for Diogenes and Antisthenes the equivalent of a king's diadem, a general's cloak, a priest's cap, an augur's ritual staff [Translator's note: Antisthenes [c. 446-366 BC], an associate of Socrates [c. 470-399 BC], was regarded as the founder of Cynicism; Diogenes of Sinope [c. 412-323 BC] was the most notorious Cynic of the fourth century, and his encounter with Alexander III of Macedon [r. 336-323 BC] at Corinth gave rise to many anecdotes. The lituus was a crooked staff used by augurs to delimit their field of vision when watching for omens.].
„
| Author: |
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Lucius Apuleius Madaurensis
(c. 124-170 AD) |
Apologia |
● XXII, 6-8 |
Christopher Prestige Jones |
Loeb Classical Library
(LCL 534) © Harvard
University Press, 2017 |
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“
⟨...⟩ the man who thinks we worship the cross [crux], will prove a fellow-worshipper of ours. For when a bit of wood is worshipped - what matters the shape, if the nature of the material is the same? what the form if it is itself the body of a god? Yet what distinction can you make between the shaft of a cross [crux] and Attic Pallas or Pharian Ceres, each of whom stands there unshaped, a rude pole, a log untrimmed? Every balk of timber, which is set up erect, is a part of a cross [crux]; we - perhaps - worship a god complete and whole. We have said that in the first instance your gods are moulded by the sculptors on a cross [crux]. But you also adore Victories, and in all trophies the cross [crux] is the inner structure of the trophy. Roman religion, every bit of it a religion of camps, venerates the standards [signum], swears by the standards [signum], sets the standards [signum] before all the gods. All those rows of images [imago] on the standards [signum] are but ornaments hung on crosses [crux]. Those hangings of your standards [vexillum] and banners [cantabrum] are but robes upon crosses [crux]. I laud your thoughtfulness. You did not wish to consecrate crosses [crux] naked and unadorned.
„
“
⟨...⟩ holding high the standard [vexillum] of courage.
„
| Author: |
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Quintus Septimius Florens Tertullianus
(c. 155-220 AD) |
Apology |
● XVI, 6-8
● L, 4 |
Terrot Reaveley Glover |
Loeb Classical Library
(LCL 250) © Harvard
University Press, 1931 |
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“
Crosses [crux] again we neither worship nor set our hopes on [Translator's note: This unqualified repudiation of reverence for the Cross goes further than Tertullian Apology XVI, 6-8 which also dwells on these fanciful analogies. But the Cross finds little place in Christian symbolism prior to Constantine. The Cross discerned in the mast and spread oars of a ship seems farfetched, but may be introduced as a touch of local colour.]. You, who consecrate gods of wood, very possibly adore wooden crosses [crux] as being portions of your gods. For what are your standards [signum], and banners [cantabrus], and ensigns [vexillum] but gilded and decorated crosses [crux]? Your trophies of victory show not only the figure of a simple cross [crux], but also of one crucified. Quite true we see the sign [signum] of the cross [crux] naturally figured in a ship riding the swelling waves, or impelled by outspread oars; a cross-beam set up forms the sign [signum] of the cross [crux]; and so too does a man with outstretched hands devoutly offering worship to God. In this way the system of nature leans on the sign [signum] of the cross [crux] or your religion is shaped thereby.
„
| Author: |
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Marcus Minucius Felix
(c. 200s AD) |
Octavius |
● XXIX, 6-8 |
Gerald Henry Rendall |
Loeb Classical Library
(LCL 250) © Harvard
University Press, 1931 |
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“
Civil war had already started between them [Constantine the Great, r. 306-337 AD and Maxentius, r. 306-312 AD]. Although Maxentius confined himself to Rome on the strength of an oracular reply that he would perish if he went outside its gates, his campaign was being conducted for him by capable commanders. Maxentius had the larger forces, with both his father's army, recovered from Severus, and his own, which he had recently brought over from the Mauri and the Gaetuli. Fighting took place in which Maxentius' troops held the advantage until Constantine at a larger stage, his courage renewed and "ready for either success or death", moved all his forces nearer to the city of Rome and based himself in the region of the Milvian bridge. The anniversary was at hand of the day on which Maxentius had taken imperial power, 27 October, and his quinquennalia were coming to an end. Constantine was advised in a dream to mark the heavenly sign [signum] of God on the shields of his soldiers and then engage in battle. He did as he was commanded and by means of a slanted letter "X" with the top of its head bent round, he marked Christ on their shields. Armed with this sign [signum], the army took up its weapons. The enemy came to meet them without their emperor and crossed the bridge. The lines clashed, their fronts of equal length, and both sides fought with the most extreme ferocity; "no flight was marked on one side or the other". In the city there was a riot, and the emperor was reviled for betraying the safety of the state, then suddenly, while Maxentius was giving the games to celebrate his anniversary, the people shouted with one voice: "Constantine cannot be conquered". Shattered by this utterance, Maxentius tore himself away, and after calling together some of the senators, he ordered the Sibylline books to be inspected; in these it was discovered that "on that day the enemy of the Romans would perish". Led by this reply to hope for victory, Maxentius marched out to battle. The bridge was cut down behind him. At the sight of this, the fighting became tougher, and the Hand of God [Manus Dei] was over the battle-line. The army of Maxentius was seizes with terror, and he himself fled in haste to the bridge which had been broken down; pressed by the mass of fugitives, he was hurtled into the Tiber. With this bitterest of wars at last finished, Constantine was received as emperor with great joy by the same senate and people of Rome.
„
| Author: |
Work/Anthology: |
Verse/Fragment: |
Translator(s): |
Collection & Publisher: |
Lucius Caecilius Firmianus Lactantius
(c. 250-325 AD) |
On the Deaths of
the Persecutors |
● XLIV, 1-10 |
J. L. Creed |
Lactantius: De Morti-
bus Persecutorum © Clarendon Press, 1984 |
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“
Knowing well that he [Constantine the Great, r. 306-337 AD] would need more powerful aid than an army can supply because of the mischievous magical devices practised by the tyrant [Maxentius, r. 306-312 AD], he sought a god to aid him. He regarded the resources of soldiers and military numbers as secondary, for he thought that without the aid of a god these could achieve nothing; and he said that what comes from a god's assistance is irresistible and invincible. He therefore considered what kind of god he should adopt to aid him, and, while he thought, a clear impression came to him, that of the many who had in the past aspired to government, those who had attached their personal hopes to many gods, and had cultivated them with drink-offerings, sacrifices and dedications, had first been deceived by favourable predictions and oracles which promised welcome things, but then met an unwelcome end, nor did any god stand at their side to protect them from divinely directed disaster; only his own father had taken the opposite course to theirs by condemning their error, while he himself had throughout his life honoured the God who transcends the universe, and had found him a saviour and guardian of his Empire and a provider of everything good. He judiciously considered these things for himself, and weighed well how those who had confided in a multitude of gods had run into multiple destruction, so that neither offspring nor shoot was left in them, no root, neither name nor memorial among mankind, whereas his father's God had bestowed on his father [Constantius I Chlorus, c. 250-306 AD; r. 293-306 AD] manifest and numerous tokens of his power. He also pondered carefully those who had already campaigned against the tyrant [Maxentius, r. 306-312 AD]. They had assembled their forces with a multitude of gods and had come to a dismal end: one of them [Galerius, r. 305-311 AD] had retreated in disgrace without striking a blow, while the other [Severus II, r. 306-307 AD] had met a casual death by assassination in his own camp. He [Constantine the Great, r. 306-337 AD] marshalled these arguments in his mind, and concluded that it was folly to go on with the vanity of the gods which do not exist, and to persist in error in the face of so much evidence, and he decided he should venerate his father's God alone.
„
“
This God he began to invoke in prayer, beseeching and imploring him to show him who he was, and to stretch out his right hand to assist him in his plans. As he made these prayers and earnest supplications there appeared to the Emperor [Constantine the Great, r. 306-337 AD] a most remarkable divine sign [Greek lemma needed]. If someone else had reported it, it would perhaps not be easy to accept; but since the victorious Emperor himself told the story to the present writer a long while after, when I was privileged with his acquaintance and company, and confirmed it with oaths, who could hesitate to believe the account, especially when the time which followed provided evidence for the truth of what he said? About the time of the midday sun, when day was just turning, he said he saw with his own eyes, up in the sky and resting over the sun, a crossshaped [Greek lemma needed] trophy formed from light, and a text attached to it which said, "By this conquer". Amazement at the spectacle seized both him and the whole company of soldiers which was then accompanying him on a campaign he was conducting somewhere, and witnessed the miracle.
„
“
He [Constantine the Great, r. 306-337 AD] was, he said, wondering to himself what the manifestation might mean; then, while he meditated, and thought long and hard, night overtook him. Thereupon, as he slept, the Christ of God appeared to him with the sign [Greek lemma needed] which had appeared in the sky, and urged him to make himself a copy of the sign [Greek lemma needed] which had appeared in the sky, and to use this as protection against the attacks of the enemy.
„
“
When day came he [Constantine the Great, r. 306-337 AD] arose and recounted the mysterious communication to his friends. Then he summoned goldsmiths and jewellers, sat down among them, and explained the shape of the sign [Greek lemma needed], and gave them instructions about copying it in gold and precious stones. This was something which the Emperor himself once saw fit to let me also set eyes on, God vouchsafing even this.
„
“
It [labarum] was constructed to the following design. A tall pole plated with gold had a transverse bar forming the shape of a cross [Greek lemma needed]. Up at the extreme top a wreath woven of precious stones and gold had been fastened. On it two letters, intimating by its first characters the name "Christ", formed the monogram of the Saviour's title, rho being intersected in the middle by chi. These letters the Emperor also used to wear upon his helmet in later times. From the transverse bar, which was bisected by the pole, hung suspended a cloth, an imperial tapestry covered with a pattern of precious stones fastened together, which glittered with shafts of light, and interwoven with much gold, producing an impression of indescribable beauty on those who saw it. This banner then, attached to the bar, was given equal dimensions of length and breadth. But the upright pole, which extended upwards a long way from its lower end, below the trophy of the cross [Greek lemma needed] and near the top of the tapestry delineated, carried the golden head-and-shoulders portrait of the Godbeloved Emperor, and likewise of his sons. This saving sign [Greek lemma needed] was always used by the Emperor for protection against every opposing and hostile force, and he commanded replicas of it to lead all his armies.
„
“
That was, however, somewhat later. At the time in question, stunned by the amazing vision, and determined to worship no other god than the one who had appeared, he [Constantine the Great, r. 306-337 AD] summoned those expert in his words, and enquired who this god was, and what was the explanation of the vision which had appeared of the sign [Greek lemma needed]. They said that the god was the Onlybegotten Son of the one and only God, and that the sign [Greek lemma needed] which appeared was a token of immortality, and was an abiding trophy of the victory over death, which he had once won when he was present on earth. They began to teach him the reasons for his coming, explaining to him in detail the story of his selfaccommodation to human conditions. He listened attentively to these accounts too, while he marvelled at the divine manifestation which had been granted to his eyes; comparing the heavenly vision with the meaning of what was being said, he made up his mind, convinced that it was as God's own teaching that the knowledge of these things had come to him. He now decided personally to apply himself to the divinely inspired writings. Taking the priests of God as his advisers, he also deemed it right to honour the God who had appeared to him with all due rites. Thereafter, fortified by good hopes in him, he finally set about extinguishing the menacing flames of tyranny.
„
“
Constantine [Constantine the Great, r. 306-337 AD] meanwhile was moved to pity by all these things, and began making every armed preparation against the tyranny. So taking as his patron God who is over all, and invoking his Christ as saviour and succour, and having set the victorious trophy [labarum], the truly salutary sign [Greek lemma needed], at the head of his escorting soldiers and guards, he led them in full force, claiming for the Romans their ancestral liberties.
„
“
He [Constantine the Great, r. 306-337 AD] announced to all people in large lettering and inscriptions the sign [Greek lemma needed] of the Saviour, setting this up in the middle of the imperial city as a great trophy of victory over his enemies, explicitly inscribing this in indelible letters as the salvific sign [Greek lemma needed] of the authority of Rome and the protection of the whole empire. He therefore immediately ordered a tall pole to be erected in the shape of a cross [Greek lemma needed] in the hand of a statue made to represent himself, and this text to be inscribed upon it word for word in Latin: "By this salutary sign [Greek lemma needed], the true proof of valour, I liberated your city, saved from the tyrant's yoke; moreover the Senate and People of Rome I liberated and restored to their ancient splendour and brilliance."
„
“
The Godbeloved Emperor [Constantine the Great, r. 306-337 AD], proudly confessing in this way the victory-bringing cross [Greek lemma needed], was entirely open in making the Son of God known to the Romans.
„
“
Thus then the Emperor [Constantine the Great, r. 306-337 AD], serving God the overseer of all with his every action, took untiring care of his churches. God repaid him by putting all the barbarian nations beneath his feet, so that always and everywhere he raised trophies over his foes, and by proclaiming him Victor among them all, and making him a terror to foes and enemies, though he was not naturally such, but the gentlest, mildest, and kindest man there ever was.
„
“
There also, so it was reported to him [Constantine the Great, r. 306-337 AD], a wild beast [Licinius, r. 308-324 AD] threatened the Church of God and the rest of the provincials. The Evil Demon, as if to compete, was working for the opposite of what was being done by the Godbeloved, so that it seemed that the whole Roman domain had been left in two parts and resembled night and day, with darkness spread over those who lived in the east, and brilliant daylight illuminating the inhabitants of the other part.
„
| Author: |
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Collection & Publisher: |
Eusebius of Caesarea
(c. 260-340 AD) |
Life of Constantine |
● I: xxvii, 1-3
● I: xxviii, 1-2
● I: xxix, 1
● I: xxx, 1
● I: xxxi, 1-3
● I: xxxii, 1-3
● I: xxxvii, 1
● I: xl, 1-2
● I: xli, 1
● I: xlvi, 1
● I: xlix, 1 |
Averil Cameron, Stuart G. Hall |
Eusebius: Life of Con-stantine © Clarendon Press, 1999 |
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“
We have described how this person [Licinius, r. 308-324 AD] began his headlong fall into the pit where God's enemies lie. The policies of those, whose destruction for irreligion he had seen with his own eyes, he now began to emulate to his own hurt, and he rekindled the persecution of Christians like the blaze of a long-extinguished flame, stirring up the fire of irreligion to fiercer heat than had those before him. Like some wild beast, or a twisting snake [Greek lemma needed] coiling up on itself, breathing wrath and menace of war with God, he dared not yet, for fear of Constantine [Constantine the Great, r. 306-337 AD], openly assail the churches of God subject to him. Rather he disguised the poison of his evil, and planned insidiously and gradually his policies against the bishops, and began to remove the most distinguished of them by a conspiracy of the provincial rulers. Even the method of slaughter used against them was grotesque, of a kind quite unheard of before.
„
“
As he [Licinius, r. 308-324 AD] was about to begin the war, he called together the select members of his bodyguard and valued friends to one of the places which they consider sacred. It was a grove, well-watered and thickly growing, and all sorts of images of those he thought were gods were erected in it, carved in stone. He lit candles to them, and made the usual sacrfices, and then is said to have delivered such a speech as this: "Friends and comrades, these are our ancestral gods, whom we honour because we have received them for worship from our earliest forefathers. The commander of those arrayed against us [Constantine the Great, r. 306-337 AD] has broken faith with the ancestral code and adopted godless belief, mistakenly acknowledging some foreign god from somewhere or other, and he even shames his own army with this god's disgraceful emblem [Greek lemma needed]. Trusting in him, he advances, taking up arms not against us, but first and foremost against the very gods he has offended.
„
“
When the armies engaged, the first act of war came from the one who had broken the compact of friendship [Licinius, r. 308-324 AD]. It was after that that Constantine [Constantine the Great, r. 306-337 AD], calling upon the Saviour God who is over all, and making this the signal to the soldiers around him, defeated the first attacking force. Then soon afterwards he got the better of a second engagement, and now achieved yet greater successes with the saving trophy [labarum] leading his own contingent.
„
“
Where this [labarum] was displayed, there ensued a rout of the enemy, and pursuit by the victors. The Emperor [Constantine the Great, r. 306-337 AD] became aware of this, and wherever he saw a unit of his own army in diculties, he would give orders for the saving trophy [labarum] to give support there as a sort of victorious antidote. Victory would at once ensue, as courage and strength by some divine favour braced up the strugglers.
„
“
For this reason he ordered some of his personal guards, distinguished for physical strength, personal courage, and pious habits, to attend solely to the service of the standard [Greek lemma needed] [labarum]. These men numbered at least fifty; their sole task was to escort and guard with their weapons the standard [Greek lemma needed] [labarum], taking it in turns to carry it on their shoulders. These things the Emperor himself [Constantine the Great, r. 306-337 AD] recounted to the present writer in a moment of leisure long after the events, adding a noteworthy miracle to his account.
„
“
He [Constantine the Great, r. 306-337 AD] said that in the middle of one engagement in the war, when the army was suffering massive noise and confusion, the soldier carrying the standard [Greek lemma needed] [labarum] on his shoulder got into a panic and handed it over to another man, so that he could escape from the battle. As soon as the other had received it, and he withdrew from the protection of the standard [Greek lemma needed] [labarum], a flying javelin pierced his midriff and ended his life. Meanwhile, as he lay there dead, paying the penalty for cowardice and disloyalty, to the one who lifted up the saving trophy [labarum] it became a life-saver; frequently the bearer was saved when javelins were aimed at him, and the staff of the trophy [labarum] caught the missiles. It was a quite extraordinary miracle, how the enemy javelins when they reached the narrow circumference of the pole would stick fast in it, while the bearer was saved from death, as if nothing could ever strike those who perform this service. The story comes not from us, but once again from the Emperor himself, who in our hearing reported this too in addition to other matters.
„
“
Then, knowing from experience what great divine and secret power lay in the saving trophy [labarum] by which Constantine's army had learnt to conquer, he [Licinius, r. 308-324 AD] urged his officers not to come into conflict with it, nor even incautiously to let their eyes rest upon it: its power was terrible, it was inimical and hostile to him, and they ought therefore to avoid battle with it. After giving these instructions, he launched his offensive against the one who out of humanity was holding back [Constantine the Great, r. 306-337 AD] and postponing the death sentence on himself. Thus one side advanced confident in a great throng of gods and with a large military force, protected by shapes of dead people in lifeless images. The other meanwhile, girt with the armour of true religion, set up against the multitude of his enemies the saving and life-giving sign [Greek lemma needed] as a scarer and repellent of evils. For a while he [Constantine the Great, r. 306-337 AD] exercised restraint, and was at first sparing, so that, because of the treaty he had made, he should not be first to initiate hostilities.
„
“
But when he [Constantine the Great, r. 306-337 AD] saw his opponents persisting, already with sword in hand, the Emperor then became very angry and with one blow put to flight the whole opposing force, and won victories over enemies and demons alike.
„
“
⟨...⟩ now, with liberty restored and that dragon [Greek lemma needed] [Licinius, r. 308-324 AD] driven out of the public administration through the providence of the supreme God and by our service, I [Victor Constantinus Maximus Augustus, fl. c. 325 AD] reckon that the divine power has been made clear to all, and that those who through fear or want of faith have fallen into sins, and have come to recognize That which really Is, will come to the true and right ordering of life.
„
| Author: |
Work/Anthology: |
Verse/Fragment: |
Translator(s): |
Collection & Publisher: |
Eusebius of Caesarea
(c. 260-340 AD) |
Life of Constantine |
● II: i, 1-2
● II: v, 1-2
● II: vi, 2
● II: vii, 1
● II: viii, 1-2
● II: ix, 1-3
● II: xvi, 1-2
● II: xvii, 1
● II: xlvi, 2
|
Averil Cameron, Stuart G. Hall |
Eusebius: Life of Con-stantine © Clarendon Press, 1999 |
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“
He [Constantine the Great, r. 306-337 AD] made himself quite plain, at one time marking his face with the Saviour's sign, at another proudly delighting in the victorious trophy [labarum].
„
“
This he [Constantine the Great, r. 306-337 AD] displayed on a very high panel set before the entrance to the palace for the eyes of all to see [Translator's note: A painting in encaustic (i.e. using hot wax, iii, 2-iii, 3) over the entrance to the palace. It showed the Saviour's, or "saving", sign (iii, 1) above the heads of Constantine and his sons (iii, 2), and below, a serpent (Isaiah 27: 1, cf. Psalm 90: 13) being pierced by a weapon (iii, 2) and cast down into the depths of the sea. This was presumably in Constantinople, and therefore probably on the Chalke, or Bronze Door, if this was in fact built by Constantine; cf. Cyril A. Mango (1959) The Brazen House: A Study of the Vestibule of the Imperial Palace of Constantinople, Copenhagen, pp. 22-24, discussing this passage, which is also included in his (1972, reprinted 1986) The Art of the Byzantine Empire: 312-1453, Englewood Cliffs, pp. 15-16. Typically, neither the iconography nor the scriptural parallel are entirely straightforward. The picture could be taken to represent a cross, with separate busts of Constantine and his sons, and below, a writhing serpent; but since on the coins of 327-337 AD there are depictions of the labarum piercing a serpent (e.g. the follis of 327, RIC VII, Constantinople no. 19, on which see Patrick Bruun (1962) "The Christian Signs on the Coins of Constantine", Arctos, Volume 3, 1962, pp. 21-22.) it is more likely that this is also what is meant here, in which case this description too is projected back from the period after the Council of Nicaea, itself yet to be described.], showing in the picture the Saviour's sign [σωτήριον ⟨σημεῖον⟩] placed above his own head, and the hostile and inimical beast, which had laid siege to the Church of God through the tyranny of the godless he made in the form of a dragon [δράκων] borne down to the deep. For the oracles proclaimed him a "dragon" [δράκων] and a "crooked serpent" [ὄφις] in the books of the prophets of God (cf. Isaiah 27: 1) [Translator's note: Eusebius thinks of Isaiah 27: 1. The serpent represents both the devil (cf. iii, 2, "the invisible enemy of the human race") and Constantine's own vanquished enemy, Licinius (cf. II, i, 2 ("twisting snake"); II, xlvi, 2 ("that dragon")). For Eusebius, the image confirms the truth of prophecy (iii, 3); in order to emphasize the point he makes it twice, first citing individual terms from the verse in Isaiah (iii, 1), then quoting it in full (iii, 3). The picture is thus a "true representation in pictorial art" (iii, 3); cf. on I, x, 1 for the Vita Constantini itself as a "verbal portrait".]; therefore the Emperor also showed to all, through the medium of the encaustic painting, the dragon [δράκων] under his own feet and those of his sons, pierced through the middle of the body with a javelin, and thrust down in the depths of the sea [Translator's note: Mango, in The Brazen House, p. 23, says "two", but the number of Constantine's sons is not explicitly stated; for the number represented on the labarum, see on I, xxxi, 2. At the dramatic date of the narrative, i.e. immediately before the Council of Nicaea [325 AD], Constantine had four sons, Crispus' death falling in 326 AD; if, as seems likely, the labarum in its final form was not in fact manufactured until later (see I, xxx, 1, with I, xxxii, 1), the number intended here will have been three. The mention of feet suggests a typical calcatio [Ritual trampling (also known by its full Latin name calcatio colli or the Greek term trachelismos) is an ancient ritual, common in triumphal art and ceremonial, denoting the utter submission of a vanquished enemy. The defeated enemy prostrates himself or lies on the ground before the victorious rule, who symbolically steps on the former's neck (collis, trachelos).] scene (so André Grabar (1936) L'Empereur dans l'art byzantin: recherches sur l'art officiel de l'empire d'Orient, Paris, p. 44.), in which case the serpent is a new introduction, but is perhaps rather an example of loose writing by Eusebius.]. In this way he indicated the invisible enemy of the human race, whom he showed also to have departed to the depths of destruction by the power of the Saviour's trophy which was set up over his head. This was what the colour of the paints indicated through the medium of the picture; but I was filled with wonder at the highmindedness of the Emperor, and at the way he had by divine inspiration portrayed what the words of the prophets had proclaimed about this beast: "God will bring", they said, "the great and fearful sword against the crooked dragon-serpent [δράκων, ὄφις], against the dragon-serpent [δράκων, ὄφις] who flees, and will destroy the dragon [δράκων] that is in the sea" (cf. Isaiah 27: 1). The Emperor certainly portrayed images of these things, setting true representations in pictorial art.
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So great was the divine passion which had seized the Emperor's [Constantine the Great's, r. 306-337 AD] soul that in the royal quarters of the imperial palace itself, on the most eminent building of all, at the very middle of the gilded coffer adjoining the roof, in the centre of a very large wide panel, had been fixed the emblem [Greek lemma needed] of the saving Passion made up of a variety of precious stones and set in much gold. This appears to have been made by the Godbeloved as a protection for his Empire [Translator's note: Eusebius presents the cross explicitly as a talisman.].
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In all these undertakings the Emperor [Constantine the Great, r. 306-337 AD] worked for the glory of the Saviour's power. While he continued in this way to honour his Saviour God, he confuted the superstitious error of the heathen in all sorts of ways. To this end he stripped the entrances to their temples in every city so that their doors were removed at the Emperor's command. In other cases the roofs were ruined by the removal of the cladding. In yet other cases the sacred bronze figures, of which the error of the ancients had for a long time been proud, he displayed to all the public in all the squares of the Emperor's city, so that in one place the Pythian was displayed as a contemptible spectacle to the viewers, in another the Sminthian, in the Hippodrome itself the tripods from Delphi, and the Muses of Helicon at the palace [Translator's note: Constantine removed cult statues from major temples and put them on show in Constantinople; they included the Pythian and Sminthian Apollos, the tripods and Serpent Column from Delphi and the Heliconian Muses. These and other images were placed in the public places of Constantinople, including the Hippodrome and the palace, allegedly so that the citizens could laugh scornfully (III, liv, 3) at their ignominious fate. Eusebius has to work hard, and draw on all his linguistic resources, to turn Constantine's beautification of his city with famous statues of antiquity (e.g. Thomas F. Madden (1992) "The Serpent Column of Delphi in Constantinople: Placement, Purposes and Mutilations", Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies (BMGS), Volume 16, 1992, pp. 111-145) into an anti-pagan gesture. The statues remained on the spina of the Hippodrome until 1204 AD. During the Byzantine period the statues were often misunderstood and suspected of magical or dangerous properties. The remains of the Serpent Column can still be seen on the site of the Hippodrome in Istanbul today, and the four horses of Lysippus on the façade of San Marco, Venice.].
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| Author: |
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Eusebius of Caesarea
(c. 260-340 AD) |
Life of Constantine |
● III: ii, 2
● III: iii, 1-3
● III: xlix, 1
● III: liv, 1-2
|
Averil Cameron, Stuart G. Hall |
Eusebius: Life of Con-stantine © Clarendon Press, 1999 |
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The God I [Constantine the Great, r. 306-337 AD] represent is the one whose sign [Greek lemma needed] my army, dedicated to God, carries on its shoulders [Translator's note: This is the miraculous standard [labarum] of I, xxviii-xxxii. Eusebius uses the same phrase of its bearers in II, viii, 1 and II, ix, 1.], and to whatever task the Word of Justice summons it goes directly; and from those men I get immediate and happy recompense in marks of signal [Greek lemma needed] victory.
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The great strength of the divinely inspired faith fixed in his soul might be deduced by considering also the fact that he [Constantine the Great, r. 306-337 AD] had his own portrait so depicted on the gold coinage that he appeared to look upwards in the manner of one reaching out to God in prayer [Translator's note: A well-known gold medallion from Siscia dating from the Vicennalia (326-327 AD) shows Constantine's head in this pose wearing a diadem, his head thrown back and his eyes raised as if to heaven (RIC VII, Siscia no. 206); in fact, though Eusebius does not say so, the type recalled depictions of Alexander the Great [r. 336-323 BC], also a deliberate choice from 325 AD onwards.]. Impressions of this type were circulated throughout the entire Roman world. In the imperial quarters of various cities, in the images erected above the entrances, he was portrayed standing up, looking up to heaven, his hands extended in a posture of prayer [Translator's note: Eusebius shows an unusual awareness of the importance of visual representation (cf. I, xl; III, iii; IV, lxxiii), even if he puts it to apologetic uses.].
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Such was the way he [Constantine the Great, r. 306-337 AD] would have himself depicted praying in works of graphic art. But by law he forbade images of himself to be set up in idol-shrines, so that he might not be contaminated by the error of forbidden things even in replica.
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Furthermore he [Constantine the Great, r. 306-337 AD] caused the sign [Greek lemma needed] of the saving trophy to be marked on their shields, and had the army led on parade, not by any of the golden images, as had been their past practice, but by the saving trophy alone [Translator's note: Eusebius concludes his section on Constantine's Christian mission to his troops. The "saving trophy" to be marked on their shields and carried before the army must be some form of cross. It might however have been a version of the chi-rho, like that used on the shields at the Milvian Bridge in Lactantius's account: see I, xxviii-xxxi, and for reliance on images of the gods by Constantine's enemies, II, xvi. Robert Grigg (1977) "Constantine the Great and the Cult without Images", Viator, Volume 8, 1977, p. 21, points out the looseness of Eusebius' term "sign", which might mean cross, christogram, or chi-rho.].
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Thirty years of his [Constantine the Great's, r. 306-337 AD] reign were nearing completion. His three royal sons, most illustrious Caesars, were appointed at different times as co-emperors. The one with the same name as his father, Constantine [Constantine II, Caesar 317-337 AD, Augustus 337-340 AD], was first to share the honour at the time of his father's tenth anniversary; the second, adorned with the same name as his grandfather [Constantius I Chlorus, Caesar 293-305 AD, Augustus 305-306 AD], Constantius [Constantius II, Caesar 324-337 AD, Augustus 337-361 AD], about the time of the twenty-year celebrations; and the third, Constans [Constans I, Caesar 333-337 AD, Augustus 337-350 AD], who by the name applied to him signifies firmness and constancy, was promoted about the end of the third decade. So like a trinity having acquired a triple Godbeloved offspring of sons, and having honoured his offspring with adoption into imperial rank at the end of each decade, he reckoned his own thirtieth anniversary an auspicious occasion for thanksgivings to the universal King of all, and decided that it would be fitting to carry out the consecration of the martyrion which had been constructed with all artistic endeavour in Jerusalem.
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At the same time coins were struck portraying the Blessed One [Constantine the Great, c. 272-337 AD; r. 306-337 AD] on the obverse in the form of one with head veiled, on the reverse like a charioteer on a quadriga, being taken up by a right hand stretched out to him from above [Translator's note: See Patrick Bruun (1954) "The Consecration Coins of Constantine the Great", Arctos, Volume 1, 1954, pp. 19-31. Constantine was shown posthumously on coins with head veiled and with the legend divus or divo, and on the reverse as rising in a four-horse chariot, with a hand being extended from heaven. The iconography of the coins belongs in the repertoire of (pagan) imperial consecratio issues; the veiled emperor recalls his special status with the gods, while the quadriga and the hand extended from above convey the idea of apotheosis. Both the quadriga and the hand of God motifs lent themselves easily to Christian use, the former also being associated with the ascent of Elijah and succession of Elisha (II Kings 2: 9-14) and the hand of God being transferred to scenes of the ascension of Christ. Eusebius does not here point out the meaning of the iconography in his characteristically heavy-fisted way; nor is it necessary to believe that he had in mind an actual consecratio, though Constantine was the last emperor for whom consecratio coins were to be issued. The representation of Constantine in heaven attributed to Rome by Eusebius (IV, lxix, 1) can be paralleled, though not so clearly, in earlier imperial art, and the same motif was used of Christ (Sabine G. MacCormack (1981) Art and Ceremony in Late Antiquity, Berkeley, pp. 127-130.). Eusebius has fused and adapted pagan and Christian funeral imagery in the particular context of imperial apotheosis and succession. However, while it is tempting to suppose that he has consciously and carefully adapted traditional elements to a new Christian use, his main purpose in the Vita Constantini is to smooth everything into a harmonious religious and political message. He may be recording in lxxiii what seemed to him a somewhat awkward fact, and for that reason to be presenting it unadorned. On the other hand his account does point, unsurprisingly, to a mixture of traditional, i.e. pagan, elements and Christian ones.].
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| Author: |
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Eusebius of Caesarea
(c. 260-340 AD) |
Life of Constantine |
● IV: ix, 1
● IV: xv, 1-2
● IV: xvi, 1
● IV: xxi, 1
● IV: xl, 1-2
● IV: lxxiii, 1
|
Averil Cameron, Stuart G. Hall |
Eusebius: Life of Con-stantine © Clarendon Press, 1999 |
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⟨...⟩ Silvanus [Silvanus the Frank, fl. 350s AD] ⟨...⟩ was driven to extreme measures, and having gradually spoken more boldly with the chief officers, he aroused them by the greatness of the reward he promised; then as a temporary expedient he tore the purple decorations from the standards of the cohorts [draco] and the companies [vexillum], and so mounted to the imperial dignity.
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⟨...⟩ banners [vexillum] stiff with goldwork ⟨...⟩
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⟨...⟩ let us advance our triumphant eagles [aquila] and victorious standards [vexillum] at the first break of day ⟨...⟩
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⟨...⟩ the king [Shapur II the Great, r. 309-379 AD] on his arrival, through his grandees, who were allowed access, tried by peaceful mediation to bend the defenders to his will [the Siege of Singara, 360 AD]. Failing in this, he devoted the entire day to quiet, but at the coming of next morning's light he gave the signal by raising the flame-coloured banner [vexillum], and the city was assailed on every side ⟨...⟩
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⟨...⟩ the serious news came to the emperor [Julian, r. 361-363 AD], while he was quietly at table, that the Persian leader called the Surena [Rustaham Suren, d. 53 AD] had unexpectedly attacked three squadrons of our scouting cavalry, had killed a very few of them, including one of their tribunes, and carried off a standard [vexillum].
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After his [general Charietto's] death the standard [vexillum] of the Eruli and Batavians was taken, which the barbarians with insulting cries and dancing with joy frequently raised on high and displayed, until after hard struggles it was recovered.
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⟨...⟩ the Germans stood amazed, terrified by the fearful sight of the gleaming standards [vexillum].
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At once our standards [signum] were planted in the usual manner, while everywhere the call to arms was sounded; but, at the command of the emperor [Valentinian I, r. 364-375 AD] and his generals, the well-disciplined soldiers stood fast, waiting for the raising of the banner [vexillum], which was the signal that it was the fit time to begin the battle.
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| Author: |
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Ammianus Marcellinus
(c. 325-395 AD) |
History |
● XV: v, 16
● XVI: x, 2
● XVI: xii, 12
● XX: vi, 3
● XXIV: iii, 1
● XXVII: i, 6
● XXVII: ii, 6
● XXVII: x, 9 |
John Carew Rolfe |
Loeb Classical Library
(LCL 300) © Harvard
University Press, 1950
Loeb Classical Library
(LCL 315) © Harvard
University Press, 1940
Loeb Classical Library
(LCL 331) © Harvard
University Press, 1939 |
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Remember the day when you [Heliodorus of Altino, d. c. 400 AD] enlisted as a recruit, when, buried with Christ in baptism, you took the oath of allegiance to Him, declaring that in His name you would spare neither father nor mother. Lo, the adversary within your own heart is trying now to slay Christ! Lo, the enemy's camp is sighing now for the bounty which you received before your service began. Though your little nephew hang on your neck, though your mother with dishevelled hair and torn raiment show you the breasts that gave you suck, though your father fling himself upon the threshold, trample your father underfoot and go your way, fly with tearless eyes to the standard [vexillum] of the Cross [crux]. In these matters to be cruel is a son's duty.
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| Author: |
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Jerome of Stridon (Eusebius Sophronius Hieronymus)
(c. 345-420 AD) |
Select Letters |
● Letter XIV. To Heliodorus. The Ascetic Life, 2 |
Frederick Adam Wright |
Loeb Classical Library
(LCL 262) © Harvard
University Press, 1933 |
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The only women to give Rome an opportunity for scandal were Paula [Saint Paula of Rome, 347-404 AD] and Melanium [Unknown saint?], who, scorning their wealth and deserting their children, lifted up the Lord's cross [crux] and took it as the standard [vexillum] of their faith.
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| Author: |
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Jerome of Stridon (Eusebius Sophronius Hieronymus)
(c. 345-420 AD) |
Select Letters |
● Letter XLV. To Asella. Innocent Friendships, 4 |
Frederick Adam Wright |
Loeb Classical Library
(LCL 262) © Harvard
University Press, 1933 |
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Even in Rome now heathenism languishes in solitude. Those who once were the gods of the Gentiles are left beneath their deserted pinnacles to the company of owls and night-birds. The army standards [vexillum] bear the emblem [insigne] of the cross [crux]. The purple robes of kings and the jewels that sparkle on their diadems are adorned with the gibbet sign [pictura] that has brought to us salvation. To-day even the Egyptian Serapis [Translator's note: In 389 AD the temple of Serapis at Alexandria was pulled down, and a Christian church built on the site.] has become a Christian: Marnas [Translator's note: The chief Syrian god in Gaza. Cf. Jerome Life of Hilarion 20.] mourns in his prison at Gaza, and fears continually that his temple will be overthrown. From India, from Persia and from Ethiopia we welcome crowds of monks every hour. The Armenians have laid aside their quivers, the Huns are learning the psalter, the frosts of Scythia are warmed by the fire of faith. The ruddy, flaxen-haired Getae carry tent-churches about with their armies; and perhaps the reason why they fight with us on equal terms is that they believe in the same religion.
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| Author: |
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Jerome of Stridon (Eusebius Sophronius Hieronymus)
(c. 345-420 AD) |
Select Letters |
● Letter CVII. To Laeta. A Girl's Education, 2 |
Frederick Adam Wright |
Loeb Classical Library
(LCL 262) © Harvard
University Press, 1933 |
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Tell of the victory of the passion, tell of the triumphant cross [crux], sing of the glittering ensign [vexillum] marked upon our brows. How strange the marvel of the wound in His amazing death! Here flowed a stream of blood, there water: water gives washing, and the crown is won with blood. The serpent [anguis] saw the sacred body offered in sacrifice, saw, and straightway lost the venom of his inflamed gall; smitten he was with sore distress, his hissing throat shattered. What has it booted thee, thou wicked serpent [serpens], when the world was new, to have brought the first-created man to ruin with thy crafty incitement? The mortal frame has washed its guilt away by receiving God. The leader of our salvation gave Himself up to a short experience of death, that He might teach the dead long buried to return, by breaking the bonds of their former sins. Then many a patriarch and saint, following their creator's lead as He now returned on the third day, put on the garment of flesh and came forth from their tombs. There were the limbs assembling out of the dry ashes, the cold dust taking veins again and growing warm, the bones and sinews and innermost parts being covered with binding skin. Then, when He had annulled death and restored man to life, He ascended in victory the lofty judgment-seat of the Father on high, carrying back to heaven the illustrious glory of His passion. Glory be to Thee, judge of the dead and king of the living, who on Thy Father's throne at His right·hand art renowned for Thy merits, and shalt come from thence to be the righteous avenger of all sins. Thee let old men and young, Thee the choir of little children, the company of mothers and maidens and artless girls praise with loud, harmonious voice in pure strains together. Let the gliding waters of the rivers, the shores of the seas, rain, heat, snow, frost, woodland and wind, night and day unite to extol Thee for ever and ever.
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| Author: |
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Aurelius Prudentius Clemens
(c. 348-413 AD) |
The Daily Round |
● IX. A Hymn for Every Hour, 83-114 |
Henry John Thomson |
Loeb Classical Library
(LCL 387) © Harvard
University Press, 1949 |
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All ye that seek the Christ, lift up your eyes on high; there may you see the sign [signum] of everlasting glory. This star which in its beauty and light surpasses the sun's orb proclaims that God has come to earth with earthly flesh. No servant of the night is this, attending the monthly moon, but sole tenant of the sky, ruling the course of the days. Though the constellations of the Bears, whose motions turn again upon themselves, refuse to set, yet oft are they hidden under storm-clouds. This star abides for ever, this star never sinks nor is hidden by oncoming cloud drawing a shade over its brightness. Perish the ill-omened comet, let every star that burns even with Sirius' heat sink now in destruction under God's light. See, from the far corner of the Persian land, whence the sun makes his entry, wise men, skilled interpreters, discern the royal ensign [vexillum]. As soon as it flashed out, all other starry orbs gave place, and even the fair morning star durst not put his beauty in comparison.
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| Author: |
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Aurelius Prudentius Clemens
(c. 348-413 AD) |
The Daily Round |
● XII. A Hymn for Epiphany, 1-28 |
Henry John Thomson |
Loeb Classical Library
(LCL 387) © Harvard
University Press, 1949 |
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The stout-hearted Virtue Soberness [Virtus Sobrietas] mourned to see a crime so sore, her allies deserting the right wing, a band once invincible being lost without shedding of blood. Like the good leader she is, she had carried the standard [vexillum] of the cross [crux] at the head of her troops, and now she plants the spike in the ground and sets it up, and with biting words restores her unsteady regiment, mingling appeals with her reproaches to awake their courage ⟨...⟩
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| Author: |
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Aurelius Prudentius Clemens
(c. 348-413 AD) |
The Fight for Mansoul |
● 344-351 |
Henry John Thomson |
Loeb Classical Library
(LCL 387) © Harvard
University Press, 1949 |
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Put off thy gloomy habit, faithful mother [City of Rome]. Renowned indeed art thou for the exceeding richness of thy garb; thou raisest a head ennobled by thy proud spoils and dost abound in wealth of gold. But thy majestic crest is covered and befouled with vapours that flit about it, the leaden light and dense air dull thy very jewels, and smoke pouring over thy visage deadens the gleam of the diadem on thy brows. I see murky shades moving around thee, dark spirits and black idols flitting about thee. I counsel thee, lift thy face on high above the air of earth and leave the stormy elements beneath thy feet. The whole world is subject to thee. This is the ordinance of God himself, by whose will it is that thou hast lordship and dost rule the world and in thy might dost plant thy foot on all things mortal. It becomes thee not as a queen to lower thine eyes and gaze on the perishable earth, looking about for majesty in the low parts of the creation, over which thou thyself dost stand superior. I shall not suffer thee, while I am thy leader, to hold to old idle notions, nor to worship decayed monstrosities of gods. If it is stone, it perishes with age or cracks under the stroke of a light blow; if it is plaster covered with sheets of pliant metal, the cement proves treacherous and gaps gradually appear; if the smoothing file has given the shape of a statue to plates of bronze, then either the hollow frame droops to one side with the pressure of the weight, or a scurfy rust eats into the image and wastes it, piercing it with many a hole. Let not earth be thy god, nor a star in the sky, nor ocean, nor a power that is buried below, being condemned to infernal darkness for its ill deserts; but neither make gods of human virtues [Translator's note: Such as Fides, Pietas, Concordia.], nor unsubstantial phantoms that wander at large in the shape of souls or spirits. Far be it from thee to have a ghost for thy god, or a genius or a place, or an apparition that flits through the breezes in the air. Leave these heathen divinities to pagan barbarians; with them everything that fear has taught them to dread is held sacred; signs [?] and marvels compel them to believe in frightful gods, and they find satisfaction in the bloody eating that is their custom, which makes them slaughter a fattened victim in a lofty grove to devour its flesh with floods of wine. But for thee, who hast appointed law and justice to the conquered nations, teaching savage ways of war and life, the wide world o'er, to become civilised, it is a sorry shame that in thy clinging to superstition thy thoughts should be those of barbarous, brutish peoples who adopt them in unreasoning ignorance. Whether we must still be ready for battle, or are to lay down laws in peace and quietness, or to trample under foot in the midst of Rome the heads of the two usurpers we have vanquished, thou must needs, O queen, be ready to acknowledge my standards [signum], on which the figure of the cross [crux] leads the van, either gleaming in jewels or fashioned of solid gold on the long shafts. It was this standard [signum] that made Constantine [Constantine the Great, r. 306-337 AD] invincible when he crossed the Alps as a liberator and undid a cruel bondage, when Maxentius [r. 306-312 AD] was oppressing thee with his baleful court.
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The Mulvian bridge, by hurling the usurper into the waters of the Tiber when he set foot on it, bore witness to the divine power which it saw directing the victorious arms of the Christian general who was approaching Rome, the standard [signum] which the avenging hand bore at the head of his array, the emblem [signum] with which the javelins gleamed. The mark [insigne] of Christ, wrought in jewelled gold, was on the purple labarum; Christ had drawn the bearings on the shields, and the cross [crux] blazed on the crests atop. The noble order of senators remembers. That day it came forth with matted hair, limbs loaded with prison chains, or bound with a rough fetter, and clasping the victor's feet lay prostrate in tears before the famous banners [vexillum]. That day those senators did reverence to the superscription which the avenging army bore, the worshipful name of Christ which shone on its arms. Beware then after this, thou noble capital of the world, of fashioning thee unreal monstrosities and ghosts in senseless worship, and of scorning the power of the true God, now that thou hast proved it. I would have thee now lay aside thy childish festivals, thy absurd ceremonies, thy offerings which are unworthy of a realm so great. Wash ye the marbles that are bespattered and stained with putrid blood, ye nobles. Let your statues, the works of great artists, be allowed to rest clean; be these our country's fairest ornaments, and let no debased usage pollute the monuments of art and turn it into sin.
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| Author: |
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Aurelius Prudentius Clemens
(c. 348-413 AD) |
A Reply to the Address of Symmachus |
● I: 415-471
● I: 481-505 |
Henry John Thomson |
Loeb Classical Library
(LCL 387) © Harvard
University Press, 1949 |
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“
It is an honourable way of death and one that becomes good men, to make of the body, which is a fabric of feeble flesh and doomed to be wasted by disease, a gift to the enemy's sword, and by death to overcome the foe. A noble thing it is to suffer the stroke of the persecutor's sword; through the wide wound a glorious gateway opens to the righteous, and the soul, cleansed in the scarlet baptism, leaps from its seat in the breast. No stranger to harsh toil was the past life of the soldiers whom Christ was calling to his everlasting service; it was valour used to war and arms that now fought for the altars. They abandoned Caesar's ensigns [vexillum], choosing the standard [signum] of the cross [crux], and in place of the swelling draperies of the serpents [draco] which they used to carry, led the way with the glorious wood [The Cross] which subdued the serpent [draco]. They deemed it of little worth to carry javelins in hands ready for action, to batter a wall with engines of war, to gird a camp with ditches and stain godless hands with bloody slaughterings.
„
| Author: |
Work/Anthology: |
Verse/Fragment: |
Translator(s): |
Collection & Publisher: |
Aurelius Prudentius Clemens
(c. 348-413 AD) |
Crowns of Martyrdom |
● I. A Hymn in Honour of the Holy Martyrs Emeterius and Chelidonius of Calagurris, 24-39 |
Henry John Thomson |
Loeb Classical Library
(LCL 398) © Harvard
University Press, 1953 |
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“
Hard by a crowded quarter of the city of Constantinople, towards the south, there lies a plain. The rest is surrounded by the sea which here allows itself to be parted by a narrow way. Here the avenging army, bright with the panoply of the war god, disposes its squadrons. On the left stands the infantry. Over against them the cavalry seek to restrain their eager steeds by holding tight the reins. Here nod the savage waving plumes whose wearers rejoice to shake the flashing colours of their shoulder-armour; for steel clothes them on and gives them their shape; the limbs within give life to the armour's pliant scales so artfully conjoined, and strike terror into the beholder. 'Tis as though iron statues moved and men lived cast from that same metal. The horses are armed in the same way; their heads are encased in threatening iron, their forequarters move beneath steel plates protecting them from wounds; each stands alone, a pleasure yet a dread to behold, beautiful, yet terrible, and as the wind drops the particoloured dragons [draco] [Translator's note: Claudian refers to the devices emblazoned upon the banners.] sink with relaxing coils into repose. The emperor [Arcadius, r. 383-408 AD] first salutes the hallowed standards [vexillum] ⟨...⟩
„
| Author: |
Work/Anthology: |
Verse/Fragment: |
Translator(s): |
Collection & Publisher: |
Claudius Claudianus
(c. 370-404 AD) |
Against Rufinus |
● II (V): 348-366 |
Maurice Platnauer |
Loeb Classical Library
(LCL 135) © Harvard
University Press, 1922 |
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“
No standard-bearer [signifer] feels the weight of his eagle [Ø], so readily do the very standards [vexillum] press forward.
„
| Author: |
Work/Anthology: |
Verse/Fragment: |
Translator(s): |
Collection & Publisher: |
Claudius Claudianus
(c. 370s-400s AD) |
The War Against Gildo |
● I (XV): 419-420 |
Maurice Platnauer |
Loeb Classical Library
(LCL 135) © Harvard
University Press, 1922 |
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“
⟨...⟩ let the lictor guard the consul's tent and the Latin axes return to the standards [signum] [Translator's note: Claudian suggests the uniting of civil and military power in the hands of Honorius.].
„
“
Power which was thine by birth received thee, a precious pledge, amid the purple; soldiers bearing victorious standards [aquila] inaugurated thy birth and set thy cradle in the midst of arms.
„
“
On every side stretches the host of plumed warriors, each hymning thy praises in his own tongue; the brightness of bronze dazzles the eye and the martial glint of a forest of unsheathed swords redoubles the light of day. Some are decked with bows, others bristle with far-flung javelins or pikes for fighting at close quarters. These raise standards [aquila] adorned with flying eagles, or with embroidered dragons [draco] or writhing serpents [serpens], that in their thousands seem to be roused to angry life by the breath of the wind which, as it blows them this way and that, causes them to rustle with a sound like the hiss of a living snake [Ø].
„
| Author: |
Work/Anthology: |
Verse/Fragment: |
Translator(s): |
Collection & Publisher: |
Claudius Claudianus
(c. 370-404 AD) |
Panegyric on the Third Consulship
of the Emperor Honorius |
● Panegyric (VII):
5-6
● Panegyric (VII):
14-17
● Panegyric (VII):
133-141 |
Maurice Platnauer |
Loeb Classical Library
(LCL 135) © Harvard
University Press, 1922 |
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“
⟨...⟩ the soldiers step forth in garb of peaceful hue worn Gabine wise, and laying aside for a season the standards [signum] of war follow the banner [vexillum] of Quirinus. The eagles [aquila] give way to the lictors, the smiling soldier wears the toga of peace and the senate-house casts its brilliance in the midst of the camp.
„
| Author: |
Work/Anthology: |
Verse/Fragment: |
Translator(s): |
Collection & Publisher: |
Claudius Claudianus
(c. 370-404 AD) |
Panegyric on the Fourth Consulship
of the Emperor Honorius |
● Panegyric (VIII):
6-10 |
Maurice Platnauer |
Loeb Classical Library
(LCL 135) © Harvard
University Press, 1922 |
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“
I would not distinguish days for battle [proeliares] from sanctioned days [iusti], seeing that sanctioned days comprise the thirty-day period when an army has been mobilized and the red banner [vexillum] has been set up on the citadel; but days for battle are all those on which divine law permits seeking reparations or challenging the enemy [Translator's note: Seeking reparations (res repetere) was central to the concept of a "just war" in the early Roman Republic and to the procedures that led to a declaration of war.].
„
| Author: |
Work/Anthology: |
Verse/Fragment: |
Translator(s): |
Collection & Publisher: |
Macrobius Ambro-sius Theodosius
(c. 390-400s AD) |
Saturnalia |
● I: xvi, 15 |
Robert Andrew Kaster |
Loeb Classical Library
(LCL 510) © Harvard
University Press, 2011 |
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“
⟨...⟩ he [Macrinus, r. 217-218 AD] gave orders that the standards [signum] in the Camp and the colours [vexillum] should be called Antonine [After Macrinus's son and co-ruler Diadumenian, r. 218 AD.] ⟨...⟩
„
| Author: |
Work/Anthology: |
Verse/Fragment: |
Translator(s): |
Collection & Publisher: |
Anonym (Scriptores Historiae Augustae,
c. late 300s-early 400s AD) |
Historia Augusta |
● 16. Antoninus Diadumenianus by Aelius Lampridius: III, 1 |
David Magie |
Loeb Classical Library
(LCL 140) © Harvard
University Press, 1924 |
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“
⟨...⟩ Antiochianus, one of the prefects, reminded the soldiers who had come to the gardens of their oath of allegiance and finally persuaded them not to kill the Emperor [Elagabalus, r. 218-222 AD] - for, in fact, only a few had come and the majority had remained with the standard [vexillum], which the tribune Aristomachus had kept back.
„
| Author: |
Work/Anthology: |
Verse/Fragment: |
Translator(s): |
Collection & Publisher: |
Anonym (Scriptores Historiae Augustae,
c. late 300s-early 400s AD) |
Historia Augusta |
● 17. Antoninus Elagabalus by Aelius Lampridius: XIV, 8 |
David Magie |
Loeb Classical Library
(LCL 140) © Harvard
University Press, 1924 |
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“
⟨...⟩ we shall hail them [Gordian I and his son Gordian II, both r. 22 March-12 April 238 AD] emperors, if it please you, taking the purple from the standards [vexillum], and giving them their proper trappings make them secure by Roman law.
„
| Author: |
Work/Anthology: |
Verse/Fragment: |
Translator(s): |
Collection & Publisher: |
Anonym (Scriptores Historiae Augustae,
c. late 300s-early 400s AD) |
Historia Augusta |
● 20. The Three Gordians by Julius Capitolinus: VIII, 4 |
David Magie |
Loeb Classical Library
(LCL 140) © Harvard
University Press, 1924 |
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“
⟨...⟩ all the streets [of the city of Rome] resounded with merry-making and shouts and applause, and in the midst the Emperor [Gallienus, r. 253-268 AD] himself, wearing the triumphal toga and the tunic embroidered with palms, and accompanied, as I have said, by the senators and with all the priests dressed in bordered togas, proceeded to the Capitol. On each side of him were borne five hundred gilded spears and one hundred banners [vexillum], besides those which belonged to the corporations, and the flags of auxiliaries [draco] and the statues from the sanctuaries and the standards [signum] of all the legions. There marched, furthermore, men dressed to represent foreign nations, as Goths and Sarmatians, Franks and Persians, and no fewer than two hundred paraded in a single group.
„
| Author: |
Work/Anthology: |
Verse/Fragment: |
Translator(s): |
Collection & Publisher: |
Anonym (Scriptores Historiae Augustae,
c. late 300s-early 400s AD) |
Historia Augusta |
● 23. The Two Gallieni by Trebellius Pollio: VIII, 4-7 |
David Magie |
Loeb Classical Library
(LCL 263) © Harvard
University Press, 1932 |
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“
⟨...⟩ the senate and people of Rome, foreign nations and provinces, too, must all be his flatterers, for indeed all ranks, all ages, and all communities have honoured this noble emperor [Claudius Gothicus, r. 268-270 AD] with statues, banners [vexillum], and crowns, shrines and arches, altars and temples.
„
| Author: |
Work/Anthology: |
Verse/Fragment: |
Translator(s): |
Collection & Publisher: |
Anonym (Scriptores Historiae Augustae,
c. late 300s-early 400s AD) |
Historia Augusta |
● 25. The Deified Claudius by Trebel-lius Pollio: III, 7 |
David Magie |
Loeb Classical Library
(LCL 263) © Harvard
University Press, 1932 |
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“
Valerian Augustus [r. 253-260 AD] spoke as follows: "The commonwealth thanks you, Aurelian [b. 214 AD; the future Roman Emperor, r. 270-275 AD], for having set it free from the power of the Goths. Through your efforts we are rich in booty, we are rich in glory and in all that causes the felicity of Rome to increase. Now, therefore, in return for your great achievements receive for yourself four mural crowns, five rampart crowns, two naval crowns, two civic crowns, ten spears without points, four bi-coloured banners [vexillum], four red general's tunics, two proconsul's cloaks, a bordered toga, a tunic embroidered with palms, a gold-embroidered toga, a long under-tunic, and an ivory-chair. For on this day I appoint you consul, and I will write to the senate that it may vote you the sceptre of office and vote you also the fasces; for these insignia [insigne] the emperor is not wont to give, but, on the contrary, to receive from the senate when he is created consul."
„
“
⟨...⟩ the flags [vexillum] of the guilds and the camps ⟨...⟩
„
| Author: |
Work/Anthology: |
Verse/Fragment: |
Translator(s): |
Collection & Publisher: |
Anonym (Scriptores Historiae Augustae,
c. late 300s-early 400s AD) |
Historia Augusta |
● 26. The Deified Aurelian by Flavius Vopiscus of Syracuse: XIII, 2-4
● 26. The Deified Aurelian by Flavius Vopiscus of Syracuse: XXXIV, 4 |
David Magie |
Loeb Classical Library
(LCL 263) © Harvard
University Press, 1932 |
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“
Whereas during the Sarmatian war, while holding the rank of tribune, he [Probus, r. 276-282 AD] had crossed the Danube and performed many brave exploits, he was formally presented in an assembly with four spears without points, two rampart-crowns, one civic crown, four white banners [vexillum], two golden arm-bands, one golden collar, one sacrificial saucer weighing five pounds.
„
| Author: |
Work/Anthology: |
Verse/Fragment: |
Translator(s): |
Collection & Publisher: |
Anonym (Scriptores Historiae Augustae,
c. late 300s-early 400s AD) |
Historia Augusta |
● 28. Probus by Flavius Vopiscus of Syracuse: V, 1-2 |
David Magie |
Loeb Classical Library
(LCL 263) © Harvard
University Press, 1932 |
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“
Thereupon the province, beholding thine eagles [aquila], ceased of a sudden to shudder at the dragons [draco] of the foe [Translator's note: The typically Roman "eagle" (the traditional legionary standard) is contrasted with the "dragons" of the "barbarians". But the use of dragon-ensigns had found its way into the Roman army long before, and it is possible that by this time they had entirely supplanted the ordinary standard. For a description of them see V. Panegyric on Maiorianus 398-410. It seems probable that the "eagle" belonged only to the full legion of 6,000 men, and not to the smaller units which were now dignified with the title of legio. See Robert Grosse (1920) Römische Militärgeschichte von Gallienus bis zum Beginn der byzantinischen Themenverfassung, Band 1, pp. 229-234.]. Straightway crushed in war and reft of their spoil they in their turn were spoils for thee [Anthemius, r. 467-472 AD], lying prostrate at thy feet.
„
“
⟨...⟩ and following thy standards [signum] the soldiers felt that they were not deserted in the fray.
„
“
⟨...⟩ one before whom [Anthemius, r. 467-472 AD] land and sea shall quake when he advances his standards [signum] ⟨...⟩
„
| Author: |
Work/Anthology: |
Verse/Fragment: |
Translator(s): |
Collection & Publisher: |
Gaius Sollius Modestus Apollinaris Sidonius
(c. 430-485 AD) |
Poems |
● II. Panegyric on Anthemius, 232-233
● II. Panegyric on Anthemius, 286-287
● II. Panegyric on Anthemius, 384-385 |
William Blair Anderson |
Loeb Classical Library
(LCL 296) © Harvard
University Press, 1936 |
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“
Were I to recount his [Majorian's, r. 457-461 AD] sport - one single day of his wipes out all that thou art reputed to have performed as bowman: three arrows laid trembling before him a snake [anguis], a stag and a boar. Not so surely was the shaft launched against the foe by him [Translator's note: Alcon (cf. 183). The son whom he saved was Phalerus, one of the Argonauts.] who, when his son was encircled by a serpent's [serpens] body, felt a new dread in the act of succouring, as he dispensed both life and destruction with the same shot, keeping a steady hand with a quaking heart, and as hope drew closer his fear found relief in the full exercise of his skill, dealing death to one amid the entangled bodies of two.
„
“
Some land their well-trained steeds in hollow skiffs, some don the meshed mail of like hue to themselves, some get ready their shapely bows and the arrows made to carry poison on the iron point and to wound doubly with a single shot. Now the broidered dragon [anguis] speeds hither and thither in both armies, his throat swelling as the zephyrs dash against it; that pictured form with wide-open jaw counterfeits a wrathful hunger, and the breeze puts a frenzy into the cloth as often as the lithe back is thickened by the blasts and the air is now too abundant for the belly to hold [Translator's note: See note on II. Panegyric on Anthemius 232-233. These standards in the form of dragons or serpents were made of cloth or of flexible skins, hollow inside, and with a silver mouth. When the wind blew in at the mouth they contorted themselves in a manner which suggested real serpents. The last line of the description is hard. I have followed an ingenious suggestion of Dr. Semple that inane means "air"; the use is much bolder than in an expression like vastum per inane (v. 246), but probably pleased Sidonius, as it enabled him to introduce one of his innumerable paradoxes ("cannot hold the emptiness"). Literally the words mean "and the belly no longer has room for the excessive air", i.e. more air than the dragon's belly can hold blows in at the mouth.]. Now the trumpet's deep note sounds with terrific blast; a responsive shout greets the clarions, and even the puny spirit of cowards suddenly bursts into frenzy.
„
“
All the multitude that the sluggish quarter of the earth doth produce in the Sithonian region beneath the Arcadian bear fears thy [Majorian's, r. 457-461 AD] standards [signum]; Bastarnian, Suebian, Pannonian, Neuran, Hun, Getan, Dacian, Alan, Bellonotan, Rugian, Burgundian, Visigoth, Alites, Bisalta, Ostrogoth, Procrustian, Sarmatian, Moschan have ranged themselves behind thine eagles [aquila]; in thy service are the whole Caucasus and the drinker of the Don's Scythian waters.
„
“
Now thou wert moving thy camp, and around thee thronged thousands under divers standards [signum].
„
“
When I [a Scythian] followed the standards [Ø] of a northern king [?] I heard that the emperor's arms and the house of the Caesars were sunk in unending luxury.
„
| Author: |
Work/Anthology: |
Verse/Fragment: |
Translator(s): |
Collection & Publisher: |
Gaius Sollius Modestus Apollinaris Sidonius
(c. 430-485 AD) |
Poems |
● V. Panegyric on Maiorianus, 151-160
● V. Panegyric on Maiorianus, 398-410
● V. Panegyric on Maiorianus, 472-479
● V. Panegyric on Maiorianus, 483-484
● V. Panegyric on Maiorianus, 534-537 |
William Blair Anderson |
Loeb Classical Library
(LCL 296) © Harvard
University Press, 1936 |
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“
⟨...⟩ the Parthian Sapor [Translator's note: Phraates IV, r. 37-2 BC. Three Persian kings had borne the name Sapor (Shapur), but Sidonius uses it to denote any Persian, or rather Parthian, king or prince.] freely restored my standards [signum] ⟨...⟩
„
| Author: |
Work/Anthology: |
Verse/Fragment: |
Translator(s): |
Collection & Publisher: |
Gaius Sollius Modestus Apollinaris Sidonius
(c. 430-485 AD) |
Poems |
● VII. Panegyric on Avitus, 98-99 |
William Blair Anderson |
Loeb Classical Library
(LCL 296) © Harvard
University Press, 1936 |
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“
⟨...⟩ amid trumpet-calls, standards [signum], spears, and troops ⟨...⟩
„
| Author: |
Work/Anthology: |
Verse/Fragment: |
Translator(s): |
Collection & Publisher: |
Gaius Sollius Modestus Apollinaris Sidonius
(c. 430-485 AD) |
Poems |
● IX. To Felix, 293 |
William Blair Anderson |
Loeb Classical Library
(LCL 296) © Harvard
University Press, 1936 |
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“
⟨...⟩ you [Lupus of Troyes, c. 383-478 AD] carry the flag [vexillum] of the Cross [crux] you have borne for so long ⟨...⟩
„
| Author: |
Work/Anthology: |
Verse/Fragment: |
Translator(s): |
Collection & Publisher: |
Gaius Sollius Modestus Apollinaris Sidonius
(c. 430-485 AD) |
Letters |
● VI: i. To the Lord Bishop Lupus, 3 |
William Blair Anderson |
Loeb Classical Library
(LCL 420) © Harvard
University Press, 1965 |
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“
⟨...⟩ considering that (as we have learned), no sign of the Christian faith, no church, no altar was set up in all the country of the Bernicians, before that this new captain of warfare [Oswald of Northumbria, r. 634-642 AD], at the bidding of his devout faith, did set up this banner [vexillum] of the holy cross [crux], as he was going to give battle to his terrible enemy [The Battle of Heavenfield, 633 or 634 AD].
„
| Author: |
Work/Anthology: |
Verse/Fragment: |
Translator(s): |
Collection & Publisher: |
The Venerable Bede
(672-735 AD) |
Ecclesiastical History of the English Nation |
● III: ii. Hefenfelth |
John Edward King |
Loeb Classical Library
(LCL 246) © Harvard
University Press, 1930 |
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“
⟨...⟩ to the end that the holy man's [Oswald of Northumbria, r. 634-642 AD] princely personage might always be remembered, they placed besides over his tomb his standard [vexillum] fashioned of purple and gold ⟨...⟩
„
| Author: |
Work/Anthology: |
Verse/Fragment: |
Translator(s): |
Collection & Publisher: |
The Venerable Bede
(672-735 AD) |
Ecclesiastical History of the English Nation |
● III: xi. A Pillar
of Light |
John Edward King |
Loeb Classical Library
(LCL 246) © Harvard
University Press, 1930 |
--------------------------------------------------------------------- « ● ● ● » ---------------------------------------------------------------------
“
⟨...⟩ do bear with Him the sign [signum] of the selfsame passion upon the crown of our head, being the highest part of our body. For as all the Church, because it was made a Church by the death of Him that quickeneth it, is accustomed to bear the sign [signum] of His holy cross [crux] in the forehead, that by the frequent protection of this banner [vexillum] it may be defended from the assaults of evil spirits ⟨...⟩
„
| Author: |
Work/Anthology: |
Verse/Fragment: |
Translator(s): |
Collection & Publisher: |
The Venerable Bede
(672-735 AD) |
Ecclesiastical History of the English Nation |
● V: xxi. Letter
to Naitan |
John Edward King |
Loeb Classical Library
(LCL 248) © Harvard
University Press, 1930 |
-------------------------------------------------- « ● Selected Biblical Quotations ● » ---------------------------------------------------
“
You who live in the shelter of the Most High, who abide in the shadow of the Almighty, will say to the Lord, "My refuge and my fortress; my God, in whom I trust." For the will deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the deadly pestilence; he will cover you with his pinions, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness is a shield and buckler. You will not fear the terror of the night, or the arrow that flies by day, or the pestilence that stalks in darkness, or the destruction that wastes at noonday. A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right·hand, but it will not come near you. You will only look with your eyes and see the punishment of the wicked. Because you have made the Lord your refuge, the Most High your dwelling place, no evil shall befall you, no scourge come near your tent. For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways. On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone. You will tread on the lion [שָׁ֫חַל, shachal, "lion" ("jackal"?)] and the adder [פָּ֫תֶן, pethen, "venomous snake"], the young lion [כְּפִיר, kfir, "lion cub"] and the serpent [תַּנִּין, tannin, "aquatic monster/dragon"] you will trample under foot. Those who love me, I will deliver; I will protect those who know my name. When they call to me, I will answer them; I will be with them in trouble, I will rescue them and honor them. With long life I will satisfy them, and show them my salvation.
„
| Author: |
Work/Anthology: |
Verse/Fragment: |
Translator(s): |
Collection & Publisher: |
Anonym
(c. 900s-500s BC) |
Book of Psalms |
● 91: 1-16 |
Unknown (?) |
The New Oxford
Annotated Bible
(New Revised
Standard Version)
© Oxford University
Press, 2010 |
--------------------------------------------------------------------- « ● ● ● » ---------------------------------------------------------------------
“
And war broke out in heaven; Michael and his angels fought against the dragon [δράκον]. The dragon [δράκον] and his angels fought back, but they were defeated, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. The great dragon [δράκον] was thrown down, that ancient serpent [ὄφις], who is called the Devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world - he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.
„
| Author: |
Work/Anthology: |
Verse/Fragment: |
Translator(s): |
Collection & Publisher: |
Anonym
(c. 80s-90s AD) |
Book of Revelation (Apocalypse of John) |
● 12: 7-9 |
Unknown (?) |
The New Oxford
Annotated Bible
(New Revised
Standard Version)
© Oxford University
Press, 2010 |
|
|
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