sometimes the figure of a man; to Simeon, a sword; to Gad, a lion; to Manasseh, an ox; to Benjamin, a wolf; to Dan, a serpent or an eagle.

The ensign of Asher was a handful of corn, and that of Naphtali a stag. The cities of Samaria and Shechem, being in the land of the tribe of Joseph, the standard of Samaria bore the bough or palm of Joseph.

Allusions to standards, banners, and ensigns are frequent in the Holy Scriptures. The post of standard-bearer was at all times of the greatest importance, and none but officers of approved valor were ever chosen for such service; hence Jehovah, describing the ruin and discomfiture which he was about to bring on the haughty king of Assyria, says, " And they shall be as when a standard-bearer fainteth."

ASSYRIAN STANDARDS.-Nineveh, the capital of Assyria, had for its device an arrow, which represented the swiftness of the Tigris, whose waters washed its walls, - the Chaldean name, Tigris, expressing the swiftness of an arrow. Semiramis, the widow of Ninus the son of Belus, its founder, having united Nineveh to Babylon, founded

the first great empire of the world. Her subjects symbolized her by a turtle-dove, and that bird was stamped on the coins, with an arrow

Assyrian Standards.

on the reverse. Mossoul, built on the ruins of Nineveh, impressed on its goods the sign of an arrow and dove; and that badge, printed on a light stuff called muslin, has been exported to all modern nations.1

Among the sculptures of Nineveh which Layard brought to light are representations of the standards of the Assyrians carried by charioteers. These sculptures

have only two devices: one of a figure standing on a bull and drawing a bow; the other, two bulls running in opposite directions, supposed to be the symbols of peace and war. These figures are enclosed in a circle, and fixed to a long staff ornamented with streamers and tassels. These standards seem to have been partly supported by a rest in front of the chariot. A long rope connected them with the extremity of the pole. In the bass-relief at Khorsabad this rod is attached to the bottom of the standard.

PERSIAN STANDARDS.-The standard of ancient Persia, adopted by Cyrus, according to Herodotus, and Xenophon, and perpetuated, was a golden eagle with outstretched wings painted on a white flag.

The standard of Koah, the sacred standard of the Persians, was originally the leather apron of the blacksmith Kairah, or Koah, which he reared as a banner B.C. 800, when he aroused the people and delivered Persia from the tyranny of Sohek, or Bivar, surnamed Deh-ak (ten vices). It was embroidered with gold, and enlarged from time to time with costly silk, until it was twenty-two feet long and fifteen broad; and it was decorated with gems of inestimable value. With this standard the fate of the kingdom was believed by superstitious Persians to be connected.

This standard was victorious over the Moslems at the battle of El liser, or the battle of the bridge, A.D. 634, and was captured by them two years later at the battle of Kadesir, which the Persians call, of Armath, and the Moslems, "the day of succor from the timely arrival of reinforcements." To the soldier who captured it thirty thousand 1 Brunet's Regal Armorie.

pieces of gold was paid by command of Saad, and the jewels with which it was studded were put with the other booty. In this battle, which is as famous among the Arabs as Arbela among the Greeks, thirty thousand Persians are said to have fallen, and seven thousand Moslems. Thus, after 1,434 years' service, this standard was destroyed.

The Persians also employed a figure of the sun, especially on great occasions, when the king was present with his forces. Quintus Curtius mentions the figure of the sun enclosed in crystal, which made a most splendid appearance above the royal tent. To the present day the sun continues to divide with the lion the honor of appearing upon the royal standard of Persia.

Among the ancient sculptures at Persepolis are found other specimens of ancient Persian standards. One of these consists of a staff terminating in a divided ring, and having below a transverse bar, from which two enormous tassels are suspended. The other consists of five globular forms on a crossbar. They were doubtless of metal, and probably had some reference to the heavenly bodies, which were the ancient objects of worship in Persia. At the present day, the flag-staff of the Persians terminates in a silver hand.

THE ROMAN STANDARDS.

Romulus, in founding Rome, adopted the image of the she-wolf, his reputed foster-mother, as well as of his brother Remus. The Senate of Romulus assumed the eagle of Jupiter, which became the Roman standard, with the wolf. In the following ages, the Romans increased their standards to as many as ten different badges. 1. The peacock of Juno. 2. The boat of Isis. 3. The cock of Mars. 4. The imperial elephant. 5. The dragon of Trajan. 6. The minotaurus of Crete. 7. The horse of Greece. 8. The pecus or sheep of Italy. 9 and 10. The she-wolf and eagle of Romulus.2

The Device of Romulus.

Each legion of the Roman army was divided into ten cohorts, each cohort into three maniples, each maniple into two centurions, which would give sixty centurions to a legion, the regular strength of which was therefore six thousand; sometimes the number of men in a legion varied. In the time of Polybius, a legion had but four thousand two hundred.

1 Irving's Successors of Mahomet.

2 Brunet's Regal Armorie.

When the army came near a place of encampment, tribunes and centurions, with proper persons appointed for that service, were sent to mark out the ground, and assigned to each his proper quarters, which they did by erecting flags (vexillas) of different colors. The place for the general's tent was marked with a white flag.

Each century, or at least each maniple, had its proper standard and standard-bearer. The standard of a manipulus in the time of Romulus was a bundle of hay tied to a pole. Afterwards, a spear with a cross-piece of wood on the top, sometimes the figure of a hand above, probably in allusion to the word manipulus; and below, a small

round or oval shield, on which were represented the images of warlike deities, as Mars or Minerva, and in later times of the emperors or of their favorites. Hence the standards were called numeria legionum, and worshipped with religious adoration. There were also standards of the cohorts. The standards of the different divisions of the army had certain letters inscribed on them, to distinguish the one from the other. The standard of the cavalry was called vexillum (a flag or banner), from being a square piece of cloth fixed on the end of a spear; and Cæsar mentions it as used by the foot, particularly by the veterans who had served out their time, but under the emperors

were still retained in the army, and fought in bodies distinct from the legion, and under a particular standard of their own. Hence these veterans were called vexillarii.

In the year 20 B.C., Phraates, the Parthian king, apprehensive that an attack was meditated upon his dominions, endeavored to avert it by sending to Augustus the Roman standards and captives that had been taken from Crassus and Anthony. This present was received with the greatest joy, and was extolled as one of the most glorious events of the emperor's reign. It was commemorated by sacrifices and by the erection of a temple in the capitol to Mars, "the avenger," in which the standards were deposited.1

Roman Standard.

To lose the standard was always disgraceful, particularly to the standard-bearer, and was at times a capital crime. To animate the soldiers, their standards were sometimes thrown among the enemy. After a time, a horse, a bear, and other animals were substituted for the bundle of hay, open hand, &c. In the second year of the consulate of Marius, 87 B.C., a silver eagle with expanded wings, on the top of a spear, with the thunderbolt in its claws, the emblem of Jove, signifying might and power, with the figure of a small chapel above it, was assumed as the common standard of the legion; hence aquila is often put for legion. The place Bronze horse half the size of the for this standard was near the ordinary place of the general, in the centre of the army. When a general, after having consulted the auspices, determined to lead forth his troops against the enemy, a red flag was displayed on a spear from the top of the prætorium, as a signal to prepare for battle.2 The standard of Augustus was a globe, to indicate his conquest of the globe. Roman standards were also ornamented with dragons and silver bells, as a trophy, after Trajan's conquest of the Dacians, A.D. 106, as shown on Trajan's column. The Etruscans were the first who adopted the eagle as the symbol of royal power, and bore its image as a standard at the head of their armies. From the time of Marius it was the principal emblem of the Roman Republic, and the only standard of the legions. It was represented with outspread

original, which is preserved at Goodrich Court.

1 Lynam's History of the Roman Emperors, vol. i. p. 28. London, 1828.

2 Flag-Officer Farragut, when he ordered to pass the forts below New Orleans, April 23, 1861, directed a red lantern should be hoisted as the signal for getting under way; thus repeating the old Roman signal for battle, perhaps without ever having heard of it.