461–465.)
" … No mean device
Is sculptured on his shield: 'A man in arms,
His ladder fix'd against the enemies' walls,
Mounts, resolute, to rend their rampires down;'
And cries aloud (the letters plainly mark'd),
'Not Mars himself shall beat me from the Tow'rs.'"
4. Hippomedon.
("Ὁ σηματουργὸς—φόβον βλέπων·"—Lines 487–494.)
" … On its orb, no vulgar artist
Expressed this image: 'A Typhæus huge,
Disgorging from his foul enfounder'd jaws,
In fierce effusion wreaths of dusky smoke.
Signal of kindling flames; its bending verge
With folds of twisted serpents border'd round.'
With shouts the giant chief provokes the war,
And in the ravings of outrageous valour
Glares terror from his eyes … "
5. Parthenopæus.
("Ὁν μὴν ἀκόμπαστος—ἵαπτεσθαι Βέλη·"—Lines 534–540.)
" … Upon his clashing shield,
Whose orb sustains the storm of war, he bears
The foul disgrace of Thebes:—'A rav'nous Sphynx
Fixed to the plates: the burnish'd monster round
Pours a portentous gleam: beneath her lies
A Theban mangled by her cruel fangs:'—
'Gainst this let each brave arm direct the spear."
6. Amphiaraus.
("Τοιαῦθ ὁ μάντις—βλαστάνει βουλευματα."—Lines 587–591.)
"So spoke the prophet; and with awful port
Advanc'd his massy shield, the shining orb
Bearing no impress, for his gen'rous soul
Wishes to be, not to appear, the best;
And from the culture of his modest worth
Bears the rich fruit of great and glorious deeds."
7. Polynices.
("Ἔχει δὲ—τά ξευρηματα."—Lines 639–646.)
" … His well-orb'd shield he holds,
New wrought, and with a double impress charg'd:
A warrior, blazing all in golden arms,
A female form of modest aspect leads,
Expressing justice, as th' inscription speaks,
'Yet once more to his country, and once more
To his Paternal Throne I will restore him'—
Such their devices … "
VIRGIL.
(The Æneid.)
1. ("Atque hic exultans—insigne decorum."—Lib. ii. lines 386–392.)
"Choræbus, with youthful hopes beguil'd,
Swol'n with success, and of a daring mind,
This new invention fatally design'd.
'My friends,' said he, 'since fortune shows the way,
'Tis fit we should the auspicious guide obey.
For what has she these Grecian arms bestowed,
But their destruction, and the Trojans' good?
Then change we shields, and their devices bear:
Let fraud supply the want of force in war.
They find us arms.'—This said, himself he dress'd
In dead Androgeos' spoils, his upper vest,
His painted buckler, and his plumy crest."
"Next Aventinus drives his chariot round
The Latian plains, with palms and laurels crown'd.
Proud of his steeds, he smokes along the field;
His father's hydra fills his ample shield;
A hundred serpents hiss about the brims;
The son of Hercules he justly seems,
By his broad shoulders and gigantic limbs."
3. ("Sequitur pulcherrimus Astur—insigne paternæ."—Lib. x. lines 180–188.)
"Fair Astur follows in the wat'ry field,
Proud of his manag'd horse, and painted shield.
Thou muse, the name of Cinyras renew,
And brave Cupavo follow'd but by few;
Whose helm confess'd the lineage of the man,
And bore, with wings display'd, a silver swan.
Love was the fault of his fam'd ancestry.
Whose forms and fortunes in his Ensigns fly."
HERODOTUS.
1. Cilo, § 171.
("Καὶ σφι τριξὰ ἐξέυρήματα ἐγένετο—τὰ σημήϊα ποιὲεσθαι.")
"And to them is allowed the invention of three things, which have come into use among the Greeks:—For the Carians seem to be the first who put crests upon their helmets and sculptured devices upon their shields."
2. Calliope, § 74.
("Ὀ δέτερος τῶν λόγων—ἐπίοημον ἄγκυραν.")
"Those who deny this statement assert that he (Sophanes) bare on his shield, as a device, an anchor."
TACITUS.
(The Annals.—Lib. 1.)
1. ("Tum redire paulatim—in sedes referunt."—Cap. 28.)
"They relinquished the guard of the gates; and the Eagles and other Ensigns, which in the beginning of the Tumult they had thrown together, were now restored each to its distinct station."
Potter in his "Antiquities of Greece" (Dunbar's edition, Edinburgh, 1824, vol. ii. page 79), thus speaks of the ensigns or flags (σημεῖα) used by the Grecians in their military affairs: "Of these there were different sorts, several of which were adorned with images of animals, or other things bearing peculiar relations to the cities they belong to. The Athenians, for instance, bore an owl in their ensigns (Plutarchus Lysandro), as being sacred to Minerva, the protectress of their city; the Thebans a Sphynx (idem