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march, or an attack upon the enemy. But in ordi- 
nary cafes, as for feting the watch, taking their 
diner, or the like, it was writen on a tablet. Tho 
in either way it was firft given by the general 
-to the officers next in rank, and from them to 
the fubalterns, till it came to the perfon, whofe 
province it was to communicate it to the foldiers in 
each company. This tablet was commonly made of 
wood, as appears from ‘Polybius , who calls it §uA yqnov, 
a [mail piece of wood ( a ). The fignal inferibed 
upon it was very fhort, and ufually comprifed in 
one or two words ; as viffioria, palma^ virtus , 
c Deus nob if cum , triumphus imperatoris , mention’d 
by Vegetius (b) ; with many others of the like na- 
ture, which may be feen in antient writers. The 
perfon, whofe office it was to impart the %nal im- 
mediatly to the foldiers, is by Vegetius called tejfe* 
rarius {c). Hence in Gruters inscriptions we meet 
with AVRE. IAN VARIVS. TESSERARIVS. LEG. XIII, and 
C. GALERIO. C. LIB. AGATHON. TESSERARIO. COH. XII. 
PRAET. MILITVM, as alfo L.POMPEIO. L. F. POMP. 
REBVRRO. TESSERARIO. IN. CENTVRI A... W). By which 
different forms of expreffion compared together one 
would be lead to conclude, that every century had 
its tejferarius , from whom the foldiers immediatly 
received the fignal; and that when the legion or 
cohort only is mentioned, the meaning is not, that 
the perfon named in the infeription performed that 
office 
( a ) Lib. vi.pag. 479 . ed. Parif (b) Lib. hi . cap. 5 . 
( c ) Lib . 11 . cap. 7 . (d) Pag. dcvi. 10 . dcviii. 7 . dcix. 10 . 
