Vine staff
{{Short description|Mark and tool of the centurion (Ancient Rome)}}
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{{hatnote|Not to be confused with the staff vine.}}
File:Epitaph des Marcus Caelius.JPG of M. Caelius, chief centurion (primus pilus) of the ill-fated 18th Legion. His vine staff breaks the frame and even runs across the inscription.]]
The vine staff, vine-staff, or centurion's staff{{sfnp|Robinson|1975|p=157}} ({{langx|la|vitis}}){{sfnp|Brand|1968|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=Rbh7AAAAQBAJ&pg=PT83 83]}} was a vinewood rod of about {{cvt|3|ft|m|0|order=flip}} in length used in the ancient Roman army{{sfnp|D'Amato|2012|pp=[https://books.google.com/books?id=Mx1lYN3w9HQC&pg=PA38 38–39]}}{{sfnp|D'Amato|2013|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=dJtUtpCicXIC&pg=PA38 38–39]}} and navy.{{sfnp|D'Amato|2009|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=cmu8DtcjRIoC&pg=PA20 20]}} It was the mark and tool of the centurion:{{sfn|Webster|1979|page=132}} both as an implement in the direction of drill and maneuvers{{citation needed|date=September 2015}}; and to beat wayward or laggard soldiers or sailors under his command.{{sfnp|Walters|1997|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=1ZPC3TqBZEQC&pg=PA40 40]}} It was also borne by evocati who held an equivalent rank.{{sfn|Lewis|1890|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=XskPAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA206 206]}}
Origin
The vine staff may have derived from the Etruscan lituus and was certainly in use by the Punic Wars.{{sfnp|D'Amato|2013|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=dJtUtpCicXIC&pg=PA38 38–39]}} Following the enactment of the Porcian Laws in the early 2nd century BC, it was the only manner by which Roman citizens could be beaten{{sfnp|Walters|1997|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=1ZPC3TqBZEQC&pg=PA40 40]}} and is mentioned by various classical authors. A line in Ovid notes that "the good general commits the vitis to one to command one hundred."Ovid, Art of Love, III, 527. Pliny: "The centurion's vine staff is an excellent medicine for sluggish troops who don't want to advance..."{{refn|Cited in Mannix.{{sfnp|Mannix|1964|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=ktX9AwAAQBAJ&pg=PA33 33]}}}} "and when used to chastise offenses makes even the punishment respectable."{{refn|Cited in Gallonio.{{sfnp|Gallonio|2013|p=51}}}} It carried none of the stigma of the whipping (by {{lang|la|virgae}}) suffered by criminals prior to execution or the cudgeling (by {{lang|la|fustes}}) endured for severe military offenses.{{sfnp|Brand|1968|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=Rbh7AAAAQBAJ&pg=PT84 84]}}
Tacitus mentions Lucilius, a centurion known as "Gimme Another" ({{lang|la|Cedo Alterum}} or {{lang|la|Alteram}}) for his tendency to break his vine staffs during beatings;Tacitus., Annals, Bk. I, Ch. 23, §4. he was one of the first killed during the Pannonian Mutiny.{{sfnp|Brand|1968|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=Rbh7AAAAQBAJ&pg=PT84 84]}}
Generally, however, soldiers were expected to endure their punishments; seizing the vine staff was cause for demotion and breaking it or harming the centurion were offenses punishable by death.{{sfnp|Brand|1968|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=Rbh7AAAAQBAJ&pg=PT84 84]}} Some scholars state the vine staff was the instrument used to beat the Iceni queen Boadicca.{{sfnp|Williams|2009|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=Kn7jypUqKbwC&pg=PA109 109]}} St Marcellus the Centurion was martyred after he cast away his vine staff and repudiated his rank.{{sfnp|Gallonio|2013|pp=49–50}}
Description
The vine staff is often featured on Roman tombs of the 1st through 4th century as a symbol of a centurion's status. These monuments show a variety of forms. During the early Principate, it was usually straight with a rounded top; it later acquired a mushroom-shaped head, which was continued under the Byzantines.{{sfnp|D'Amato|2012|pp=[https://books.google.com/books?id=Mx1lYN3w9HQC&pg=PA38 38–39]}} Less often, it appeared in knotted and sinuous forms. One centurion gave his vine staff to the Temple of Jupiter at Heliopolis (modern Baalbek) as a votive offering. It was broken and given to the emperor Trajan when he inquired of the oracle of the Heliopolitan Jupiter whether he would survive his upcoming invasion of Parthia.{{sfnp|Cook|1914|p=[http://digi.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/diglit/cook1914bd1/0636 553]}}
See also
- Pace stick, a similar long stick used in the British and Commonwealth armed forces as a symbol of authority and as an aid to military drill
- Swagger stick, a similar rod or crop used in the British and American armed services{{sfn|Webster|1979|page=132}}
References
=Citations=
{{reflist|30em}}
=Bibliography=
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- {{citation |last=Cook |first=Arthur Bernard |authorlink=Arthur Bernard Cook |title=Zeus: A Study in Ancient Religion |url=http://digi.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/diglit/cook1914bd1/0011 |volume=1: Zeus God of the Bright Sky |location=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |date=1914 }}.
- {{citation |last=D'Amato |first=Raffaele |others=illustrations by Graham Sumner |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Mx1lYN3w9HQC |title=Imperial Roman Naval Forces 31 BC–AD 500 |series=Men-at-Arms|volume=479 |publisher=Osprey Publishing |date=2009 |location=Oxford |isbn=978-1-84603-317-9 }}.
- {{citation |last=D'Amato |first=Raffaele |others=illustrations by Giuseppe Rava |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Mx1lYN3w9HQC |title=Roman Centurions 31 BC–AD 500: The Classical and Late Empire |series=Men-at-Arms |volume=479 |publisher=Osprey Publishing |date=2012 |location=Oxford |isbn=978-1-84908-795-7 }}.
- {{citation |last=D'Amato |first=Raffaele |others=illustrations by Giuseppe Rava |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Mx1lYN3w9HQC |title=Roman Centurions 753–31 BC: The Kingdom and the Age of Consuls |series=Men-at-Arms |volume=470 |publisher=Osprey Publishing |date=2013 |location=Oxford |isbn=978-1-84908-937-1 }}.
- {{citation |last=Gallonio |first=Rev. Antonio |title=De SS. Martyrum Cruciatibus |publisher=translated from the Latin by Geoffrey K. Mondello as The Tortures and Torments of the Christian Martyrs for the Boston Catholic Journal |date=2013 |url=http://www.boston-catholic-journal.com/tortures-and-torments-of-the-christian-martyrs-de-ss-martyrum-cruciatibus-gallonio/the-tortures-and-torments-of-the-christian-martyrs.pdf }}.
- {{citation |first1=Bunnell |last1=Lewis |authorlink=Bunnell Lewis |title=Roman Antiquities of the Middle Rhine |work=The Archaeological Journal |year=1890 |volume=47 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XskPAAAAYAAJ |publisher=British Archaeological Association |location=London |pages=193–378 }}.
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- {{citation |last=Robinson |first=H. Russell |date=1975 |title=The Armour of Imperial Rome |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=0-684-13956-1}}.
- {{citation |last=Walters |first=Jonathan |contribution=Invading the Roman Body: Manliness and Impenetrability in Roman Thought |editor-last=Hallett |editor-first=Judith P. |editor2-last=Skinner |editor2-first=Marilyn B. |display-editors=0 |title=Roman Sexualities |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1ZPC3TqBZEQC |date=1997 |publisher=Princeton University Press |location=Princeton |isbn=0-691-01179-6 |pages=29–44 |contribution-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1ZPC3TqBZEQC&pg=PA29 }}.
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- {{citation |last=Williams |first=Carolyn D. |title=Boudica and Her Stories: Narrative Transformations of a Warrior Queen |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Kn7jypUqKbwC |date=2009 |publisher=Associated University Presses |location=Cranbury |isbn=978-0-87413-079-9 }}.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vine stick}}