cornicen
{{more references|date=June 2025}}{{Short description|Junior officer in the Roman army}}
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File:Cornicen Ludovisi-Sarkophag.jpg (3rd century)]]
Image:Cornicen on Trajan's column.JPG]]
A {{lang|la|cornicen}} ({{plural form}}: {{lang|la|cornicines}}) was a junior officer in the Roman army. The {{lang|la|cornicen}}'s job was to signal salutes to officers and sound orders to the legions. The {{lang|la|cornicines}} played the {{lang|la|cornu}} (making him an {{lang|la|aeneator}}). {{lang|la|Cornicines}} always marched at the head of the centuries, with the tesserary and the {{lang|la|signifer}}. The {{lang|la|cornicines}} were also used as assistants to a centurion (like an {{lang|la|optio}}). The {{lang|la|cornicen}} was a duplicary or a soldier who got double the basic pay of the legionary.
The {{lang|la|cornicen}}
The late Roman writer Vegetius in his work {{lang|la|De re militari}} wrote:
{{quote|The music of the legion consists of Roman tuba, {{lang|la|cornu}} and {{lang|la|buccinae}}. The trumpet sounds the charge and the retreat. The cornets are used only to regulate the motions of the colors; the trumpets serve when the soldiers are ordered out to any work without the colors; but in time of action, the trumpets and cornets sound together. The {{lang|la|classicum}}, which is a particular sound of the {{lang|la|buccina}} or horn, is appropriated to the commander-in-chief and is used in the presence of the general, or at the execution of a soldier, as a mark of its being done by his authority. The ordinary guards and outposts are always mounted and relieved by the sound of trumpet, which also directs the motions of the soldiers on working parties and on field days. The cornets sound whenever the colors are to be struck or planted. These rules must be punctually observed in all exercises and reviews so that the soldiers may be ready to obey them in action without hesitation according to the general's orders either to charge or halt, to pursue the enemy or to retire. For reason will convince us that what is necessary to be performed in the heat of action should constantly be practiced in the leisure of peace.}}
See also
References
- Vegetius
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20090410070558/http://www.pvv.ntnu.no/~madsb/home/war/vegetius/dere05.php#14 De re militari, Vegetius, Book II]
- Alexandrescu, Cristina-Georgeta (2010). Blasmusiker und Standartenträger im römischen Heer. Untersuchungen zur Benennung, Funktion und Ikonographie. Cluj-Napoca: Mega. ISBN 978-606-543-064-8.
- Roman Empire
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20070601221243/http://www.roman-empire.net/army/cornicen.html]
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20070602061210/http://www.roman-empire.net/army/career.html]
Category:Military ranks of ancient Rome
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