sceptrum

scēptrum, ī, n.: a royal staff; scepter, 1.653; freq.; (meton.), rule, sway, power, royal court, realm, 9.9; 1.253; authority, 11.238.

scēptrum, i (less correctly scaep-trum), n., = σκῆπτρον, a royal staff, a sceptre.

• I Lit.: (rex Ptolemaeus) sedens cum purpurā et sceptro et illis insignibus regiis, Cic. Sest. 26, 57; Quint. 9, 3, 57; 11, 3, 158; Suet. Aug. 94: Augusti, id. Galb. 1; Verg. A. 7, 247: dextrā sceptrum gerebat, id. ib. 12, 206; Ov. M. 7, 103; 1, 178; 2, 847; 5, 422. Also borne by a king's daughter, Verg. A. 1, 653 Heyne: exitiale, Stat. Th. 1, 34; of a triumphant general, Liv. 5, 41; Juv. 10, 43.—Poet., in the plur., by way of amplification, of a single sceptre, Cic. poët. Div. 1, 12, 21; cf.: celsā sedet Aeolus arce Sceptra tenens, Verg. A. 1, 57; and of Juno, Ov. M. 3, 265; 1, 596; 11, 560; Verg. A. 7, 173; 7, 252 al.—
• • B Transf. *
  • • 1 A teacher’s rod (humorously): ferulae tristes, sceptra paedagogorum, Mart. 10, 62, 10.— *
    • 2 A name of the plant aspalathus, Plin. 12, 24, 52, § 110.—
    • 3 = membrum virile, Auct. Priap. 25.—
• II Trop., as a symbol of authority, also used by the poets, in the plur., for kingdom, rule, dominion, authority: en impero Argis, sceptra mihi liquit Pelops, Poët. ap. Quint. 9, 4, 140: tu mihi quodcumque hoc regni, tu sceptra Jovemque Concilias, Verg. A. 1, 78: sic nos in sceptra reponis? id. ib. 1, 253; 7, 422; 9, 9: pulsus solio sceptrisque paternis, id. ib. 10, 852: sceptra Asiae tenere, Ov. H. 16, 175: potiri perenni sceptro, id. M. 15, 585; id. F. 4, 198; id. M. 6, 677: Heliconiadum comites, quorum unus Homerus Sceptra potitus, etc., Lucr. 3, 1038.

scēptrum, ī, n. (σκηπτρον), das Zepter der Könige u. Triumphatoren (rein lat. scipio), I) eig. u. meton.: 1) eig.: Iovis, Suet.: sc. Augusti, als triumphierenden Feldherrn, sonst scipio eburneus gen., Suet.: der Könige in der Tragödie, Ov. – 2) meton., das Zepter = das Reich, die Regentschaft, Herrschaft, Asiae, Ov.: ante sceptrum Dictaei regis, Verg.: sceptra petit Euandri, Verg. – II) übtr.: 1) scherzh. v. Stab des Pädagogen, Mart. 10, 62, 10. – 2) anderer Name des Strauches aspalathus, Plin. 12, 110. – 3) das männliche Glied, Auct. Priap. 25, 1. – ➳ Über die Schreibung scaeptrum s. 1. VarroLL. 7, 96; aber die besten Hdschrn. u. Ausgg. sceptrum.

sceptrum [CL < σκῆπτρον] 1 rod, staff; b (fig.). c (as symbol of royal power, also fig.) sceptre. d representation of a sceptre. 675 altato quondam ~i in vertice celydro Aldh. Ep. 3; sceptrorum flagra ‥ / ‥ non sensit Id. VirgV 1216; mel quod ~o, id est hasta, tetigerat J. Sal. Pol. 536A; 1222 ~um unum cum tribus smaragdis Reg. S. Osm. II 127; 1237 pro grosso argento ad virgas et ceptra ad opus regis Pipe 81 r. 15.  b judex ~o aequitatis armandus est, accusator pugione malitiae, defensor clypeo pietatis, testes tuba veritatis Alcuin Rhet. 19; ad moderamen [portat] justitie ~um Ad. Scot TT 725B; 1427 suadet principibus suos gubernare subjectos per ceptrum justicie EpAcOx 32.  c arbiter, aetherio jugiter qui regmine sceptra / ‥ / disponis Aldh. Aen. pref. 1; pro ~o regali dent calamum Bede Mark 285A; hic omnes pontifices ‥ dant ei ~um in manum Rec. Coronation 5; ~um, cynegerd Ælf. Gl. 110; s1189 deinde tradidit ei archiepiscopus ~um in manu dextera et virgam regalem in sinistra G. Ric. I 82; 1242 pro pondere iiij d. ob. puri auri ad sept' beati Eadwardi deaurandum Liberate 16 m. 6; septrum regium in cujus summitate crux parva collocatur portabit Lib. Regal. f. 5.  d 1420 j leopard' lign', j corona de cupro deaurato pro eodem leopardo, j septr' de cupro deaurato pro le capstan' ad modum trium florum deliciarum operat' Ac. Foreign 59 m. 24d.. 2 kingdom, realm. arbiter altithronus, qui servat sceptra superna Aldh. VirgV praef. 6; c740 hujus Bretanicae telluris ~a visitare Ep. Bonif. 49; sancta supernorum conscendens sceptra polorum Æthelwulf Abb. 5; 941 (15c) pacem laudabilem erga regni ceptra nostri CS 769; addidit Arctois borealia sceptra triumphis Frith. 556; ~um ‥ cynedom Ælf. Gl. 155; omnes qui ante me ~o prefuere Mertiorum (Lit. Regis) W. Malm. GR I 88; illius autem regionis quidam rex ceptra regebat Arthur & Gorlagon 11. 3 sovereignty, power, authority. b position or duties of a monarch, government, reign, rule. c (~um regni tenere, agere in ~is, or sim.) to reign, rule, or govern as monarch. Memphitica regna ~um imperiale gubernat Aldh. Met. 2; 796 gentes ‥ Hunorum ‥ tuis ‥ militantibus subdidit ~is Alcuin Ep. 33; 749 (12c) mihi ‥ Deus ‥ ~a regiminis ‥ largitus est CS 178; sceptra, onwald GlC S 131; 956 (14c) ceptro fretus CS 933; hoc septrum regis dignitatis WW.  b Jesus ‥ ~um David accepturus et in domo Jacob regnaturus Bede Luke 318B; Eadbaldus rex, transiens ex hac vita, Erconberto ~a dereliquit imperii Byrht. HR 1; ad nostri regis ‥ supervixit ~a Gosc. Wulfh. pref.; Haroldus ~o confirmato novercam exiliavit W. Malm. GR II 188; 1144 non debere filie regalia ~a addici G. Foliot Ep. 26; 1433 sub vestre sanctitatis ceptro FormOx 447.  c credidit in Christum caeli qui sceptra gubernat Aldh. CE 6.19; regalibus florentis imperii ~is ‥ fungebatur Id. PR 142 (143); tunc Romanos ‥ Britannia reges / sustinuit ‥ mundi qui sceptra regebant Alcuin SS Ebor 23; Offa, juvenis ‥ suae genti ad tenenda servandaque regni ~a exoptatissimus Bede HE V 19; rex ‥ agebat in ~is Osb. Clar. V. Ed. Conf. 5; Gurmundo in Britannie regno, quod sibi subjugaverat, jam in ~is agente Gir. TH III 38. 4 (bot., ~um Helisei) aspalathus, tragacanth (Astragalus). Bart. Angl. XVII 26 (v. aspalathos).

scēptrum (9) (scæptrum), ī, n. (σκῆπτρον), ¶ 1 sceptre : Cic. Sest. 57 ; Quint. 9, 3, 57 ; [fig.] sceptra pædagogorum Mart. 10, 62, 10, le sceptre des maîtres dʼécole [la férule] || [fig.] trône, royaume, royauté : Virg. En. 1, 78 ; 253 ; Ov. M. 15, 585 || le sceptre = la suprématie : Lucr. 3, 1038 ¶ 2 Plin. 12, 110, c. aspalathus.

sceptrum , i. n.
權柄。奠？。社稷。國。奏凱持之仗。Sceptra sumere 以詩紀各史。Sceptra paedagogorum 打手之板。

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scēptrum ī, n

• , σκῆπτρον, a royal staff, sceptre: (rex) sedens cum sceptro: dextrā sceptrum gerebat, V.: rex sceptro insignis eburno, O. —Plur.for sing: Aeolus Sceptra tenens, V.: magnā Sceptra manu teneo, O.—A kingdom, rule, dominion, authority (sing.and plur.): mihi tu sceptra Iovemque Concilias, V.: pulsus solio sceptrisque paternis, V.: sceptro potiri perenni, O.

SCEPTRUM

SCEPTRUMIn Homer the king carries a sceptre as a badge of his power (cf. Il. 2.86, σκηπτοῦχοι βασιλῆες; ib. 206, βασιλεὺς ᾦ ἔδωκε Ζεὺς σκῆπτρον τ' ἠδὲ θέμιστας), but it is not distinguished by name from other staves, since σκῆπτρον is used not only of those borne by men of rank and heralds, but of a beggar's cudgel (cf. Od. 17.195 and 199, where it is synonymous with ῥόπαλον). The king's sceptre, however, was richly ornamented, being covered with gold foil (χρύσεον, Il. 1.15, &c.) and studded with gold nails (χρυσεἵοις ἥλοισι πεπαρμένον, Il. 1.245), which were doubtless for the purpose of attaching the gold plating to the wood. Among the objects found at Mycenae are the head and butt of a staff of this kind, of beaten gold and decorated with a spiral and a leaf pattern

(Schuchhardt, Schliemann's Ausgrabungen, Leipzig, 1890. p. 285, fig. 251). In classical times, when kings were but little known in Greece, the chief bearers of sceptres were the gods, goddesses, and heroes in works of art. A good instance is the sceptre of the Zeus Olympios of Pheidias, which was adorned with all manner of metals, and surmounted by an eagle (τῇ δὲ ἀριστέρᾳ τοῦ θεοῦ χειρὶ ἔνεστι σκῆπτρον μετάλλιος τος πᾶσιν διηνθισμένον. ὁ δὲ ὄρνις ὁ ἐπὶ τῷ σκήπτρῳ καθήμενος ἐστὶν ὁ ἀετός, Paus. 5.11, 1). Flowers and fruit are even more common as badges, the sceptres of the gods being in fact strangely like those of men of rank in Assyria described by Herodotus (Hdt. 1.195), surmounted by an apple, a rose, a lily, or some such thing (cf. Murray, Journal of Hellenic Studies, 1889, vol. 10. p. 251).

In the Tragedians the word σκῆπτρον, though often used metaphorically of royal power (e. g. Soph. O. C. 426), is still quite general in meaning, the old man's staff or the wayfarer's stick being both so called (Soph. O. T. 456; O. C. 84; Aesch. Agam. 75). The staff, however, that was in everyday use in the fourth and fifth centuries, was plain, and seems only in such exceptional cases as that of Parrhasius to have been of Homeric magnificence (σκίπωνί τε ἐστηρίζετο χρυσᾶς ἕλικας ἐμπεπαισμένῳ, Athen. 12. p. 543 c).

At Rome, even more than in Greece, the sceptre, whose Latin name is scipio (a word originally borrowed from the Greek), was unknown except as a relic of the heroic and kingly age (cf. Verg. A. 12.206) and an attribute of the gods. There is one important exception, that of the magistrate, who appeared in triumphal costume in the processus consularis at the games, bearing in his hand a sceptre of ivory, surmounted by an eagle (Juven. 10.43; Prudent. Peristeph. 148, aquila ex eburna sumit arrogantiam gestator ejus ac superbit belluae inflatus osse, cui figura est alitis). This, however, was an emblem of apotheosis, and, unlike the other ornamenta triumphalia, was never worn on other occasions during the life of the triumphator, nor was it carried at his funeral. Even when the emperors are represented on coins as bearing it (cf. Antoninus and Volusian's coins), the sceptre is the token of their triumph and not of supreme power.

Livy's story (5.41) of M. Papirius, the senator, striking the Gaul scipione eburneo, is held by Mommsen to be at variance with the usages of after-times and to be a poetic exaggeration, as are the many descriptions which late authors give of the costume of the early Romans. (Buchholz, Die homer. Realien, 2. p. 8; Helbig, Das homerische Epos, 1887, p. 378; Daremberg and Saglio, Dict. Antiq. art. Baculum; Mommsen, Staatsrecht, 2nd edit., 1.140; Staatsverwaltung, 2. p. 587; Marquardt, Privatleben, 2nd edit., p. 742; Mayor ad Juv. 10.35 foll.)

[W.C.F.A]

Sceptrum

(σκῆπτρον). Originally a long staff like the shaft of a spear (Justin. xliii. 3) used as a support in walking and to give dignity to the bearer. Later it became a badge of royal office. See baculum.