Centurion Position in Battle

[Nathan Ross]

"...every century was guided not only by its own ensign but... its commanding officers... centurions... might be more easily distinguished by their respective soldiers."

This is from Vegetius, Book II, sections 13 and 16. The Milner translation is slightly different, but gives the same impression:

II.XIII: ex qua cohorte uel quota esset centuria, in illo uexillo litteris esset adscriptum, quod intuentes uel legentes milites in quantouis tumultu a contubernalibus suis aberrare non possent.

(the ensign was inscribed with letters indicating the century’s cohort and ordinal number within it. Seeing and reading this, the soldiers could not stray from their comrades, whatever the confusion of battle)

centeni milites sequerentur non solum uexillum suum sed etiam centurionem, qui signum habebat in galea

(soldiers in groups of a hundred followed their own ensign and the centurion who had the sign on his helmet)

Obviously, the soldiers could neither see nor follow their ensign nor their centurion's helmet crest if either were behind them. The verb sequerenter, I think, makes it clear that the centurion was physically leading and the soldiers following.

I don't know about you, but this seems to clear up the question of both the centurion's and the signifer's position in battle...