caduceum

Latin > English (Lewis & Short)

cādūcĕum: i, n. (sc. sceptrum or baculum), or cādūcĕus, i, m. (sc. scipio or baculus; which form was predominant in the class. per. is doubtful, since neither Cicero, Nepos, Livy, nor Pliny uses the word in the nom.) [kindr. with κηρύκειον>, Æolic καρύκιον, —ῦ>—, r changed to d, as ad = ar],
I a herald's staff, the token of a peaceable embassy (orig. an olive- stick, with στέμματα, which afterwards were formed into serpents, O. Müll. Archaeol. § 379, 3): caduceus pacis signum, Var. de Vita Pop. Rom.lib. ii.; Non. p. 528, 17: caduceo ornatus, * Cic. de Or: 1, 46, 202; so, cum caduceo, Nep. Hann. 11, 1; Liv. 44, 45, 1: caduceum praeferentes, id. 8, 20, 6; Plin. 29, 3, 12, § 54.—Also the staff of Mercury, as messenger of the gods, Macr. S. 1, 19; Hyg. Astr. 2, 7; Serv. ad Verg. A. 4, 242, and 8, 138; Petr. 29, 3; Suet. Calig. 52; App. M. 10, p. 253, 34: Mercuriale, id. ib. 11, p. 262, 4; cf. Dict. Antiq. s. v.; v. also caducifer.