A (: ) was a junior officer in the Roman army. The 's job was to signal salutes to officers and sound orders to the legions. The played the (making him an ). always marched at the head of the centuries, with the tesserary and the . The were also used as assistants to a centurion (like an ). The was a duplicary or a soldier who got double the basic pay of the legionary.
The late Roman writer Vegetius in his work wrote: