In hoc signo vinces
'Salem's Lot: A Novel“In hoc signo vinces” is a Latin motto meaning “In this sign you will conquer.” Its decisive appearance in the narrative occurs when Ben Mears examines the emblem on a package of Pall Malls during a conversation with Mark Petrie about the vampire presence in Jerusalem’s Lot and the possibility of destroying at least some of its members. The phrase gives a familiar printed sign an unexpected spiritual and tactical force: victory is imagined as proceeding through a sign, while the sign itself becomes associated with the human will to resist.
