The Tradition of Suicide in Rome’s Foreign Wars

summary:

This paper challenges the perceived existence of a Roman tradition of shame-based military suicides that follow defeat in battle. A method emphasizing recorded behavior and empirical evidence reveals that suicide during foreign war was quite rare during the Republic and that shame exerted minimal influence on such decisions. These results are consistent with the experiences of the defeated upon their return home, Rome’s expectations of her generals in defeat, and the operative force of pudor on behavior.