Why did so many Roman generals commit suicide by falling on their

It was actually the exact opposite of cowardice, if you killed yourself you were seen to make up for you failings by doing the honourable thing and as such your family was able to maintain their dignitas.

>>2210045
Me again, it all stems with the Roman obession with what they called dignitas, they had to match the dignitas of their ancestors or preferably match it. So if you caused a massive fuck up the only thing to do was kill yourself to end the shame on the family.

>>2209944
Generally a roman would kill himself if he tought he would have charges laid against him after he came back to the Urbs.
By killing himself, he would spare his family their honour and their wealth, which would have likely got seized if the pater familias got found guilty.

VELY HONORABUR

>>2209944
honorabru legionares using mighty gladius folded about 5 times following their code of war

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>>2210051
>they had to match the dignitas of their ancestors or preferably match it

>>2209944
From what I read it was supposed to be the General offering up his own life to the Gods so that the battle would suddenly shift and Romans would start kicking some ass and win somehow

>>2209944

Paying ransom is a bitch.

>>2210658
Where did you read that? If it was ever a thing, it stopped in the early republic if not in the kingdom. It was extremely rare even for slaves to be sacrificed in roman religion, nevermind fucking generals, who were senators at least of praetorian if not consular rank.
Hell human sacrifice was outlawed outright sometime between the Gracchi and Pompey, yet you still have plenty of later examples of ritual suicide.

>>2210678
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devotio

>>2210658

I remember that. It worked once against the Samnites. When Pyrrhos, the greatest general who ever lived, came knocking, the son of the general who sacrificed himself (by jumping alone into the enemy line in religious garments), was called upon as general to do the same thing.

Imagine being pressured by your entire civilization to commit suicide just because your father did it. In any event, he decided to not kill himself, and just went and lost the battle instead.

>>2209944
kys was pretty common in roman culture

>>2209944
Where the ancient Romans weeaboo?

>>2209944
It was like a Japanese honor code.

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>No, guys, come on! killing yourself is stupid! Surrendering is much better option when you fail. There is nothing wrong with surrendering!

>>2211333
Well I mean, Paulus had a pretty comfy life, both while prisoner and after he was released. Of course he was paraded on Soviet film as a humiliated war trophy, and had to live with the fact that most of his subordinates and enlisted men were worked to death in Siberia.

>>2211420
So yeah, pretty comfy.

>>2210650
Whoops meant to say that preferably they would surpass it.

>>2209944
Varus probably did it because stabbing oneself is a far better death than being ritually sacrificed and your corpse being hung up in a tree.

>>2211333
Didn't he load his rescue planes sent for him with wounded? I read he also only ate the rations the soldiers ate, at one point he meet with high command and was basically starving, then went back and surrendered with his men. I think he's a good example of a general being an example to his men. I would be proud to serve under a man who subjected himself to the same conditions and refused safety for the unknown of surrender along with his soldiers

>>2209944
>
There is no torture in killing yourself, you wouldn't slowly cut yourself, you'd get the job done quick. Also I guess it's a bit prestigious to have never been killed by anyone but yourself, showing that no one was good enough to kill you other than yourself. It also follows the philosophy that killing yourself was more honorable than capture.

As Napoléon said; "To die is nothing, but to live defeated and inglorious is to die daily."

>>2211333
>killing yourself to preserve the honor of the man who ordered you to your death

I wouldn't take my own life for that Bavarian Corporal either.

>>2209944
Muh dignitas.

>>2209944

Loosing a battle=treason

>>2209944
Because they're filthy cowards who couldn't face the consequences of their failure, just like Hitler and many others.

>>2213882
Hitler moved to Argentina.

>>2209944

not the worst way to go out

>>2213927
Makes sense since he was a Zionist puppet.

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>>2209944
just another thing they nabbed from those glorious greeks.

>>2209944
How many of those stories do you think are true, versus a general simply being killed by his men and reported as "oh yes he fell on his sword, so honorable, we promise"?

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>>2212531
Austrian.
>>2217590
Most of them, since a captured leader could expect all kinds of humiliations and tortures from the enemy. At least the Romans would expect to receive the same treatment they would give in the reversed situation.

>>2215345
The Roman aristocracy was obsessed with Greek culture. Some even say they spoke Greek amongst themselves, not native Latin.

>>2217590
Not many. Roman historian are prone to bloating their accounts because muh Roman reputation. Anyone with a normally-functioning brain would know that half the shit Julius Caesar claims to have accomplished is overstated to say the least. Building an 18Km wall in 10 days? What the fuck, bro. Who would believe that happened.