Decimation (Roman Army) - Sources

Sources

The earliest documented decimation occurred in 471 BC during the Roman Republic's early wars against the Volsci and is recorded by Livy. The practice was revived by Crassus in 71 BC during the Third Servile War against Spartacus, and some historic sources attribute part of Crassus' success to it. Julius Caesar is often reported as having used the practice on the 9th Legion during the war against Pompey, but this has been disproved.

Polybius gives one of the first descriptions of the practice in the early 3rd century BC:

"If ever these same things happen to occur among a large group of men... the officers reject the idea of bludgeoning or slaughtering all the men involved . Instead they find a solution for the situation which chooses by a lottery system sometimes five, sometimes eight, sometimes twenty of these men, always calculating the number in this group with reference to the whole unit of offenders so that this group forms one-tenth of all those guilty of cowardice. And these men who are chosen by lot are bludgeoned mercilessly in the manner described above ."

Plutarch describes the process in his life of Antony. After a defeat in Media:

"Antony was furious and employed the punishment known as 'decimation' on those who had lost their nerve. What he did was divide the whole lot of them into groups of ten, and then he killed one from each group, who was chosen by lot; the rest, on his orders were given barley rations instead of wheat."

Decimation was still being practiced during the time of the Roman Empire. Suetonius records that it was used for the last time by Emperor Augustus in 17 BC while Tacitus records that Lucius Apronius used decimation to punish a full cohort of the III Augusta after their defeat by Tacfarinas in AD 20.

A legend suggests that the Theban Legion was decimated in the third century AD. The Legion had refused, to a man, to accede to an order of the Emperor, and the process was repeated until none were left. They became known as the Martyrs of Agaunum.

Byzantine Emperor Maurice forbade in his Strategikon the decimatio and other brutal punishments. According to him, punishments where the rank and file see their comrades dying by the hands of their own brothers-in-arms could lead to collapse of morale. Moreover, it could seriously deplete the manpower of the fighting unit.