Decimation and Unit Cohesion: Why Were Roman Legionaries Willing to Perform Decimation?

Decimation is a notorious punishment inflicted by the Roman army. One tenth of a unit accused of cowardice or gross dereliction of duty was chosen by lot and beaten to death (fustuarium) by the rest of the legion. It is traditionally viewed as a method of instilling discipline through fear, but in practice rarely occurred. This paper reexamines decimation using modern “primary group” theory. It concludes that decimation was not a destructive force but a healing one. It reintegrated offending units through collective acceptance of both guilt and the necessity for punishment.