Rome’s death penalty
The government has set up a system of e-petitions which, if they garner a million signatures, may — or may not — trigger a debate in parliament. The capital punishment lobbies, pro- and anti-, immediately sprang into action.
Ancients would have been amazed. Greeks and Romans happily slaughtered each other without giving it a second thought. In 71 bc, Crassus ordered his lieutenant Mummius to shadow Spartacus, leader of a slave revolt, but not engage with him. Mummius disobeyed and was so badly beaten that many of his men ran for it. Plutarch continues: ‘Crassus split up the 500 men who had been first to flee into 50 groups of ten. One from each of the 50 groups was selected by lot and put to death, reviving an ancient form of punishment last dealt out long ago.
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