5 ms·
Absolutely, in Roman times 'decimatio' was the punishment for a poor result in battle. The soldiers were obliged to choose one of ten, and kill him.
by marvel_boy 4y ago
Absolutely, in Roman times 'decimatio' was the punishment for a poor result in battle. The soldiers were obliged to choose one of ten, and kill him.
- Zigurd 4y agoHuh. Romans invented stacked ranking.
- Hasz 4y agoIt’s a bit more ironic than that —- at least according to to Wikipedia, they drew lots (I.e randomly) for the individual who was killed.
- llampx 4y agoLayoffs
- autophagian 4y agoI get the feeling that this is more-or-less how stack ranking actually tends to pan out.
- thomasjudge 4y agoMore like, managers playing favorites
- jrs235 4y agoThe toxic reason to never miss unpaid happy hours!
- illumego 4y agoI think the reasoning behind decimation was that it was supposed to be an equivalent bloodbath defeat. Historically, a rout typically resulted in about 10% casualties. Decimation reduced the calculus of a Roman soldier to 'stay in the fight, and risk a 10% chance of death' versus 'run, and risk a 10% chance of being killed at random by your tentmates'.
- ramenmeal 4y agoSeems like the low performers would have been taken care of already from the battle.
- scrumper 4y agoNot necessarily. Cowardice is a viable individual survival strategy.
- illumego 4y agoWhere would a Roman run? To somewhere in Gaul? "Ave! Auxilium requiro." "Oxnychz navar werun dosh? [laughs in extinct language]" "Quid?"
- SuoDuanDao 4y agoIn that kind of setting I imagine the low performers would sometimes be likeliest to survive, if they broke rank to run away. I imagine the lots would come out if everyone gave an honest effort.
- illumego 4y agoThat's not how the legions worked. The men assembled three ranks deep. The first rank was comprised of those with middling experience, who had seen combat before. The rear rank was the senior veterans. The cherries with no experience went in the middle, both to be reassured by the E4 mafia laying skunion in the front rank, and to be prodded on by the very experienced guys behind them.
- creaghpatr 4y agoHappened in Mexico too (may have been fictional or based on real events),in a great book I read once: https://www.fantasticfiction.com/b/rick-bass/diezmo.htm https://www.fantasticfiction.com/b/rick-bass/diezmo.htm