Fear of death and contests of valor in the late Roman Republic (I century bc)

The subject of this article is the conflict between the requirements of Roman socio-cultural practice to conform to the ideals of virtus (valor) and the individual fear of death, which, despite the infinitely magnified valor, is reflected in historical evidence. The historiographical tradition does not offer consideration of this issue at the nexus of political technology and anthropological approach, focusing only on the first aspect. At the same time, the research optics proposed by the author allows us to draw a number of conclusions atypical for historiography. The context of the civil wars of the Late Roman Republic allows us to consider the way this cultural feature was refracted in the political culture of Rome, becoming, for example, a political technology. Romans saw the idea of a valiant death as a reason to admire a person, even if the person did not meet the requirements of ethical norms. Moreover, even if such a person was the personification of all possible vices, based on his fearlessness before death, he could receive recognition from the Romans.