Talk:Publius Decius Mus (consul 340 BC)

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Untitled[edit]

The line a "...a devoted victim, sacrificed by one of his own men." cannot be correct. The devotio ceremony involves the lone charge described, not sacrifice by one's own people.

I would recommend an English translation for the Latin quote given in the article, if anyone has one. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Romatt (talk • contribs) 17:50, 21 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]

The article notes that Zonaras is the only one who says this, so it should be explained that this is probably the misunderstanding of a lone and later Christian source (12th century) after the meaning and purpose of the devotio ritual was lost. Of course, you'd need a secondary source to cite for making this utterly obvious point. Cynwolfe (talk) 20:01, 23 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]