Roman citizen Caecina Petus was involved in a plot (42 CE) against Emperor Claudius. Sentenced to death by the emperor, he was to take his own life. He hesitated, however, and could not dare to deal himself a fatal blow.
Then his wife Arria snatched the sword from her husband and stuck it in her chest – thus wanting to give him courage. Before she died, she said: “It doesn’t hurt, Paetus” (Non dolet, Paete!).
