Quote Originally Posted by Blxz View Post
Sounds like death for masturbation? Or capital punishment for attemptted suicide. That translation makes me think of self harm more so than any abuse directed at others.
I disagree with your two thoughts, but your last one sounds more like it. "young men who have abused their persons" sounds like self mutilation, or as the Zulu tribes do, "Scarification". It sounds like (for lack of a better word) "pagan rituals" of scarification were deemed barbaric and for a Roman to partake in such "barbarism" was a threat to Roman society in itself, lest the 'habit' spread and 'infect' other good Roman citizens.