Virtus could be projected in multiple places and instances; however, during the mid-Republic - thehigh point of Rome’s hypermasculine, martial culture - the term was most associated with martialcourage. Battle was therefore the primary area in which males in the middle Republic displayed their virtus. Although the term is inherently masculine, women played a vital role in influencing a male to perform his civic duty by service in war. Armed conflict in ancient Rome was framed as one party taking vengeance upon another for a perceived wrong. This framing meant that the war was just and in harmony with the divine cosmos. Via the act of ritual lamentation, mid-Republican Roman women called upon men to take revenge through warfare. Lamentation was a ritualised female mourning tradition which regularly took place at funerals and for which there is strong evidence in contemporary Latin literature. The lamentation was not just undertaken to honour the deceased, but more importantly, it was directed at the living male members of society and served as a demand that these men take up arms and display their virtus in order to avenge the wrongs perpetrated by an enemy. This not only spurred Roman males into martial action, but also afforded women a voice in the normally masculine spheres of political decision-making and warfare. In demanding vengeance and armed displays of courage, women in mid-Republican Rome played a necessary rolein virtus, since they themselves served as the arbiters of masculinity.