Why should I play the Roman fool, and die
On mine own sword? whiles I see lives, the gashes
Do better upon them.
– William Shakespeare
Macbeth, Act 5, Scene 8. Earlier in Scene 3 Macbeth considered the possibility of suicide – “breath, Which the poor heart would fain deny, and dare not.” But here he emphatically rejects this, preferring to shed the blood of his enemies than his own. To “play the Roman fool” is a metaphor and allusion to the Roman belief that it is more honorable to die at one’s own hand than that of your enemy.