The idea of noble death was highly demanded in Roman philosophy and historiography in the period of the Civil wars. Cicero regularly appealed to the examples from the early Roman history, reflecting about the frailty of human existence and its worthy finish. Such examples especially often deal with the behavior of Roman generals on the battlefield. The same images one can find in the writings of the Roman annalists who described the events of the early Roman history. The present article is devoted to the problem of the origin and development of the Roman notions of the worthy and unworthy behavior of general on the battlefield. The author examines mainly those descriptions of battles that are related to the early period of Roman history (prior to the perid of the Civil wars). He concludes that these notions correlate with the images of noble death widespread in ancient literature since the description of Socrates’ death but they are influenced in a considerable degree by specifically Roman values.