What is "arria"

Arria (also Arria Major) was a woman in ancient Rome. Her husband, Caecina Paetus, was ordered by the emperor Claudius to commit suicide for his part in a rebellion but was not capable of forcing himself to do so. Arria wrenched the dagger from him and stabbed herself, then returned it to her husband, telling him that it didn't hurt ("Non dolet, Paete!"). Her story was recorded in the letters of Pliny the Younger, who obtained his information from Arria's granddaughter, Fannia.

The gens Arria was a plebeian family at Rome, which appears in the first century BC, and became quite large in imperial times. The first of the gens to achieve prominence was Quintus Arrius, praetor in 72 BC.