In fact it was so deeply engrained in the belief system of the romans that many people at the time believed that a battle simply could not be won if any less then at least half of the soldiers contributed in the sacrifice.
There are many historical records that support this idea and in the event of a losing battle, generals and their cohorts would often begin masterbating ferociously jorking it as a group, directly within eye sight of the enemy army. This served two purposes, the first, is that it would earn the gods favor. The second was that it was a well known act and would often terrify the leaders of the enemy army thus peading to victory.
Many historians believe that julius ceasar was a devote believer of this act and never sent his men into battle without requiring them to masturbate in unison first. As a result he experienced an extremely successful military career with more trimuphs then anyone else in roman history.