Religious Intolerance in the Later Roman Empire - Bad request ...

aspect of this law is that Dexter is known to have been a Christian and indeed a serious
Christian, the son of Bishop Pacianus of Barcelona, of whom Jerome said was
“dedicated to the faith of Christ forever.” Jerome also dedicated his work de v iris
illustribus to Dexter who in turn had inspired Jerome to write it. 305 It appears that
Dexter was a fair-minded individual who believed that pagan temples should not be
deprived of their property any more than should the state or the emperor; evidently,
even at this late stage in the fourth century, a Christian with strong connections to the
establishment of the Church was by no means, thereby, anti-pagan. If Dexter had
been even slightly so, he could simply have omitted “sacred temples” from the law.
Theodosius' generally favourable legislation on paganism appears to take an
abrupt about-turn at the beginning of 391, after he had wintered in Milan and was
returning eastward after the defeat of Maximus, and over twelve years since ascending
to the throne. 306 On the laws that followed Williams and Friell have remarked: “It is
possible, but difficult, to find greater examples of intolerance and fanaticism than in
the spirit that animates these new laws.” They believe that the apparent change of
policy on paganism was due possibly to the appointment of the Magister Officiorum
and Catholic Flavius Rufinus or that the massacre in Salonica in Thessalonica,
followed by Ambrose’s intervention impelled Theodosius' Catholic conscience to
make amends by suppressing paganism. 307 In a similar vein, King takes the view that it
was “ultimately incompatible” for a Catholic emperor to have a policy of toleration
towards pagans and especially when his brother Christians were “actively fighting
paganism and destroying temples.” 308 Against the influence of Rufinus might be said
that he became Magister Officiorum three years before the beginning of the change in
policy in 388 and ceased to be so in 392; if he was a pivotal figure in the issuing of the
new legislation, he was, at least, not a primary or immediate influence. Against King’s
305
Jer. de v ir. ill. 132: clarus ad saeculum et Christi deditus; See Matthews (1998) 133-134 for Dexter and
his father; also Matthews (1967) 440
306
King (1961) 72 refers to Theodosius' “mild attitude towards paganism in the years up to 391
307
Williams and Friell (1994) 119-120, quote at 120; cf Syme’s (1984) 904 comment to Theodosius' “total
surrender to the bigots.”
308 King (1961) 77
270