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

that blood sacrifices continued at Rome. 313 As such, this law may have been intended
to bring pagan religious practice at Rome into line with that practised in the rest of the
empire. Nevertheless, that would doubtless have upset and angered the traditional
pagan elite of Rome who were continuing a thousand years of tradition.
The rest of the prohibitions, on approaching shrines, wandering through
temples and revering images of the gods should perhaps be understood in this context
of prohibiting sacrifice; that is to say, these three actions were only prohibited when
they accompanied, and were part of the ritual of, a blood sacrifice, and were not
therefore, necessarily prohibited in themselves. In that context the punishments make
more sense; if these three actions were prohibited for all people, then, logically, all
people should have been detailed in the punishments. But only judges, governors,
correctores and praeses were mentioned and this was because only such magistrates
would have officiated at the public sacrifices, exercising their official roles. The fines
were not excessively large; Symmachus is reckoned to have had an annual income from
his estates of 1,500 lbs of gold. Admittedly, he was among the wealthier of his class,
but there is evidence which suggests that even provincial governors had an annual
income of between 10-20 pounds of gold a year and that excludes any fees. 314
Theodosius had been in Italy for over two and a half years, since at least
September 388 and had spent at least three months (from June to the end of August
390) in Rome, and during which time the massacre at Salonica took place. 315 As such,
it seems unlikely that he was genuinely offended by the display of public cult that
must have continued during his visit, otherwise he would surely have legislated against
it sooner, and not just two months before he left Italy. Williams and Friell note the
313
Lib. Or 30.33
314
For Symmachus see Matthews (1998) 18 n2; for the provincial governors (admittedly figures from the
sixth century) see Kelly (2004) 65
315
Seeck (1919) 275-279 recording him at Aquileia on 22 September 388, in Rome by 13 June 389, in
Forum Flaminii on 6 September and finally back in Milan by 26 November 389. He left Milan after 15
April 391; see Matthews (1998) 227-231 for Theodosius' stay at Rome.
273