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

A non-partisan emperor or individual official should not be interpreted as
an individual who was blasé, or unconcerned with religious affairs. It is perhaps
often assumed that because an individual followed one faith, he had therefore to be
automatically and resolutely opposed, in both thought and deed, to any faith that
was divergent, contrary or simply different from his own. Moreover, it is also
perhaps assumed, as a corollary to that position, that those who have the power to
enforce religious compliance will invariably choose to do so with force.
These assumptions are not supported by examination of the detailed
evidence. The emperors offered consistent and certain support for Christianity in
this period, testament to their belief in its superiority to other faiths. However, a
desire to curtail incorrect beliefs and practices did not translate into a desire to
demand correct beliefs and practices; and indeed there is no empirical and logical
reason why the latter should necessarily follow the former. Theodosius came
closest to demanding conformity with his Cun ctos populos law, but crucially he
appears to have lacked the will to actively ensure compliance and as such the degree
to which he demanded and desired conformity to this law may be seriously
questioned. To heretics Theodosius repeatedly said ‘thou shalt not,’ but that was
not coupled with a serious effort to the effect of ‘thou shalt.’ Moreover, very little
of Jewish practice (with the exception of CJ 1.9.7 of 30 December 393) was actually
prohibited. Similarly, the same applied to paganism, with the exception of
divination. Com pelle in trare (Lk. 14.23), a phrase later to be so misunderstood and
misused, was not perceived as a binding commandment by any fourth century
emperor.
The practicalities of demanding (as well as enforcing) total adherence to the
emperor’s faith probably weighed heavily on their decision (including Theodosius’)
not to do so. But equally, it has been shown that heretics were the subject of the
most hostile attention of the emperors; if emperors had demanded religious
conformity from all their subjects, then one should expect to find as much and
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