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

have been interpreted as an active campaign to rid the empire of superstitio.
Conversely, there is no equally strong imperative for preserving the temples; they are
only to remain (con sistan t) undamaged and untouched. The emperor has drawn a
careful distinction between paganism and the buildings of pagan worship, and he has
done his best to try and ensure that readers would not see any softening of the official
religious policy with regards to paganism itself. However, the strong imperative
maybe indicates that many contemporaries would still have appreciated the religious
element contained within spectacles and pagans may have viewed the law with at least
a little favour.
After these two initial laws of 341 and 342, there were no more laws on
paganism for over eleven years until 353 at which point the remaining six anti-pagan
laws of Constantius were issued within a relatively short period of just over four years.
This distortion in the record was likely to have been a response to the usurpation of
Magnentius, a Germanic officer in Constans’ army and Marcellinus, 151 the com es rei
priv atae in the west in 350. As such these six laws, that is of course the majority, are
markedly different in tone and in effect from Constantius’ earlier two laws on
paganism. Also, the addressees of the (three) named laws were both close companions
and allies of Constantius.
Magnentius had been proclaimed emperor and Constans was executed in 350.
Constantius mobilised to restore his family’s rule over the west, but was only able to
do so finally in 353 when Magnentius was defeated in Gaul and committed suicide. At
the same time Constantius was able to establish himself as sole ruler of the empire. 152
The account of the usurpation in Ammianus Marcellinus is lost, but there is a chapter
on the aftermath of its suppression which indicates that even people suspected of
supporting Magnentius were executed, often on the word of courtiers in order to
ingratiate themselves with the emperor. 153 From one of Constantius’ laws it appears
151 Marcellinus 8 PLRE 1.546
152 Zos. 2.43-55
153 Amm. Marc. 14.5; Matthews (1989) 18
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