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

and tried by Domitius Modestus the count of the East. 175 Ammianus, as often, is vague
in this passage and fails to give any names of the accused or how many were tried and
executed; but such details are irrelevant here, what is reasonably certain is that within a
very short time, the danger that necromants posed to the security of the state and
emperor could be considered greater than the possibility that they were too dangerous
to be tried in court, at least during the trial in Scythopolis.
It seems highly unlikely that the Scythopolis trials were dealing with events of
such magnitude that it was considered necessary to reverse Imperial policy and to
begin trials of necromantics: Ammianus names only four who were accused and stood
trial for crimes committed; two were acquitted and two exiled. Matthews has
indicated that the trials, as far as can be ascertained, were conducted properly and quite
normally by contemporary standards. 176 At the same time, it has been argued recently
that magic and divination (as practised by the targets of CTh 9.16.4) were considered
to be virtually identical phenomena by the fourth century; as such it may have been
considered that necromancy, being a form of magic, was already covered by CTh
9.16.4 177 If so, then it would probably be a mistake to view this law as being more
tolerant than other laws issued at the same time; rather, under these considerations,
this law appears as an extra ‘safeguard’ and more as an addendum than as a fully
independent piece of legislation. As such it would not have been necessary or suitable
for it to contain further punishments.
CTh 9.16.6 was issued in Ariminum on 5 July 358, it is Constantius’ final law
against traditional practices and was directed against his own courtiers and addressed to
that trusted com es of Constantius, Taurus, Praetorian Prefect of Italy and Africa and
also the addressee of CTh 16.10.4. It ordered that although “persons endowed with
175 Paulus ‘Catena’ 4 PLRE 1.683-684; Domitius Modestus 2 PLRE 1.605-608; Amm. Marc. 19.12.14: siv e
per m onum entum transisse v esperi m aleuolorum argueretur indiciis, ut v eneficus sepulchrorum que horrores et
errantium ibidem an im arum ludibria colligens v ana pronuntiatus reus capitis interibat. Matthews (1989)
217-218
176 Matthews (1989) 218
177 By Graf (1999)
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