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

Conclusion
The surviving legislation of Constantius on religious affairs is inconsistent and
affected all of his subjects in a negative manner to a lesser or greater extent; none of
them could have felt that the emperor was ‘on their side,’ and in this Constantius
stands in clear contrast to his father Constantine who did seek to appeal to as broad a
consensus as possible. This inconsistency is doubtless a result of the evidence provided
by Ammianus Marcellinus that Constantius was easily influenced by his advisors. This
is shown most strikingly by Taurus’ four, or, in all probability five or possibly six,
laws. Similarly, a contrasting attitude to Jews and Judaism is shown by the harsh
legislation of Evagrius and then in the more relaxed law of Thalassius. Taurus is
shown by his legislation to be no friend of the Church, but his laws stand apart from
the other legislation on the Church; those other laws, coming from other individuals
were more benign and favourable, and they form the bulk of Constantius’ legislation
on Ecclesiastical affairs. The overall influence of advisors on the emperor, therefore,
and on the whole of the legislative record, did not extend beyond that which they
could achieve as individuals and consequently there is no evidence that the
government, as a whole, was as a matter of course or policy, prejudicial towards any
one group, except against paganism. But in the case of paganism, it should be borne in
mind that in the first seventeen years of his reign, and up until the usurpation of
Magnentius, Constantius issued only two laws against paganism, (albeit
confrontational and without grounds for compromise) one of which may have come
from Constans and quite possibly referred specifically to Rome. Only after
Magnentius’ usurpation, coinciding with the prefecture of Taurus, was consistent and
strong action taken against paganism, resulting in the issuing of three of the four laws
prescribing capital punishment which Constantius issued throughout his reign. If
Taurus had never reached the position that he did, then it is quite reasonable to
suppose that the legislative record of Constantius on paganism would have been
considerably milder; unfortunately for the pagans of Italy, not only had they
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