General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Holy Cow! WHATS UP WITH THIS POPE?! [View all]struggle4progress
(125,780 posts)with the Roman conquest
OPINIONS OF JULIUS PAULUS. BOOK V. TITLE XXIII.
ON THE LEX CORNELIA HAVING REFERENCE TO ASSASSINS AND POISONERS
... (15) Persons who celebrate, or cause to be celebrated impious or nocturnal rites, so as to enchant, bewitch, or bind anyone, shall be crucified, or thrown to wild beasts.
(16) Anyone who sacrifices a man, or attempts to obtain auspices by means of his blood, or pollutes a shrine or a temple, shall be thrown to wild beasts, or, if he is of superior rank, shall be punished with death.
(17) It has been decided that persons who are addicted to the art of magic, shall suffer extreme punishment; that is to say they shall be thrown to wild beasts, or crucified. Magicians themselves shall be burned alive.
(18) No one shall be permitted to have books on the art of magic in his possession, and when they are found with anyone, they shall be publicly burnt, and those who have them, after being deprived of their property, if they are of superior rank shall be deported to an island, and if they are of inferior station shall be put to death; for not only is the practice of this art prohibited, but also the knowledge of the same ...
http://www.constitution.org/sps/sps01_4-5.htm
I might guess the Lex Cornelia here probably refers to law promulgated by Sulla Cornelius during his dictatorship c. 80 BCE, though I'm not certain. Julius Paulus was a Roman jurist in the late 2nd and early 3rd century CE, about a century before Galerius issued his edict of toleration in the early 4th century, ending the recent efforts under Diocletian to force Christian to conform to the official state religion
