In AD 438 the emperor Theodosius II promulgated a great official collection of the imperial constitutions issued from Constantine onwards. This is the Codex Theodosianus, the Theodosian Code, one of the most important documents for understanding late antique society. In book IX, devoted to criminal law, an entire title bears an eloquent name: De maleficis et mathematicis et ceteris similibus, "on evildoers, astrologers and others of the same kind".
Reading this title means watching how the Roman state, at the very moment it was becoming Christian, redrew the boundary between lawful religion, divination and magic.
The words of the code
First of all, the vocabulary. The laws use precise terms, each with its own nuance:
- maleficus: one who performs a maleficium, a harmful magical act; in the late empire the word becomes almost a synonym for magician;
- mathematicus: not a mathematician in the modern sense, but an astrologer, who calculates the positions of the stars;
- haruspex: the diviner of Etruscan tradition who reads the entrails of sacrificial victims;
- hariolus and vates: soothsayers and prophets of various kinds;
- magus: the magician in the proper sense.
Constantine: the distinction between public and private
The earliest constitutions of the title date back to Constantine. Around 319-320 the emperor forbade haruspices to enter private homes, even on the pretext of friendship, threatening severe punishment. However, he explicitly allowed those who wished to attend the public altars and to celebrate the customary rites.
The logic was clear: official, public and controllable divination remained tolerated; private divination, carried out behind closed doors, was suspect because it could be used to question the future on dangerous matters, starting with the emperor's own fate.
Harmful magic and remedies
A constitution of Constantine from 321 introduces an interesting distinction. The knowledge of those who, by magical arts, made attempts on others' lives or drove minds to passion was to be punished. But those who used the same practices as remedies for the body, or to protect crops from rain and hail, were not to be accused.
It is a passage that shows how deeply rooted the idea of "good" and "bad" magic still was. The criterion was not the technique but the purpose: to harm or to protect.
Constantius II: silencing divination
With Constantius II, Constantine's son, the tone changes radically. A law of 357 is among the harshest in the whole title: let no one consult a haruspex, an astrologer or a soothsayer; let the perverse profession of augurs and seers fall silent; let the curiosity to divine cease forever in everyone.
In a few lines an entire cultural heritage, which for centuries had been part of Roman life, is condemned wholesale. Other constitutions of the same period establish that magicians, as enemies of the human race, could be subjected to torture even if of high rank, removing the class privilege that normally exempted them.
Valentinian and nocturnal rites
Under Valentinian I and Valens, in 364, the celebration of nocturnal sacrifices and rites was forbidden, since the night was regarded as the natural setting of magic. The historian Zosimus relates that the proconsul of Achaea, Vettius Agorius Praetextatus, a leading figure of traditional religion, obtained an exception for the Eleusinian Mysteries, arguing that banning them would make life unbearable for the Greeks.
In those same years the historian Ammianus Marcellinus describes in dramatic tones the investigations into magic at Antioch and in Rome, in which many were accused of practising divination or owning forbidden books. At Antioch, according to his account, a group of people had used a tripod and a ring with the letters of the alphabet to discover the name of the next emperor, obtaining the first letters of a name that seemed to point to a certain Theodorus.
A summary table
| Emperor | Year | Main content |
|---|---|---|
| Constantine | 319-320 | Ban on private haruspicy, tolerance of public haruspicy |
| Constantine | 321 | Harmful magic punished, protective remedies excluded |
| Constantius II | 357 | General ban on consulting diviners and astrologers |
| Valentinian and Valens | 364 | Ban on nocturnal rites |
What it teaches us
The title De maleficis et mathematicis shows a decisive historical shift. In pagan Rome magic was fought because it was harmful or politically dangerous; in the Christian Rome of the fourth century, divination and traditional rites gradually ended up in the same category as maleficium. The boundary between religion and magic moves, and with it the fate of entire traditions changes.
For those who study Western esotericism, as is done in the Officina Ermetica of the Studio Esoterico Cornelio, these laws also explain why so much ancient knowledge survived only in hidden, fragmentary or disguised form.
In short
- The Theodosian Code, promulgated in 438, gathers in book IX the laws De maleficis et mathematicis.
- Constantine banned private haruspicy but tolerated public haruspicy and protective remedies.
- In 357 Constantius II prohibited all consultation of diviners and astrologers.
- Valentinian and Valens banned nocturnal rites, with an exception obtained for the Eleusinian Mysteries.
- These rules mark the shifting boundary between lawful religion and magic in the Christian empire.
