196 THE ROMAN EMPIRE
monarchy. Do not, therefore, permit anybody to be an atheist or a
sorcerer. (52.36)Whatever was in Cassius Dio’s mind when he wrote this passage, the plan of
action attributed to Maecenas does resemble Augustus’ actual religious
policy. Augustus did champion the traditional religion. He did move against
Isis and her kindred deities, for reasons unstated but not mysterious (Cassius
Dio 53.2.4; 54.6.6). Conservative forces in the late Republican senate had
engineered the banning of Egyptian religions on several occasions, and their
cult followers were implicated in the political violence of the 50s and perhaps
again in the late 20s, the fi rst decade of Augustus’ reign. Finally, Augustus
was to some extent a prisoner of his own propaganda war against Egyptian
gods and their champions or personifi cations Antony and Cleopatra.^17
But the statement in Dio is defi cient as a summary of the policies of later
emperors. In particular, repression was selective, sporadic and short- lived.
Emperors typically moved against a suspect cult or practice when an actual
or threatened breach of law and order had been brought to their attention.
After the reign of Tiberius, imperial hostility to the Egyptian gods simply
faded away, while a number of emperors were fascinated by or devoted to
them. Mithras, the last of the mystery cults to establish itself in Rome, Italy
and beyond, was never in danger of persecution, because it fostered
acceptance of the status quo. It won a following especially among soldiers
and slaves, both imperial and private, callings in which submission to
authority was given special emphasis. Leaving aside Judaism, which in any
case received protection from Augustus and Claudius, no cult was as actively
persecuted as were the practices of astrology and magic.
Unlike other alien ideological infl uences, astrology and magic invaded all
sections of Roman society.^18 Emperors were disturbed by the political
implications of the popularity of astrology among the Roman upper classes.
If emperors could use astrology freely, as they did, for aid in decision- making
and for information about their span of life, then covertly disloyal members
of the political classes could do the same as a preliminary step to revolution.
Magic was, and is, a complex phenomenon. At one level it was a set of
practices designed to secure success in the law- courts, in love or at the races,
or injury to or destruction of another person. In a more ‘scientifi c’ version,
as practised by members of the cultural elite like the African Apuleius, it
appears as a form of practical philosophy. We do not know who was banned
for sorcery by the authorities (nor what practices they followed). What lay
behind such coercive action was the fear of the potential use of magical arts
by members of the upper classes to jeopardize the safety of the emperor.
The offi cial reaction to astrology, magic and for that matter Stoic and
Cynic philosophy, which also secured a following at the highest level of
Roman society, were untypical. They do not help us defi ne the attitude of the
state authorities to the alien theodicies in their midst. We have seen that the
permeability of the Roman state as measured by the enrolment of aliens as