02-29-2008, 07:34 AM
Maybe it wasn't as paradoxal as it sounds.
Maybe Augustus had a good point because in the past, adultery did not have a stigma, or maybe there were more social consequences in Augustus' day, which had not been there or less severe, in earlier times?
Did he want to re-install old morals or old-fashioned morals? :wink:
Was it just Augustus who had become a moral pain-in-the-ass, or had society changed, calling for laws to be installed?
As to Decius, don't forget that sacrificing was also seen as a safeguard for the wellbeing of the world? Was it not the Christian's refusal to sacrifice to other gods (which as I understand, no pagan had a real problem with), that was perceived as a direct threat to that wellbeing?
So what was really new - Decius' demand to sacrifice, or the initial refusal of a new reliogion to sacrifice?
Maybe Augustus had a good point because in the past, adultery did not have a stigma, or maybe there were more social consequences in Augustus' day, which had not been there or less severe, in earlier times?
Did he want to re-install old morals or old-fashioned morals? :wink:
Was it just Augustus who had become a moral pain-in-the-ass, or had society changed, calling for laws to be installed?
As to Decius, don't forget that sacrificing was also seen as a safeguard for the wellbeing of the world? Was it not the Christian's refusal to sacrifice to other gods (which as I understand, no pagan had a real problem with), that was perceived as a direct threat to that wellbeing?
So what was really new - Decius' demand to sacrifice, or the initial refusal of a new reliogion to sacrifice?
Robert Vermaat
MODERATOR
FECTIO Late Romans
THE CAUSE OF WAR MUST BE JUST
(Maurikios-Strategikon, book VIII.2: Maxim 12)
MODERATOR
FECTIO Late Romans
THE CAUSE OF WAR MUST BE JUST
(Maurikios-Strategikon, book VIII.2: Maxim 12)
