Classical Corner: The Power of Love in Roman Magic

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In the third century CE, the renowned Roman lawyer known as Paul the Jurist elaborated upon a first-century BCE law regarding murderers and poisoners: Those who perform, or have performed for them, impious or nocturnal rites for the purpose of enchanting, bewitching, or binding someone are either crucified or thrown to the beasts … The magicians themselves are burned alive. No one may possess books on the art of magic; and those who are found in possession have their property confiscated and their books burned in public.1 Paul the Jurist’s commentary reveals that Roman legal experts in the imperial period […]

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Endnotes

1. Opiniones 5.23.14–19. Translation adapted from Mary Beard et al., Religions of Rome, Vol. 2 (Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press, 2000), pp. 262–263.

2. Translation from Hans Dieter Betz, The Greek Magical Papyri in Translation (2nd ed.; Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press, 1992), p. 44.

3. Translation adapted from Beard et al. (2000), pp. 266–267.