In one passage ( Amm . 19.12.14 ), Ammianus describes the Christian emperor Constantius II's attempts to prosecute cases of magic under treason laws, in particular the death penalty applied to those men who were condemned simply for wearing an amulet to ward off diseases : " " si qui remedia quartanae vel doloris alterius collo gestaret " " ( " For if anyone wore on his neck an amulet against the quartan ague or any other complaint " ).
