But in both the Religionsfrevel and the Strafrecht,1 more particularly in the latter, Mommsen maintains that while the suppression of the Christians actually took place through the exercise of this extraordinary power of immediate action called coercitio, legally they were guilty of majestas or high treason, and could also be regularly accused and tried upon this charge. The refusal of the Christians to take the oaths and to offer the sacrifices required of them constituted a twofold crime of majestas,