Concerning Mathematicians and Soothsayers and Kindred Evildoers

The study and teaching of the science of geometry are in the public interest, but whosoever practices the damnable art of mathematical divination, shall be put to the stake.

Corpus Juris Civilis, Codex Justinianus,
Book IX, XVIII, 2, 3 (AD circa 650)

Taken from Jan Gullberg's wonderful Mathematics: From the Birth of Numbers.

The Dismal Science was much more dismal back then (tongue firmly planted in cheek).... ;)