SUETONIUS (died circ. A.D. 110)
“Judaeos impulsore Chresto assidue tumultuantes Româ expulit” Claud.25).1
“Afllicti suppliciis Christiani genus hominum superstitionis novae et maleficae” (Nero, 16).
“Percrebuerat Oriente toto vetus et constans opinio, esse in fatis, ut eo tempore. Judaea profecti rerum potirentur” (Vesp.4).
TACITUS (Consul suffectus, A.D. 97)
“Ergo abolendo rumori Nero subdidit reos, et quaesitissimis poenis affecit, quos per flagitia invisos vulgus Christianos appellabat. Auctor ejus nominis Christus Tiberio imperitante per procuratorem Pont. Pilatum supplicio affectus est; repressaque in praesens exitiabilis superstitio rursum erumpebat non modo per Judaeam originem ejus mali, sed per urbem etiam quo cuncta undique atrocia aut pudenda confluunt celebranturque. Igitur primum correpti qui fatebantur, deinde indicio eorum multitudo ingens, haud perinde in crimine incendii quam odio generis humani convicti sunt. Et pereuntibus addita ludibria, ut ferarum tergis contecti laniatu canum interirent, aut crucibus affixi aut flammandi, atque ubi defecisset dies, in usum nocturni luminis urerentur … unde quamquam adversus sontes et novissima exempla meritos miseratio oriebatur tamquam non utilitate publicâ sed in saevitiam unius absumerentur” (Ann. xv. 44).
Gentiles in the Letter of the Churches of Vienne and Lyons complain, ξένην τινα καὶ καινὴν ἡμῖν ἐισάγουσι θρησκείαν (ap. Euseb. H.E. v. 1).
PLINY THE YOUNGER (died circ. A.D. 117)
His famous letter to Trajan is too long for insertion. He asks whether he is to punish persons for simply being Christians, or for crimes involved in the charge of being so (nomen ipsum, si flagitiis careat, an flagitia cohaerentia nomini). He says that he has punished those who, after threat of punishment, still declared themselves Christians, because he considers that in any case their “inflexible obstinacy” should be punished. Others equally infatuated (similisamentiae) he determined to send to Rome, being Roman citizens. Having received an anonymous accusation which inculpated many, he tested them, if they denied the charge of being Christians, by making them call on the gods, and offer incense and wine to the Emperor’s image, and curse Christ. If they did this he dismissed them, because he was told that no true Christian would ever do it. Some said that they had long abjured Christianity, but declared that the head and front of their “fault” or “error” had simply been the custom of meeting before dawn, and singing antiphons to Christ as a God, and binding themselves with an oath2 not to steal, rob, commit adultery, break their word, or deny the trust committed to them; after which they separated, meeting again for a harmless meal—a custom which they had dropped after Pliny’s edict forbidding guilds. Scarcely crediting this strange account of their innocent life, he had put two deaconesses (ex duabus ancillis quae ministrae dicebantur) to the torture, but discovered nothing beyond perverted and immoderate superstition (pravam, immodicam). He therefore consults Trajan, because of the multitude of the accused, who were of every age, rank, and sex, both in the city and in the country. So widely had “the contagion of that wretched superstition” spread that the temples were almost deserted, and there was scarcely any one to buy the victims (Ep.x. 97).
To this letter Trajan briefly replies that the Christians are to be punished if convicted, but not to be sought out; to be pardoned if they sacrifice, and not to be tried on anonymous accusations.
EPICTETUS (died A.D. 117)
“Then through madness it is possible for a man to be so disposed towards these things” (i.e., to be indifferent to the world), “and the Galilæans through habit” (Dissert.iv. 7).
M. AURELIUS ANTONINUS (died A.D. 180)
Speaking of readiness to die, he says that it is noble, “so that it comes from a man’s own judgment, not from mere obstinacy (διὰ ψιλὴν παράταξιν), as with the Christians, but considerately, and with dignity” (Eucheir.xi. 3).
LUCIAN (died circ. A.D. 200)
His sneers and parodies of what he calls the θαυμαστὴ σοφία of the Christians are to be found in the Ver.Historia, I. 12, 30; II. 4, 11–12 (Alexand. (Pseudomantis) xxv. 38). The Philopatrisis not by Lucian, but a hundred years later.
GALEN, the great writer on Physic (died A.D. 200)
In his book, Dedifferentpulsuum, he alludes twice to the obstinacy of Christians.