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The Point of View of a Persecutor

The Point of View of a Persecutor

Last updated on: June 24, 2022 at 6:05 am by Gene Veith

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The Point of View of a Persecutor 2022-06-19T19:16:03-04:00 Gene Veith

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I came across a reference to a letter from Pliny the Younger to the Roman emperor Trajan, asking his counsel on how he should deal with these Christians.

Pliny the Younger, not to be confused with his uncle Pliny the Elder–the important Roman naturalist and author who was killed by the volcano at Pompeii–was a lawyer, magistrate, and author who served as the governor of Bithynia and Pontus in present-day Turkey. In 112 A.D., he wrote the emperor, asking how he should proceed against the Christians, informing him about what he has been doing so far. The letter is the first mention of Christians in a pagan document. (For more background and a discussion of the letter, go here.)

Most striking to me is the tone of the letter, how this sophisticated, urbane Roman intellectual talks so casually about executions, torture, and slavery. Which illustrates how people thought and acted before the influence of Christianity. This off-hand brutality is coupled with a lawyer’s concern for following the proper process.

We also see what it was like to be persecuted–people informing on their neighbors, anonymous accusations, the pressure to deny the faith by giving offerings to the emperor’s image, worshipping images of the gods, and cursing Christ. Which some did, to avoid execution. We also see the innocence and the radical morality of the early Christians, which even their persecutor acknowledges.

Here is an English translation of the letter in its entirety, from Georgetown University, along with Trajan’s reply:

Pliny, Letters 10.96-97

Pliny to the Emperor Trajan

It is my practice, my lord, to refer to you all matters concerning which I am in doubt. For who can better give guidance to my hesitation or inform my ignorance? I have never participated in trials of Christians. I therefore do not know what offenses it is the practice to punish or investigate, and to what extent. And I have been not a little hesitant as to whether there should be any distinction on account of age or no difference between the very young and the more mature; whether pardon is to be granted for repentance, or, if a man has once been a Christian, it does him no good to have ceased to be one; whether the name itself, even without offenses, or only the offenses associated with the name are to be punished.

Meanwhile, in the case of those who were denounced to me as Christians, I have observed the following procedure: I interrogated these as to whether they were Christians; those who confessed I interrogated a second and a third time, threatening them with punishment; those who persisted I ordered executed. For I had no doubt that, whatever the nature of their creed, stubbornness and inflexible obstinacy surely deserve to be punished. There were others possessed of the same folly; but because they were Roman citizens, I signed an order for them to be transferred to Rome.

Soon accusations spread, as usually happens, because of the proceedings going on, and several incidents occurred. An anonymous document was published containing the names of many persons. Those who denied that they were or had been Christians, when they invoked the gods in words dictated by me, offered prayer with incense and wine to your image, which I had ordered to be brought for this purpose together with statues of the gods, and moreover cursed Christ–none of which those who are really Christians, it is said, can be forced to do–these I thought should be discharged. Others named by the informer declared that they were Christians, but then denied it, asserting that they had been but had ceased to be, some three years before, others many years, some as much as twenty-five years. They all worshipped your image and the statues of the gods, and cursed Christ.

They asserted, however, that the sum and substance of their fault or error had been that they were accustomed to meet on a fixed day before dawn and sing responsively a hymn to Christ as to a god, and to bind themselves by oath, not to some crime, but not to commit fraud, theft, or adultery, not falsify their trust, nor to refuse to return a trust when called upon to do so. When this was over, it was their custom to depart and to assemble again to partake of food–but ordinary and innocent food. Even this, they affirmed, they had ceased to do after my edict by which, in accordance with your instructions, I had forbidden political associations. Accordingly, I judged it all the more necessary to find out what the truth was by torturing two female slaves who were called deaconesses. But I discovered nothing else but depraved, excessive superstition.

I therefore postponed the investigation and hastened to consult you. For the matter seemed to me to warrant consulting you, especially because of the number involved. For many persons of every age, every rank, and also of both sexes are and will be endangered. For the contagion of this superstition has spread not only to the cities but also to the villages and farms. But it seems possible to check and cure it. It is certainly quite clear that the temples, which had been almost deserted, have begun to be frequented, that the established religious rites, long neglected, are being resumed, and that from everywhere sacrificial animals are coming, for which until now very few purchasers could be found. Hence it is easy to imagine what a multitude of people can be reformed if an opportunity for repentance is afforded.

Trajan to Pliny

You observed proper procedure, my dear Pliny, in sifting the cases of those who had been denounced to you as Christians. For it is not possible to lay down any general rule to serve as a kind of fixed standard. They are not to be sought out; if they are denounced and proved guilty, they are to be punished, with this reservation, that whoever denies that he is a Christian and really proves it–that is, by worshiping our gods–even though he was under suspicion in the past, shall obtain pardon through repentance. But anonymously posted accusations ought to have no place in any prosecution. For this is both a dangerous kind of precedent and out of keeping with the spirit of our age.

Illustration: Portrait of Pliny the Younger, from Lapham Quarterly.

Roman persecution of Christians

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The Point of View of a Persecutor

Pliny, Letters 10.96-97

Pliny to the Emperor Trajan

Trajan to Pliny

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