The next reference to the Neronian persecution is that in the Annals of Tacitus, published between 115 and 117 A. D.,1 a half-century after this so-called persecution. The earlier doubts as to the genuineness of this chapter are now entirely silenced. Just what sources Tacitus used cannot be determined with accuracy, and it is a difficult matter indeed to determine the value of his account. As a youth he may have witnessed some of the events described in this chapter. But writing fifty years later he would find it difficult to divest himself of the knowledge of the Christians gained by his additional experience. He should have been fairly well acquainted with them for just before he completed the Annals he had held the pro-consulship of Asia, the stronghold of Christianity.

3

By some his account of the persecution is regarded as the all-important source; by others the accuracy is seriously questioned. The peculiar rhetorical style of Tacitus, especially his attempts at brevity, accounts for some of the difficulties, but the chief difficulty arises in attempting to reconcile his explanation of the cause of the persecution with the statements in the other sources.

Cornelii Taciti Ab Excessu Divi Augusti, XV, 44.

(ed. C. Halm, 1902, Teubner.)

Et haec quidem humanis consiliis providebantur, mox petita dis piacula aditique Sibullae libri, ex quibus supplicatum Vol

'Teuffel, History of Roman Literature (English translation from the fifth German edition, London, 1902), vol. ii, § 338.

2 Hochart (Études au sujet de la persécution des Chrétiens sous Néron, Paris, 1885), declared that the entire chapter was an interpolation of the middle ages. Refuted by C. Douais, in Rev. des ques. hist., 1885, vol. xxxviii, pp. 337-397. Vide Arnold, Die neron. christenverfolgung, pp. 4 et seq.

'Hardy, Christianity and the Rom. Govt., 2nd ed., p. 45.

4 Vide supra, p. 45.

cano et Cereri Proserpinaeque, ac propitiata Iuno per matronas, primum in Capitolio, deinde apud proximum mare, unde hausta aqua templum et simulacrum deae perspersum est; et sellisternia ac pervigilia celebravere feminae, quibus mariti erant. sed non ope humana, non largitionibus principis aut deum placamentis decedebat infamia, quin iussum incendium crederetur. ergo abolendo rumori Nero subdidit reos et quaesitissimis poenis adfecit, quos per flagitia invisos vulgus Christianos appellabat. auctor nominis eius Christus Tiberio imperitante per procuratorem Pontium Pilatum supplicio adfectus erat; repressaque in praesens exitiabilis superstitio rursum erumpebat, non modo per Iudaeam, originem eius mali, sed per urbem etiam, quo cuncta undique atrocia aut pudenda confluunt celebranturque. igitur primum correpti qui fatebantur, deinde indicio eorum multitudo ingens haud proinde in crimine incendii quam odio humani generis convicti1 sunt. et pereuntibus addita ludibria, ut ferarum tergis contecti laniatu canum interirent,2 multi crucibus adfixi aut flamma usti, aliique, ubi defecisset dies, in usum nocturni luminis urerentur. hortos suos ei spectaculo Nero obtulerat et circense ludicrum edebat, habitu aurigae permixtus plebi vel curriculo insistens. unde quamquam adversus sontes et novissima exempla meritos miseratio oriebatur, tamquam non utilitate publica, sed in saevitiam unius absumerentur.

TACITUS, Annals, XV, 44.

Such things indeed were provided by human wisdom. Soon means of propitiating the gods were sought for and the Sibylline books were consulted. As a result prayers were offered to Vulcan, to Ceres, and to Proserpina, and Juno was propitiated by the matrons, first in the temple of Jupiter, then on the neighboring sea-coast, whence water was brought to sprinkle the shrine and image of the goddess. Also sacred

1 Codex Mediceus gives coniuncti.

' interirent. . . ubi (ed. Furneaux, 1907, gives,-interirent, aut crucibus adfixi aut flammandi, atque, ubi).

banquets and vigils were celebrated by the married women. But the belief that the fire was the result of an order yielded neither to human effort, nor to the lavish gifts of the emperor, nor even to the propitiations of the gods. Therefore, to check this rumor Nero substituted as culprits and afflicted with the most exquisite tortures those who were called Christians by the mob and were hated for their enormities. Christ, from whom the name originated, had been crucified by the procurator Pontius Pilate in the reign of Tiberius. Though checked for the time this pernicious superstition again broke out, not only in Judea, where the evil originated, but even in the city, where all things atrocious and shameful from every part of the world come together and flourish. Therefore, first those who confessed were arrested, then from their disclosures a great multitude was convicted, not so much for the crime of incendiarism, as for their hatred for mankind. Mockery was added as they perished, for some, covered with the skins of wild beasts, were mangled by dogs, many were crucified or given to the flames,1 still others were used as a nightly illumination after the daylight had faded. Nero had offered his gardens for this spectacle, and was giving games fit for the circus, where in the dress of a charioteer he mingled with the people or else stood on high in his chariot. Therefore, although they were malefactors who deserved the most severe punishment, a feeling of pity arose, since they were being put to death not for the public welfare but to satisfy the rage of one person.

A short but very important note concerning the Christians appears also in Suetonius' life of Nero, which was written very shortly after the Annals, that is to say, about 120 A. D. The entire chapter is quoted here, because the note without the context would lose its significance. In a later chapter' and in an entirely different connection he describes the great fire under Nero. 1 Cf., Tertullian, Apology, 12. 'Ch. xxxviii.

2

2

This work is "drawn from good sources, with faithful industry and intelligent judgment, and furnishes rich materials in a concise form and a simple, appropriate style." 1

C. Suetonii De Vita Caesarum, Nero, 16.

(ed. M. Ihm, 1908, Teubner.)

Formam aedificiorum urbis novam excogitavit et ut ante insulas ac domos porticus essent, de quarum solariis incendia arcerentur; easque sumptu suo extruxit. destinarat etiam Ostia tenus moenia promovere atque inde fossa mare veteri urbi inducere.

Multa sub eo et animadversa severe et coercita nec minus instituta adhibitus sumptibus modus; publicae cenae ad sportulas redactae; interdictum ne quid in popinis cocti praeter legumina aut holera veniret, cum antea nullum non obsonii genus proponeretur; afflicti suppliciis Christiani, genus hominum superstitionis novae ac maleficae; vetiti quadrigariorum lusus, quibus inveterata licentia passim vagantibus fallere ac furari per iocum ius erat; pantomimorum factiones cum ipsis simul relegatae; ...

SUETONIUS, Lives of the Caesars, Nero, 16.

He devised a new form of buildings in the city, in order that there should be porches before the tenements and the houses, from the tops of which fires might be prevented from spreading. These he built at his own expense. He also resolved to extend the walls of the city as far as Ostia and from there to bring the sea into the old city by means of a canal. In his reign many things were severely punished and repressed, and many new things instituted. A limit was made to extravagance. dinners were reduced to the measure of a client's dole. Eating houses were forbidden to have any cooked foods save leguminous plants and vegetables, although formerly all kinds of dishes were

Public

1 Teuffel, op. cit., vol. ii, § 347.

offered. The Christians, a class of people of a new and mischievous superstition, were severely punished. The games of the charioteers were interdicted, since they had long assumed the license of wandering hither and thither, making it a jest to cheat and pilfer. The factions of the pantomime players were banished along with the players themselves. . .

The most disputed question in the whole history of the early persecutions is that concerning the application of First Peter to the Neronian period. Where there is a possibility for such a wide difference of opinion it is of course impossible to draw any satisfactory conclusions whatever. Conservative scholarship still maintains that it was written at Rome by Peter around the year 64 A. D.1 Ramsay, who believes that Peter was the author, places it as late as 80.❜ Harnack, who rejects the Petrine authorship, places it between 83-93 A. D., but admits that it may have been a decade or two earlier. McGiffert places it about 90 A. D., and suggests Barnabas as the author. A large number of scholars place it under Hadrian, largely because of the reference to persecution for the name. Personally I do not think that this colorless reference to persecution throughout the world has any connection whatever with the Neronian episode at Rome.

3

5

1 Vide T. Zahn, Introduction to the New Testament (Translated from the 3rd German ed., Edinburgh, 1909), vol. ii, pp. 158 et seq., pp. 173 et seq.

2 Ramsay, Ch. in the Rom. Emp., pp. 279 et seq.

Harnack, Die Chronologie der altchristlichen Litteratur (Leipzig, 1897), vol. i, p. 454. Vide also Schoenaich, D. ner. Christenverfolgung,

P. 16.

4 A. C. McGiffert, History of Christianity in the Apostolic Age (New York, 1900), p. 599.

5 Vide F. H. Chase, "Peter First Epistle of," in Hastings, Dictionary of the Bible (1900), vol. iii, p. 796.