Early Christianity

precedents that are entirely out of keeping with Trajan’s ideals of

government for his reign (nostrum saeculum: § 2). Perhaps the

most interesting aspect of his response is his assertion that there

should be no systematic persecution: Christians brought before

Pliny and formally accused (delati: § 1) are to be subject to his

court, but there is to be no hunt for Christians. Indeed, Trajan

states that no fixed form of ruling can be given that could be

applied generally. Here we have a good example of the essentially

responsive nature of Roman provincial administration: governors

should deal with problems when they arise, but they should not

provoke further difficulties unnecessarily.

Placing Pliny and Trajan in context

It was perhaps inevitable, given that Trajan refused to lay down

general rules for persecution, that this correspondence should

attract the attentions of Christians themselves. The earliest Chris-

tian writer to note the letters was Tertullian in his Apology. One

of his aims in this work was to highlight the inconsistency of

Roman attitudes towards Christianity. He was writing against a

background of bitter anti-Christian sentiment in Carthage and he

sought to advise the city’s magistrates of the futility of pursing a

persecution. Pliny’s letter and Trajan’s response were marshalled

in support of this agenda. From them, Tertullian argued, ‘we find

that inquisitions against us have been forbidden’ (Apology2.2.6).

He gave a summary (not always accurate: Sherwin-White 1966:

692) of both letters, noting in particular the emperor’s order not

to hunt out Christians but only to punish those presented for trial.

He argued that such a ruling was ambiguous: if Christians were not

to be hunted, then surely they must be innocent; but if they were

punished after a trial, then they must be guilty (Apology2.2.8).

Such inconsistencies, Tertullian asserted, were typical of the

authorities’ confused approach to the whole Christian question.

It was from Tertullian’s Apology, not the original texts

themselves, that the letters came to the attention of Eusebius of

Caesarea, who chose to include a notice of them in his narrative

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