Both Tertullian and Eusebius sought to place the corre-
spondence of Pliny and Trajan in the context of Roman attitudes
to the Christians. That, perhaps, is the framework within which
the letters are most frequently studied: they are a standard
ingredient, after all, of sourcebooks on early Christianity (e.g.
Stevenson 1987: 18–21; Novak 2001: 47–9). In part this context
is suggested by the letters themselves: Pliny hints at the begin-
ning of his letter at the occurrence of other trials of Christians,
and Trajan notes the inadvisability of laying down a general ruling
about them. Nevertheless, the context within which both governor
and emperor were writing about the Christians was that of provin-
cial administration. If we examine the letters bearing this in mind,
further light may be shed upon them.
Pliny’s status as governor of Bithynia and Pontus was
unusual. In the first letter Trajan wrote to Pliny after the governor
had arrived in Bithynia, the emperor impressed upon him the
necessity of making it clear to the provincials that he had been
sent there on a special mission (Letters10.18.2). The nature of
this mission is clarified by an inscription recording his career that
was set up, after his death, at his birthplace Comum (modern
Como) in northern Italy. (Most of the text is known only from a
fifteenth-century transcription, but the reconstruction is for the
most part uncontroversial; certainly, there is no doubt about the
lines that are of interest here.) This states that Pliny had been
‘legate with propraetorian authority of the province of Pontus
and Bithynia, with full consular power, sent to that province in
accordance with a decree of the senate by the emperor Caesar
Nerva Trajan Augustus’ (Smallwood 1966: no. 230; Sherwin-
White 1966: 732). As a legate (legatus), Pliny was Trajan’s direct
appointee and representative in the province, albeit with the sanc-
tion of a senatorial decree. This is instructive, because ordinarily
Bithynia and Pontus had been governed not by imperial legates,
but by proconsuls selected by lot from the ranks of the senate. In
other words, Pliny’s appointment as governor was an extraordi-
nary command; for some reason, Trajan sent him there instead
of a proconsul. This sort of unusual arrangement was undertakenEARLY CHRISTIANITY AND THE ROMAN EMPIRE
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