Plinius Traiano Imperatori
Ep. 10.96
Sollemne est mihi, domine, omnia de quibus dubito
ad te referre. Quis enim potest melius vel cunctationem meam regere vel
ignorantium instruere?
Cognitionibus de Christianis interfui numquam:
ideo nescio quid et quatenus aut puniri soleat aut quaeri. Nec mediocriter
haesitavi, sitne aliquod discrimen aetatum, an quamlibet teneri nihil
a robustioribus differant, detur paenitentiae venia, an ei qui omnino christianus
fuit desisse non prosit, nomen ipsum, si flagitiis careat, an flagitia
cohaerentia nomini puniantur.
Interim in iis qui ad me tamquam Christiani
deferebantur hunc sum secutus modum. Interrogavi ipsos an essent Christiani.
Confitentes iterum ac tertio interrogavi, supplicium minatus; perseverantes
duci iussi. Neque enim dubitabam, qualecumque esset quod faterentur, pertinaciam
certe et inflexibilem obstinationem debere puniri. Fuerunt alii similis
amentiae quos, quia cives Romani erant, adnotavi in urbem remittendos.
Mox ipso tractatu, ut fieri solet, diffundente se crimine plures species
inciderunt.
Propositus est libellus sine auctore multorum
nomina continens. Qui negabant esse se Christianos aut fuisse, cum praeeunte
me deos appellarent et imagini tuae, quam propter hoc iusseram cum simulacris
numinum adferri, ture et vino supplicaarent, praeterea maledicerent Christo,
quorum nihil posse cogi dicuntur qui sunt re vera Christiani, dimittendos
putavi. Alii ab indice nominati esse se Christianos dixerunt et mox negaverunt;
fuisse quidem, sed desisse, quidam ante triennium, quidam ante plures
annos, non nemo etiam ante viginti. Hi quoque omnes et imaginem tuam deorumque
simulacra venerati sunt et Christo male dixerunt.
Adfirmabant autem hanc fuisse summam vel
culpae suae vel erroris, quod essent soliti stato die ante lucem convenire
carmenque Christo quasi deo dicere secum in vicem seque sacramento non
in scelus aliquod obstringere, sed ne furta, ne latrocinia, ne adulteria,
committerent, ne fidem fallerent, ne depositum appellati abnegarent: quibus
peractis morem sibi discedendi fuisse rursusque coeundi ad capiendum cibum,
promiscuum tamen et innoxium; quod ipsum facere desisse post edictum meum,
quo secundum mandata tua hetaerias esse vetueram. Quo magis necessarium
credidi ex duabus ancillis, quae ministrae dicebantur, quid esset veri et
per tormenta quaerere. Nihil aliud inveni quam superstitionem pravam, immodicam.
Ideo dilata cognitione ad consulendum
te decurri. Visa est enim mihi res digna consultatione, maxime propter
periclitantium numerum; multi enim omnis aetatis, omnis ordinis, utriusque
sexus etiam, vocantur in periculum et vocabuntur Neque civitates tantum,
sed vicos etiam atque agros superstitionis istius contagio pervagata est;
quae videtur sisti et corrigi posse. Certe satis constat prope iam desolata
templa coepisse celebrari et sacra sollemnia diu intermissa repeti pastumque
venire victimarum, cuius adhuc rarissimus emptor inveniebatur. Ex quo
facile est opinari, quae turba hominum emendari possit, si sit paenitentiae
locus.
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Pliny to the Emperor Trajan
Ep. 10.96
It is my custom, O lord, to refer
all questionable issues to you. For who is more capable of resolving my
doubts and instructing my ignorance?
I have never been present at a
formal inquiry of “Christ-niks.” Consequently, I do not know the nature
or the extent of the sanctions usually administered against them, nor the
grounds for opening a formal inquiry and how far it should be pressed.
Nor am I at all sure whether any distinction should be made between them
on the basis of age, or whether young people and adults should be treated
identically, whether a pardon ought to be granted to anyone retracting his
beliefs, or if he has once professed being a “Christ-niks,” he shall gain
nothing by renouncing it; and whether it is the mere label which is actionable,
even if not guilty of a crime, or rather the crimes associated with the
name.
In the meantime, this is the
approach I have taken with everyone brought before me on the charge of
being “Christ-niks”: I have asked them in person if they are “Christ-niks”;
and if they admit it, I repeat the question a second and third time with
a warning of the sanction awaiting them. If they persist, I order them
to be led away for execution. For, whatever the nature of their admission,
I am convinced that their stubbornness and unshakeable obstinacy should
not go unpunished. Others as fanatical who are citizens of Rome I have
listed to be remanded to "the City" for trial.
Now that I have begun to deal
with this problem, as so often happens, the charges are becoming more
widespread and increasing in variety. An anonymous writing has circulated
which contains the names of several accused individuals. From these, I
considered dismissing any who denied that they were or ever had been “Christ-niks”
when they had recited after me an invocation of the gods and made offerings
of wine and incense to your statue—which I ordered brought into court
for this purpose along with the images of the gods—and further reviled
the name of Christ: none of which, I understand, any true “Christ-niks”
can be induced to do. Others, whose names were given to me by an informant,
first admitted the charge and then denied it; they said that they had ceased
to be “Christ-niks” two or more years before, and some of them even twenty years ago. They all venerated your statue and the images of the gods in
the same way as the others, and cursed the name of Christ.
They also declared
that the totality of their guilt or error amounted to no more than this:
they had met regularly before dawn on a certain day to chant verses antiphonally
amongst themselves in honor of Christ as if to a god, and also to bind
themselves with an oath, not in a criminal conspiracy, but to abstain from
fraud, banditry, and adulteration, to commit no breach of trust, and not to
renege on a deposit. After completing this foolishness, it was their
custom to disperse and reassemble later to take food of an common and innocuous
type; but they had in fact given up this practice since my edict, issued
on your instructions, which banned all associations. This made me decide
it was all the more necessary to extract the truth from two female slaves—whom
they call "ministers"—by means of torture. I found nothing but a degenerate
sort of superstition carried to immoderate lengths.
I have, therefore, put off
any further consideration awaiting your counsel. The matter seems worthy
of your consideration, especially in light of the number of persons at
risk. For numerous persons of every age and every class, both genders,
are being brought to trial, and this is likely to continue. It is not
only the town, but villages and countryside as well which are infected
through contact with this perverse superstition. I think that it is still
possible for it to be checked and directed to better ends, for there is no
doubt that people have begun to throng the temples, which had been almost
entirely abandoned for a long time. And the sacred rites which had been
allowed to lapse are again being performed, and the flesh of sacrificial
meat is on sale everywhere, though until recently hardly anyone was buying
it. It is easy to infer from this that a great many people could be rehabilitated
if they were given an opportunity to recant.
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