Pliny the Younger

61CE-113CE

Timeline of Pliny the Younger and Catholic tradition.

• According to Tacitus the Great Fire in Rome was blamed on Chrestians in 64CE (Also alleged start of Christian persecution.) Though many confessed and ratted out their companions, making early Christians, terrorists.
• St. Peter dies on Vatican Hill in Rome 64CE.
• Pope Linus (10CE-80CE). Papacy given in 67CE. Catholics say he was martyred in 76CE, other sources say he died in 80CE. In Rome.
• Pliny was sent to Rome ~75CE by his preceptor in charge of his education at a young age (~14) and became a student of Quintilian (35CE-100CE).
• Pliny became close to his famous Uncle Pliny the Elder (23CE-79CE). Pliny the Elder left his estate to Pliny the Younger, when Pliny the Younger was around 17. Pliny went on to Publish the Elder’s Natural History.
• Pope Anacletus (16CE-92CE) begins Papacy 80CE. Born and Died in Rome.
• Pliny is one of the Judges of the centumviral court (civil court) ~81CE.
• Pliny is a Staff Officer in Syria ~81CE.
• Pliny is an Officer of the noble order of knights ~mid 80CE's
• Pliny is the Quaestor attached to the Emperor's staff (Public official). 88CE-89CE.
• Pliny is elected Tribune of the People, the most important check on the power of the Roman Senate and magistrates. 91CE.
• Pope Clement (??-100CE) begins Papacy 92CE. Died in Crimea (Roman Empire)
• Pliny became Prefect of the Military Treasury 94CE-96CE.
• Pliny became Prefect of the Treasury of Saturn 98CE-100CE.
• Pope Evaristus (??-108CE) begins Papacy 100CE. Died in Rome.
• Pliny became one of the two members of the Suffect consul (the two highest elected public officials of the Roman Republic) 100CE.
• Pliny is the publicly elected Augur (Priest and official) 103CE-104CE.
• Pliny is overseer of the banks of the Tiber 104CE-106CE.
• Pliny is a three-time member of the judicial council of Trajan 104CE-107CE.
• Pope Alexander I (??-119CE) begins Papacy 108CE. Died in Rome.
• Pliny was the imperial governor of Bithynia 110CE-112CE.
• Pliny wrote in 111CE to Emperor Trajan. The information he provides shows that not only he was unfamiliar, but he believes the Emperor doesn't have this information.

Points of interest

• By the time Pliny the Younger was 18, legend says Peter was martyred on Vatican Hill, and a new Pope was in charge.
• When Pliny the Younger reports that he's never participated in the trials of Christians, the church claims there have been 6 Popes.
• Rome was in a city that Pliny the Younger had an intense familiarity with, evidenced by his service in the Military, as a Lawyer, Judge, elected official, a representative of the people, and a Priest.
• Pliny appears to know their name: "I have never participated in trials of Christians." but not much else.
• Pliny's legal and political career happened during the alleged "Christian persecution" of Domitian's reign (81CE-96CE).
• Rome was the central hub for Christianity according to Papal tradition, but Pliny appears to be encountering them for the first time in what is now modern day Turkey.
• Pliny thinks that even though they're spreading, they're small enough in size that they can "check it and cure it."
• Pliny says that before dawn they sing a hymn to Christ as to (a) god, share food, sing hymns, and vow to not commit crime. And true Christians refused to worship other gods.
• After torturing two deaconesses he says "I discovered nothing else but depraved, excessive superstition."
• If Pliny had known that of the Christ/Messiah to Judaism then superstition is a bizarre term given Judaism's longevity and participation in wars.
• What we could have expected but isn't mentioned:
  • Jesus
    Judea
    Judaism
    Disciples
    Resurrection
    Execution or method
    Messiah
    Pontius Pilate
    Meaning of Christ
    Gospels (supposedly in circulation)
• Pliny's friend Tacitus gets information that Pliny doesn't, without resorting to Torture.
  • Spoiler alert:Tacitus didn't have the information either; the passage about Christus is interpolated.

Pliny, Letters 10.96-97

Pliny the Younger's letter to 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.