Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1827) Vol 2.djvu/188

 lians. 170 • THE DECLINE AND FALL CHAP, and master with the government of Bithynia and the chris- by what rule of justice or of law he should direct his conduct in the execution of an office the most repug- nant to his humanity. Pliny had never assisted at any judicial proceedings against the christians, with whose name alone he seems to be acquainted ; and he was to- tally uninformed with regard to the nature of their guilt, the method of their conviction, and the degree of their punishment. In this perplexity he had recourse to his usual expedient, of submitting to the wisdom of Trajan an impartial, and in some respects a favourable, account of the new superstition, requesting the empe- ror, that he would condescend to resolve his doubts, and to instruct his ignorance The life of Pliny had been employed in the acquisition of learning, and in the business of the world. Since the age of nineteen he had pleaded with distinction in the tribunals of Rome ■", filled a place in the senate, had been invested with the honours of the consulship, and had formed very numerous connections with every order of men, both in Italy and in the provinces. From /tis ignorance, therefore, we may derive some useful information. We may assure ourselves, that when he accepted the government of Bithynia, there were no general laws or decrees of the senate in force against the christians ; that neither Trajan nor any of his virtuous prede- cessors, whose edicts were received into the civil and criminal jurisprudence, had publicly declared their in- tentions concerning the new sect; and that, whatever proceedings had been carried on against the christians, there were none of sufficient weight and authority to establish a precedent for the conduct of a Roman magistrate. ' Plin. Epistol. x. 97, The learned Mosheim expresses himself (p. 147. 232.) with the highest approbation of Pliny's moderate and candid temper. Notwithstanding Dr. Lardner's suspicions, (see Jewish and Heathen Testi- monies, vol. ii. p. 46.) I am unable to discover any bigotry in his language or proceedings. "' Plin. Epist. V. 8. He pleaded his first cause A. D. 81 ; the year after thr famous eruptions of mount Vesuvius, in which his uncle lost his life.
 * Pontus. He soon found himself at a loss to determine