Page:The early Christians in Rome (1911).djvu/89

 But now in his new government he was brought face to face with grave difficulties occasioned by the practices and teaching of this Christianity. And when he discovered in addition how numerous a body these followers of the forbidden religion were, Pliny set himself in good earnest to investigate the Christian question.

More than fifty years had passed since S. Peter first preached the gospel and laid the foundation stories of the Christian Church in these northern provinces of Asia Minor. The religion of Jesus had rapidly taken root in these districts. This we gather from the First Epistle of Peter, which he wrote to the followers of Jesus in the north of Asia Minor from Rome in the closing years of his ministry; and now Pliny found in his province no novel faith growing up, but a faith which had taken deep root in the hearts of the population, not only in the towns, but also in the more remote villages (neque enim civitates tantum sed vicos etiam atque agros superstitionis istius contagio pervagata est), with the result that the old pagan cult was being gradually abandoned. The temples were being fast deserted (prope jam desolata templa), the sacred rites were being given up, and what evidently excited bitter complaints on the part of the traders who suffered, there was no longer any market for the fodder of the beasts sacrificed (pastum victimarum quarum adhuc rarissimus emptor inveniebatur).

From the report of Pliny to the Emperor, it is evident that there had been several judicial inquiries (cognitiones), conducted by him as the responsible governor of Bithynia and Pontus, into the charges brought against the adherents of the unlawful faith.

In the first "cognitio" the more prominent Christians were brought before him. These all at once avowed their religion. Three times they were interrogated by Pliny. As they persisted in the avowal that they were Christians, the provincials were at once condemned to death. Those who claimed Roman citizenship were sent to Rome for their sentences to be confirmed.

The publicity of these first inquiries stimulated further accusations; various degrees of guilt were alleged, and subse