| Cornelius Tacitus was a Roman
historian who lived circa 56-120 AD. He is believed to have been born in
France or Gaul into a provincial aristocratic family. He became a
senator, a consul, and eventually governor of Asia. Tacitus wrote at
least four historic treatises. Around 115 AD, he published Annals in
which he explicitly states that Nero prosecuted the Christians in order
to draw attention away from himself for Rome's devastating fire of 64
AD. In that context, he mentions Christus who was put to death by
Pontius Pilate. On July, 19th, 64 CE, a fire started in Rome and
burned for nine days, finally destroying or damaging almost
three-quarters of the city, including numerous public buildings. Rumors
spread that the fire had been planned by Nero. And according to Tacitus,
to put an end to such rumors, Nero blaimed the disastor on the
Christians.
Such indeed were the precautions of human wisdom.
The next thing was to seek means of propitiating the gods, and
recourse was had to the Sibylline books, by the direction of which
prayers were offered to Vulcanus, Ceres, and Proserpina. Juno, too,
was entreated by the matrons, first, in the Capitol, then on the
nearest part of the coast, whence water was procured to sprinkle the
fane and image of the goddess. And there were sacred banquets and
nightly vigils celebrated by married women. But all human efforts,
all the lavish gifts of the emperor, and the propitiations of the
gods, did not banish the sinister belief that the conflagration was
the result of an order. Consequently, to get rid of the report, Nero
fastened the guilt and inflicted the most exquisite tortures on a
class hated for their abominations, called Christians by the
populace. Christus, from whom the name had its origin, suffered the
extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius at the hands of one of
our procurators, Pontius Pilatus, and a most mischievous
superstition, thus checked for the moment, again broke out not only
in Judaea, the first source of the evil, but even in Rome, where all
things hideous and shameful from every part of the world find their
centre and become popular. Accordingly, an arrest was first made of
all who pleaded guilty; then, upon their information, an immense
multitude was convicted, not so much of the crime of firing the
city, as of hatred against mankind. Mockery of every sort was added
to their deaths. Covered with the skins of beasts, they were torn by
dogs and perished, or were nailed to crosses, or were doomed to the
flames and burnt, to serve as a nightly illumination, when daylight
had expired. Nero offered his gardens for the spectacle, and was
exhibiting a show in the circus, while he mingled with the people in
the dress of a charioteer or stood aloft on a car. Hence, even for
criminals who deserved extreme and exemplary punishment, there arose
a feeling of compassion; for it was not, as it seemed, for the
public good, but to glut one man's cruelty, that they were being
destroyed.
(Tacitus, Annales, 15, 44)
|