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1. It is not quoted nor referred to by any Christian writers before Eusebius, wlio flourished at the beginning of the fourth century, and afterwards.

2. This paragraph was wanting in the copies of Josephus, which were seen by Photius in the ninth century.

3. It interrupts the course of the narration.

4. It is unsuitable to the general character of Josephus, who is allowed not to have been a Christian.

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It is here said that Jesus was a wise man, if he may be called a man,' so that the writer of the paragraph was uncertain whether Jesus was not somewhat greater, and a more extraordinary person than a mere man. 'He performed wonderful works: or, was a worker of wonders.' The original word, rendered wonders, is equivalent to miracles in Josephus and in Eusebius, who first quoted this paragraph. And if Josephus had ascribed miracles to Jesus, he must have owned him to be a teacher come from God. Afterwards it is said: This was the Christ.' That is the genuine and only meaning of the Greek words, O Xpi5os autos ny. And every thing else in that paragraph confirms that sense.

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And when Pilate, at the instigation of the chief men among us, had condemned him to the cross, they who before had conceived an affection for him, did not cease to adhere to him. For on the third day he appeared to them alive again, the divine prophets having foretold these and many other wonderful things concerning him.' All very Christian. All very Christian. And every thing here said is in all our copies of Josephus, and in the first quotation made by Eusebius, and in all the quotations since made by other ancient writers.

it.

That this last clause, the divine prophets having foretold these, and many other wonderful things concerning him,' was always in this testimony, we are assured by Eusebius who so quotes And presently after quoting it, makes a remark upon the passage; which shews he so read it. For he presently adds: And the book of the Acts of the apostles assures us, that many ⚫ thousand Jews believed him to be the Christ of God, whom the prophets had foretold.' See Acts xxi. 20.

a

How Christian is all this! And said likewise to be agreeable to the predictions of the divine prophets! which is suitable to many texts of the New Testament, and even resembles them: Luke xxiv. 25, 26, 44; Acts xx. 22, 23; Rom. i. 1-4; 1 Cor. xv. 4. Throughout all the works of Josephus there is not any the least notice taken of Christ, or the Christians, or their affairs. But in this short passage are inserted almost all the articles concerning Jesus Christ, which were in the ancient Christian creeds, except his miraculous nativity, and his ascension to heaven: ⚫ suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried: the third day he rose again

from the dead."

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And, to complete this testimony, the great progress of the Christian religion in the world is here asserted, and that this Jesus had brought over to him many Jews and many Gentiles.' The steadiness of his followers in their zeal for him is also plainly intimated. They who had • conceived an affection for him did not cease to adhere to him. And the sect of the Christians, so called from him, still subsists.' Which are the expressions of a person who lived some good while after the rise of Christianity, and later than the time of Josephus. Nor is it any great wonder that his followers should be so attached to him, since they were men who received the truth with pleasure, and had at first given up themselves to him as a teacher of it. The bishop of Gloucester therefore, in considering this passage, aptly calls it preaching up of Christ,' and assigns a reason why Josephus should studiously decline the so doing: and therefore makes no scruple to call this passage spurious.

5. If Josephus were the author of this paragraph, it would be reasonable to expect in him frequent mention of Christ's miracles: whereas he is every where else silent about them.

All these considerations were mentioned formerly. But I have now made enlargements under the fourth. And I beg leave to add here a thought or two more.

6. The word Christ, or Messiah, appears not in any place in all the works of Josephus, excepting two: namely, the paragraph which we have been considering, which is now in the

a

Μαρτυρεί δε και ή των Πράξεων των Αποςόλων γραφη, ότι πολλαι μυριάδες ησαν Ιεδαίων ανδρων πεπεισμένων αυτόν είναι τον Χρισον το Θεό, τον ύπο των προφητών κατηγγελμένον. Dem. Ev. p. 124. D.

VOL. IV.

b The Divine Legation of Moses. B. v. Sect. 4, vol. 2, p. 432, &c.

eighteenth book of his Antiquities; and another in the twentieth book of the same Antiquities, where is mention made of James, the brother of Jesus who is called Christ.'

a

b

This appears to me a good argument that these two passages are interpolations. For Josephus had many, yea innumerable occasions, for mentioning that word, and speaking of the expected Messiah. But that word is not to be found any where in him, excepting these two passages where he is made to speak of Jesus Christ. He must have designedly and studiously avoided that expression. And it is incredible that he should bring it in for the sake of Jesus, our Saviour, for whom he cannot be supposed to have had any favourable regard.

7. Finally, to conclude, it appears to me to be the wisdom and the interest of Christians, to adhere to and improve the genuine works of Josephus, and to maintain their integrity, instead of attempting to vindicate passages which are so justly suspected to be interpolations.

His works are valuable and useful, and highly deserving the esteem of Christians upon divers accounts.

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d

First, his rehearsal, or paraphrase of the books of the Old Testament, as it is called by Isidore of Pelusium, is very valuable, notwithstanding some alterations by way of omission, or addition.

Secondly, his account of the state of things among the Jewish people from the conquest of Judea by Pompey to the commencement of the war, and during the ministry of our Saviour and his apostles, is very valuable, indeed above all price.

Thirdly, his testimony to the fulfilment of our Saviour's predictions concerning the destruction of the temple and city of Jerusalem, and the overthrow of the Jewish nation by Vespasian and Titus, is also invaluable, and has always been so esteemed by all Christians in general.

e

Such a testimony to all these several things from a learned Jew, contemporary with the apostles of Jesus, zealous for the law, and in some respects an enemy to us, deserves the attentive regard, and high esteem of all friends to Christianity.

* Και παραγαγων εις αυτό τον αδελφον Ιησε το λεγόμενο Χρισε, Ιακωβος όνομα αυτώ, και τινας έτερες. Ant. 20, c. ix. sect. 1, p. 976.

b I understand the learned author of the Dissertation to allow this where he says, p. 34, 35, Not as the adversaries of this passage on the one hand, or its advocates on the other, equally misled by Christian notions, have generally 'interpreted it: This was the Christ,' or the person said to 'be the Christ,' viz. as a Jewish appellation or title of office

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1

TESTIMONIES

OF

ANCIENT HEATHEN AUTHORS.

CHAP. IX.

PLINY THE YOUNGER, AND TRAJAN.

THE LETTER OF PLINY THE YOUNGER TO TRAJAN CONCERNING THE CHRISTIANS, AND
TRAJAN'S RESCRIPT, WITH NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS, AND AN ACCOUNT OF
THE PERSECUTION IN THE TIME OF THAT EMPEROR, GENERALLY
RECKONED THE HEATHEN PERSECUTION.

I. The history of Pliny, and the time of his provincial government. II. Pliny's letter to Trajan, and Trajan's rescript. III. Eusebius's account of the persecution in the reign of Trajan. IV. Pliny's letter rehearsed, with notes and observations. V. Trajan's rescript rehearsed, with notes and observations. VI. Whether Trajan did by any edict put an end to the persecution. VII. The judgments of divers learned men upon the preceding letter and rescript. VIII. The characters of Pliny and Trajan represented with freedom, candour, and impartiality. IX. Observations, shewing the uses of the two foregoing epistles.

b

I. CAIUS PLINIUS CECILIUS SECUNDUS, or Pliny the younger, son of Lucius Cæcilius, and a sister of the elder Pliny, by whom he was adopted for his son, was born at Como, near Milan, in the year of Christ 61 or 62. He was prætor under Domitian, and afterwards præfect of the treasury of Saturn; which trust seems to have been conferred on him jointly by Nerva and Trajan. He was consul in the third year of the reign of Trajan, in the year of our Lord 100; when he pronounced his celebrated panegyric upon that emperor. He was also augur, and for a while governor of Pontus and Bithynia. It is very probable that he did not survive Trajan, who died on the tenth of August, in the year 117. It is more reasonable to think that he died several years before him; forasmuch as there is nothing extant, either in his epistles, or elsewhere, that should induce us to think he lived long after his provincial government.

e

Pliny had not the title of proconsul, but was sent into the province by the emperor, as his lieutenant and proprætor, with proconsular power; as appears from some ancient inscriptions still remaining.

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Vid. Ep. L. x. ep. 109, et 113.

e

Pagi Ann. 117. num. vi. Basnag. ann. 117. num. ii.
C. PLINIUS

CAECILIUS. SECUNDUS

COS. AUGUR. LEGAT. PRO. PRAET.
PROVINC. PONTI. CONSULARI. PO
TESTATE. IN. EAM. PROVINCIAM. AB.
JMP. CAESARE. NERVA TRAIANO
AUG. GERMANICO. MISSUS

Ap. Gruter, pag. 454.3. Et. Conf. p. 1028.

But learned men are divided about the time of his government, and consequently of his letter to Trajan, which must be alleged presently. The great Joseph Scaliger acknowledged · the difficulty of this point.

b

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Some think he went into the province in the year 101, and that the persecution which the Christians underwent in his time, happened in the year 103. Others suppose that he got into the province in the latter part of the year 103, and left it in the summer of 105, staying there about eighteen months; which term of his government is generally agreed to. Basnage and cardinal Noris were inclined to think that Pliny went thither in the year 109, and left it in 111. Pagi's computation makes it still later: for he says that Pliny did not enter into the province before the year 110. Le Clerc, in his Ecclesiastical History of the first two centuries, follows Pagi, placing Pliny's letter concerning the Christians in the year 111.

d

f

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In order to form a judgment concerning this point, some things may be observed by us. In the first place it is generally allowed that the emperor Trajan was at Rome all the time that Pliny was in the province; which appears to be very evident from his letters written to Trajan in that space. This does not favour the early date of Pliny's governments; for at that time Trajan must have been engaged in the Dacian wars. Secondly, another thing, which much weakens the supposition of that early date, is this: Pliny was consul in the year of our Lord 100; but he did not go into his province the year after; several years passed between his consulship and his provincial government; as has been shewn by divers learned men.

g

Nevertheless I do not see sufficient reason to defer his government so long as some have done. And I am inclined to think that Pliny was sent into the province in the year 106, and left it in 108. I see no good reason to believe that Trajan was absent from Rome in that space of time. The Dacian wars, and the two triumphs for them, might be over by the end of the year 105, or the middle of 106.

We can perceive from Pliny's panegyric, pronounced in the beginning of September, in the year 100, that the war against the Dacians was even then designed by Trajan, and that, probably, preparations were then making for it.

k

m

The Dacian wars began in that same year, or ' in the year following, and lasted five years. They ended therefore in the year 105, or the beginning of 106.

A

In the year 102, Trajan obtained a signal, though difficult, victory over the Dacians, and triumphed at Rome upon that account in the year 103: of this there is full proof. The first war therefore was completed in two years. The second could not last much longer. After these wars Trajan staid a long while at Rome. For, though some learned men have

a Vid. ejus Animadversiones in Euseb. Chron. p. 207. That was the opinion of James La Baune, editor of the ancient Panegyrists in usum Delphini. De Vitâ Plinii. It was likewise the opinion of Mr. Dodwell. Missus est in provinciam Bithyniam anno sequente, cr-Ita inciderit persecutio illa Plinii in annum Domini, cIII. accuratissime. Dodw. Diss. Iren. i. § xvi.

c So Tillemont. Persécution de l'Eglise sous Trajan. art. iv. Hist. des Emp. Tom. 2. Which was also the opinion of J. Masson de Vitâ Plin. Jun. A. c. p. 129, &c.

d Currente anno injunctam esse Plinio Bithyniæ legationem, cum eruditissimo Norisio, probabilissimum existimamus. Basn. Ann. 109. num. ii.

Plinius igitur anno Christi centesimo decimo Bithyniam intravit. Pagi Crit. in Baron. ann. 102. num. vi.

Tandem supponendum, per totum illud temporis spatium, quo noster in provinciâ moratus est, Trajanum Romæ egisse. Quod certum ex lib. x. ep. 13, 14, 15, &c. Masson ubi supra. Cæterum recte Loydio observatum, totum illud tempus Trajanum Romæ egisse, quo Plinius in Bithynia fuit. Pagi ann. 102. num. viii. Vid. et Basnag. ann. 107. num. iii. Vid. Pagi Crit. in Baron. ann. 102. n. vii. viii. Basnag. ann. 109. num. ii.

h Optime facis, quod bellum Dacium scribere paras. Nam quæ tam recens, tai copiosa, tam lata, quæ denique tam poëtica materia? Dices immissa terris nova flumina, novos pontes fluminibus injectos-pulsum regià, pulsum etiam

vitâ, regem nihil desperantem. Super hæc, actos bis triumphos; quorum alter ex invitâ gente primus, alter novissimus fuit. Plin. ad Caninium. Ep. 4. L. 8. Conf. Dion. Cass. I. 68. p. 1123-1133. ed. Reimar.

Quod si quis barbarus rex eo insolentiæ furorisque processerit, ut iram tuam indignationemque mereatur, næ ille, sive interfuso mari, seu fluminibus immensis, seu præcipiti monte defenditur, omnia hæc tam prona, tamque cedentia virtutibus tuis sentiet, ut subsedisse montes, flumina exaruisse, interceptum mare, illatasque sibi non esse classes nostras, sed terras ipsas, arbitretur. Paneg. cap. 16.

k Primum ab octobri mense. A. U. C. 853 [A. D. 100] usque ad finem anni 855 duravit, triumpho acto sequenti anno 856. Reimar. ad Dion. J 130.

Anno præterito Trajanus expeditionem in Daeos susceperat, in quo magna quidem cædes hostium facta, multo tamen sanguine Romanorum victoria constitit. Basnag. ann. 102, ii. Vid. et Ann. 101. i.

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Επράχθη δε μοι το έργον τέτο εν ενιαυτοις είσω π8 πέντε. Trajan. ap. Julian. Cæs. p. 327. D. ed. Spanheim.

n Trajanus hoc anno e Dacia Romam redux de Decebalo Dacorum rege triumphavit, ut certum facit nummus a Card. Norisio in Epistolâ Consulari ex Thesauro Mediceo productus. Pagi ann. 103. viii. et Basn. ann. 103. i.

Quare biennium in id insumtum, Reimar. ad Dion,

p. 1130.

a

b

thought otherwise, it seems to me to have been well shewn by Pagi, and Basnage, that Trajan did not go into the East before the year 112. During that stay at Rome he received the solemn embassies of divers eastern princes, raised many new buildings, and repaired others, built his forum, and erected the famous column, which was not finished and dedicated before the year 112 or 113.

What has been already said must be sufficient to render it probable that Trajan was at Rome in the year 107, and afterwards.

d

Another argument for the time of Pliny's government offers itself here from the martyrdom of Ignatius, which must be supposed to have some connection with the rescript of Trajan, to be produced hereafter, and which cannot be removed from the tenth of Trajan, and the hundred and seventh of our Lord, where it is placed by Eusebius in his chronicle, and by Jerom in the chapter of Ignatius, in his book of Illustrious Men. Eusebius could not be mistaken about the time of the martyrdom of a bishop of a city so near his own.

And by the Acts of Ignatius, which we have, his martyrdom is placed in the time of Sura and Senecio, who were consuls in the tenth of Trajan, and the year of Christ 107.

Those Acts indeed are not sincere and incorrupt, nor, perhaps, of the highest antiquity. In them it is supposed that Ignatius was condemned at Antioch by Trajan in person, and sent by him to Rome; which is inconsistent with the just mentioned consulship: at which time Trajan was not at Antioch, as was before shewn. Nor does Eusebius, or Jerom after him, say any thing of Ignatius having been condemned by Trajan himself; a remarkable circumstance, which, if true, could not have been omitted by writers, who have enlarged so much in their accounts of this bishop and martyr. Moreover, if Trajan had been at Antioch, Ignatius would have suffered in that city. His being sent to Rome is an argument that Trajan was there. So now, as we shall see presently, Pliny having some Christians brought before him, who were citizens, he sent them to Rome, where Trajan certainly was at that time. And that Trajan was at Rome, when Ignatius suffered there, is expressly said by a Christian writer of the ninth century.

k

g

Pliny, then, was sent from Rome in the summer of the year 106. He went by the way of Ephesus, and arrived in Bithynia" on the eighteenth of September, which was the genuine, or natural birthday of Trajan. He seems also in one of his epistles' to speak of the same birthday in another year. Whilst he was in the province he twice celebrated the day of Trajan's accession, or the anniversary of his empire. The first time may have been on the 27th of January, in the year 107; the next, or second, on the same day of January, in the year 108. It is likely that he did not leave the province before the summer of that year. Consequently he was there eighteen months, or longer. According to this computation, Pliny's letter to Trajan, concerning the Christians, was written in 107, and the emperor's rescript, or answer to it, in the same year. II. The letter of Pliny is in these words.

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Pliny to the emperor Trajan wisheth health and 'happiness.

"It" is my constant custom, Sir, to refer myself to you in all matters concerning which I

a Ann. 105. ii. iii. et 112. iii.

Ann, 107. iii. et 112. ii. iii.

C Pagi ann. 104. ii. 113. i. Basn. ann. 113. i. Ejus certum tempus habemus in Actis Ignatii, Consula tum Suræ et Senesionis, annum Domini cvII. Dodw. Diss. Cypr. xi. sect. 18. Vid. et Basnag. ann. 107. v—— -viii. And the Credibility, &c. Vol. i. p. 315.

e Nos vero sententiæ sumus ejusmodi, post Eusebium nata esse Acta hæc Ignatii. Basnag. Ann. 107. viii.

f Quod si audiatur Ado, Romæ adfuit Trajanus, cum excessit Ignatius, ut legitur in libello de Festivitatibus Apostolorum. Basnag. ann. 107. viii.

Vid. 1. x. ep. 26. et 28.

Rursus, quum transissem in orarias naviculas, contrariis ventis retentus, aliquanto tardius quam speraveram, id est, xv. Calend. Octobris, Bithyniam intravi. Non possum tamen de morâ queri, cum mihi contigerit, quod erat auspicatissimum, natalem tuum in provincia celebrare. L. x. ep. 28. diem illum, triplici gaudio lætum, qui principem abstulit pessimum, dedit optimum, meliorem optimo genuit. Paneg. cap. 92.

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i Opto, Domine, et hunc natalem, et plurimos alios, quam felicissimos agas. L. x. ep. 89. Vid. et ep. 90.

* Diem, Domine, quo servâsti imperium, dum suscipis, quantâ mereris lætitiâ celebravimus. &c. L. x. ep. 60.

Quantâ religione ac lætitiâ commilitones cum provincialibus, te præeunte, diem imperii mei celebraverint, libenter, mi Secunde carissime, cognovi ex literis tuis. Ep. 61. Vid. et ep. 103, et 104.

C. Plinius Trajana Imp. S. Lib. x. ep. xcvii.

in Solenne est mihi, Domine, omnia, de quibus dubito, ad te referre. Quis enim potest melius vel cunctationem meam regere, vel ignorantiam instruere? Cognitionibus Christiancrum interfui nunquam. Ideo nescio quid et quâtenus aut puniri soleat, aut quæri. Nec mediocriter hæsitavi, sitre aliquod discrimen ætatum, an quamlibet teneri nihil a robustioribus differant: deturne pœnitentiæ venia, an et qui omnino Christianus fuit, desiisse non prosit: nomen ipsum, etiamsi flagitiis careat, an flagitia cohærentia 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

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