peror Trajan_

It is my rule, to refer to you all matters about which I have any doubt.
For who can be more capable of removing my scruples or of instructing my
ignorance?

I have never been present at any trials of Christians, and am,
therefore, ignorant of the reasons for which punishment is inflicted, as
well as of the examinations which it is proper to make of their guilt.
As to whether any difference is usually made with respect to the ages of
the guilty, or whether no distinction is to be observed between the
young and the old; whether repentance entitles them to a pardon, or
whether it is of no advantage to a man who has once been a Christian
that he has ceased to be one; whether the very profession of
Christianity unattended by any criminal act, or only the crimes that are
inherent in the profession are punishable--in all these points I am very
doubtful.

In the meantime, the method which I have observed towards those who have
been brought before me as Christians is this. I have interrogated them
as to whether they were Christians; if they confessed I repeated the
question twice again, adding threats at the same time; and if they still
persevered I ordered them to execution. For I was persuaded that
whatever the nature of their opinions might be, their pertinacity and
inflexible obstinacy ought certainly to be punished. Others also were
brought before me possessed by the same madness, but as they were Roman
citizens I ordered them to be sent to Rome. As this crime spread while
it was actually under prosecution, many fresh cases were brought up. An
anonymous paper was given me containing a charge against many persons.
Those who denied that they were Christians, or that they had ever been
so, repeated after me an invocation to the gods, offered wine and
incense before your statue, which for this purpose I had ordered to be
placed among the statues of the gods, and even reviled the name of
Christ; and so, as it is impossible to force those who are really
Christians to do any of these things, I thought it proper to dismiss
them. Others who had been accused confessed themselves at first to be
Christians, but immediately afterwards denied it; and others owned that
they had formerly been of that number, but had now forsaken their error.
All these worshipped your statue and the images of the gods, at the same
time reviling the name of Christ.

They affirmed that the whole of their guilt, or their error, had been a