His first sentence concerning them is, "I have never been
present at the trials of Christians." This mention of the name of
Christians, without any preparatory explanation, shows that it was a
term familiar both to the writer of the letter and the person to whom it
was addressed. Had it not been so, Pliny would naturally have begun his
letter by informing the emperor that he had met with a certain set of
men in the province called Christians.
Here then is a very singular evidence of the progress of the Christian
religion in a short space. It was not fourscore years after the
crucifixion of Jesus when Pliny wrote this letter; nor seventy years
since the apostles of Jesus began to mention his name to the Gentile
world. Bithynia and Pontus were at a great distance from Judea, the
centre from which the religion spread; yet in these provinces
Christianity had long subsisted, and Christians were now in such numbers
as to lead the Roman governor to report to the emperor that they were
found not only in cities, but in villages and in open countries; of all
ages, of every rank and condition; that they abounded so much as to have
produced a visible desertion of the temples; that beasts brought to
market for victims had few purchasers; that the sacred solemnities were
much neglected:--circumstances noted by Pliny for the express purpose of
showing to the emperor the effect and prevalency of the new institution.
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