Tacitus, Annals, 15.20­-23, 33­-45. Latin Text, Study Aids with Vocabulary, and Commentary, 2013a

from his own perceived culpability. For this purpose, the Christians came
in handy: Christianity was spreading through the Roman empire at the
time, with two of its founding figures, Peter and Paul, still active. Legend
even had them perish in Nero’s persecution. The sect quickly acquired a
foul reputation because of its secrecy and idiosyncratic rites, such as the
holy communion, during which worshippers consumed the body and
blood of Christ, which an uncomprehending public turned into lurid and
slanderous charges of ritual infanticide and cannibalism. This is the earliest
reference to Christians in Roman historiography.
Nero’s persecution set a dangerous precedent. Rives draws out the
implications of this incident for the fate of Christians in imperial times:
‘This episode provided a very clear precedent that being a Christian was in
itself enough to justify condemnation to death. Thereafter, if anyone came
before a Roman governor with a charge that someone was a Christian, the
governor would have been fully justified in following this precedent and
condemning that person, provided that he or she did nothing to disprove
the allegation.’ At the same time, ‘Roman officials nevertheless had
considerable leeway in how they responded to particular situations.’ 186
The delayed subject is greatly emphasised after the
long list: all of the methods Nero tried to crush this infamia (scandalous
rumour) were to no avail, there it is still.
quin iussum [sc. esse]quin = ut non. A very compact,
Tacitean expression of the belief that persisted. The position of iussum adds
emphasis, whereas the passive construction leaves it open who actually
gave the order, though the rumour under discussion clearly fingered Nero
as the culprit.
The advanced position of this phrase underlines Nero’s
desperation to eliminate the suspicions which fell upon him. The verb aboleo
(‘to demolish, destroy’) is very powerful, conveying Nero’s desperation to
crush the rumour.
This verb, here meaning ‘to put someone up on a false charge’
leaves us in no doubt as to Nero’s unscrupulous and hypocritical conduct,
186 Rives (2007) 198–99.