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

it, ‘there is no question that the Christians are to be understood under the
name Chrestiani, for in what follows Tacitus traces them back to their founder
Christus.’ 190
As Miller points out, the imperfect appellabat is perhaps best
translated as ‘was beginning to call’: ‘The name originated (Acts 11.26) in
Antioch, some twenty years before this date.’ 191 Even from Tacitus’ point
of view, the Christians were still a fairly novel sect that just began to rise
to public consciousness. About half a century after Nero’s persecution, his
friend, fellow-litterateur, and correspondent Pliny the Younger asked the
emperor Trajan what to do with Christians while he was governor of the
province of Pontus/Bithynia from 111–113. The most famous letter and
Trajan’s response (Letters 10.96–97) are well worth reading as background
information, and are available in English translation here:
http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/pliny.html.
44.3 auctor nominis eius Christus Tiberio imperitante per procuratorem
exitiabilis superstitio rursum erumpebat, non modo per Iudaeam,
originem eius mali, sed per urbem etiam quo cuncta undique atrocia aut
A brief Tacitean digression to explain the sect’s
origin and growth ‘with documentary precision.’ 192 This is the earliest
reference to the execution of Christ by order of Pilate in pagan literature.
An ablative absolute.
imperitante per procuratorem Pontium Pilatum supp The
alliteration here is very pronounced, adding colour and interest to the
Latin and perhaps stressing the lowliness of this religion’s founder from
190 Lichtenberg (1996) 2170.
191 Miller (1973) 96. Her reference is to the Acts of the Apostles, the fifth book of the New
Testament. In the Vulgate version of the Bible, the chapter (referring to events in AD
40) reads as follows: et annum totum conversati sunt in ecclesia et docuerunt turbam multam
ita ut cognominarentur primum Antiochiae discipuli Christiani (‘And they conversed there
in the church a whole year: and they taught a great multitude, so that at Antioch
the disciples were first named Christians’). Text and translation from http://www.
latinvulgate.com/.
192 Syme (1958) II 469.