[99:5] E. Th. Klette, _Nero and the Christians_, who relies for his conclusions on sources prior to Tacitus, repudiates the scapegoat theory. He contends that Nero, influenced by Jewish intrigue, publicly punished the Christians as Christians and because of the popular suspicions against them, so as to make it appear that the burning of Rome was due to the wrath of the gods. [100:1] Juvenal, _Sat._, i., 155 ff.; Seneca, _Ep._, 14; Clement, _To Corinth_, 6; Euseb., ii., c. 25; Orosius, vii., c. 7. _Cf._ Ramsay, _Ch. in Rom. Emp._ 226 ff. [100:2] Sulp. Severus, _Chron._ ii., c. 29; _Transl. and Rep._, iv., 6. [100:3] Mommsen, Sandy, Hardy, Ramsay. [100:4] Mommsen, v., 523 n. [100:5] Sulp. Severus, _Chron._, ii., c. 30, 6; _Transl. and Rep._, iv., 6-8. [101:1] Euseb., _Eccl. Hist._, iii., c. 18; Dion Cass., lxvii., c. 14.; Suet., _Dom._, c. 15; _Transl. and Rep._, iv., 6. [101:2] Euseb., _Eccl. Hist._, iv., 26. [101:3] Hegesippus, quoted in Eusebius, _Eccl. Hist._, iii., c. 20; Tertullian; Clement of Rome, _1st Epistle_. [101:4] Melito of Sardica (c. 170), Lactantius, Eusebius, and the mediæval writers generally held that he was rather favourable to Christians. [101:5] Gieseler, Aubé, Overbeek, Uhlhorn, Keim and Renan held that Trajan began a new era unfavourable to Christians but Lightfoot, Hardy, and Ramsay explain it on the ground of political expediency. [101:6] Pliny wrote sixty letters to Trajan and Trajan made forty-eight replies. These have all been translated into English. Read letters 96 and 97. See _Transl. and Rep._, iv., No. 1, p. 8. [102:1] For an excellent discussion of the significance of the Trajan prosecutions, see Ramsay, _Ch. in Rom. Emp._, 190-225. [102:2] Authenticity of this document is doubted by Baur, Klein, Lipsius, Overbeek, Aubé, McGiffert, etc., but defended by Ramsay, Lightfoot, Mommsen, Allard, Funk, Ranke, Uhlhorn, Moeller, etc. See _Transl. and Rep._, iv., No. 1, p. 10. [102:3] Euseb., _Eccl. Hist._, iv., c. 13, 26; Tertullian; Harnack, article on Pius in Herzog-Hauck, _Real Encyc._ [103:1] Euseb., _Eccl. Hist._, v., c. 1; _Transl. and Rep._, iv., No. 1, p. 11. [103:2] This period saw seventeen different Emperors. [103:3] See Eusebius on this reign, _Eccl. Hist._, v., c. 9-24. [103:4] Clement of Alexandria wrote: "Many martyrs are daily burned, crucified, and beheaded before our eyes." Origen's father was among them. At Scillite in Numidia 200 suffered. _Transl. and Rep._, iv., No. 1, p. 20. At Carthage two young women were given to wild beasts. Tertullian refers to other persecutions. Euseb., _Eccl. Hist._, vi., c. 1, 7. [104:1] Moeller, i., 191. [104:2] Euseb., _Eccl. Hist._, vi., c. 28; Origen, _On Martyrdom_. [104:3] Euseb., _Eccl. Hist._, vi., c. 34. [104:4] The text of this decree has been lost. Two later decrees were issued--the first exiling Church officers, the second condemning them to death. See Gregg, _The Decian Persecution_.