“Trajan Letter to Pliny about Christians - Latin Text with English translation”
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Click here to read at earlychurchtexts.com in the original Latin (with dictionary lookup links). The English translation below is from from Pliny the Younger, Letters (The Harvard Classics. 1909–14). earlychurchtexts.com - is like an electronic encyclopedia of the first five centuries of Church History, with extensive links (subscription version only) to information on around 700 people and themes, and around 230 Church Councils; - has English translations (which on the subscription version of the site are placed alongside the original Greek and Latin, with dictionary lookup links) of important texts from the first five centuries of the life of the Church. The subscription version of the site also has an introduction to each text making it much easier to appreciate its context and significance, together with helpful background notes linked with the text, carefully prepared printable versions and many other helpful features. New texts are regularly added to the site. Try out the feature rich subscription version of the Early Church Texts website for just $5 for a trial period or $30 for a year. Click here for more information. Check out the video demo of the site. Click here to go to the Early Church Texts Home Page for the publicly available version of the site which has just the original Greek and Latin texts with dictionary lookup links. |
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You have adopted the right course, my dearest Secundus,
in investigating the charges against the Christians who were brought before you.
It is not possible to lay down any general rule for all such cases. Do not go
out of your way to look for them. If indeed they should be brought before you,
and the crime is proved, they must be punished; with the restriction, however,
that where the party denies he is a Christian, and shall make it evident that he
is not, by invoking our gods, let him (notwithstanding any former suspicion) be
pardoned upon his repentance. Anonymous informations ought not to be received in
any sort of prosecution. It is introducing a very dangerous precedent, and is
quite foreign to the spirit of our age. |
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Reply to Pliny about the treatment of Christians in Bithynia.
Latin from the Loeb 1915 edition of Pliny's Letters (letter 10.97).
Translation from Pliny the Younger. Letters. The Harvard Classics. 1909–14.
