Beginning of Essay
Christians , criminals or not ? That is the very question that I've been asking myself . The Roman people are free to worship whatever gods they chose , provided they pay homage to the emperor and those who didn't pay homage would be punished. I (Pliny, Roman gove ....

Middle of Essay
.... was outlawed and persecuted, because it was considered the most dangerous enemy of the power of Rome, which was based upon the ancient national religion and on the emperor's worship . I interrogated them and even tortured them to get them to admit to the crimes , only to find that they are an harmless group . I discovered nothing more than an innocuous superstition . Christians faced persecution with courage, a very large percentage with heroism, but they did not submit to it without opposition. They defended themselves with great strength by confuting the accusations of those crimes as being false and groundless and by producing the contents of their ....