PART ONE. The evil Rome as the real and the real false prophet revealed to me by our Lord Jesus Christ

…To get rid of the report, Nero fastened the guilt and inflicted the most exquisite tortures on a class hated for their abominations, called Chrestians^[42] by the populace. Christus, from whom the name had its origin, suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius at the hands of one of our procurators, Pontius Pilatus, and a most mischievous superstition, thus checked for the moment, again broke out not only in Judæa, the first source of the evil but even in Rome, where all things hideous and shameful from every part of the world find their centre and become popular.— Tacitus’ Annals 15.44, see Tacitus on Christ

This passage in Tacitus constitutes the only independent attestation that Nero blamed Christians for the Great Fire of Rome, and while it is generally believed to be authentic and reliable, some modern scholars have cast doubt on this view, largely because there is no further reference to Nero’s blaming of Christians for the fire until the late 4th century.^[43][44]Suetonius, later to the period, does not mention any persecution after the fire, but in a previous paragraph unrelated to the fire, mentions punishments inflicted on Christians, who are described as “men following a new and malefic superstition.” Suetonius, however, does not specify the reasons for the punishment; he simply lists the fact together with other abuses put down by Nero.^{[44]:269[28]:34}

It is unclear whether Christians were persecuted solely under the charge of organized arson or for other general crimes associated with Christianity.^{[21]:105–152[28]:32–50} Because Tertullian mentions an institutum Neronianum in his apology “To the Nations”, scholars also debate the possibility of a creation of a law or decree against the Christians under Nero. However, it has been argued that in context, the institutum Neronianum merely describes the anti-Christian activities; it does not provide a legal basis for them. Furthermore, no known writers show knowledge of law against Christians.^[28:35