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Pliny the Younger
Shortly after the beginning of the second century, a Roman named Pliny became the governor of the Roman provinces of Bithnia and Pontus. He conducted extensive correspondence with Rome regarding his official duties, one of his problems being what to do with Christians about whom he wrote:
"In investigations of Christians I have never taken part; hence I do not know what is the crime usually punished or investigated, or what allowances are made….I have asked them if they are Christians, and if they admit it, I repeat the question a second or third time, with a warning of the punishment awaiting them."
He further wrote that anyone accused of being a Christian could either refute the charges by offering incense to the Gods and the emperor, else by blaspheming Christus.
Pliny also pointed out that Christians gathered together before daylight to recite "by turns a form of words to Christ as a god and that they bound themselves with an oath not to commit theft or robbery or adultery, nor to break their word, and not to deny a deposit when demanded."
While Pliny often uses the word "Christians" he uses "Christus " only twice. His letter, written about A.D. 112, adds little to our knowledge of Christian beliefs and practices. However it does corroborate the existence of Christians whose faith was in Christ.
Tacitus
A Roman historian, Cornelius Tacitus (A.D.55-117) lived under several Roman emperors. His Annals and Histories filled thirty books and covered the period between A.D. 14 and 96. His account of the great fire of Rome in A.D. 64, for which Nero was blamed, contains reference to Christians and to Christ:
"Consequently to get rid of the report, Nero fastened the guilt, and inflicted the most exquisite tortures on a class hated for their abominations, called Christians 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 the procurators, Pontius Pilatus, and a most mischievous superstition, thus checked for the moment, again broke out not only in Judaea, the first source of the evil, but even in Rome where all things hideous and shameful from every part of the world find their center and become popular."
The naming of Tiberius and Pontius Pilate in this passage shows that Tacitus had his chronology clear. Christ was for Tacitus an historical person. The anti-Christian tone of the report precludes the possibility of a Christian Interpolation. Although there is no reference to sources, Tacitus had been governor of the province of Asia, where there were many Christians. He was also a close friend of Pliny, from whom he could have heard other information on Christ and the Christians. And he was also aware that the movement, temporarily checked by Jesus' death, had spread from Judea to Rome, where an immense multitude professed its faith and were willing to die rather than recant.
Suetonius
In his "Life of Claudius" Suetonius, chief secretary of the Roman emperor Hadrian, writing around A.D. 125, tells of the expulsion of the Jews from Rome under Claudius (A.D. 49): "Since the Jews were constantly causing disturbances at the instigation of Christus he (Claudius) expelled them from Rome."
This banishment is the same one as noted in Acts 18:1-2. "After these things Paul departed from Rome and came to Corinth and found a certain Jew named Aquila, born in Pontus, lately come from Italy with his wife Priscilla; because that Claudius had commanded all Jews to depart from Rome."
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