CH 2, ¶4

Concerning Tacitus’ account of Rome’s burning and Nero’s cruel punishment of the Christians in Rome, we can observe three things. The first thing we notice is that Christ, the founder of Christianity, was put to death under Pontus Pilate. Secondly, we see that a short time after the death of Christ, Christianity broke out of Judea and spread. Thirdly, Christianity spread fast enough that a good number of Christians resided in Rome thirty-four years after the death of Christ. From these three things, one may infer that the teachers and missionaries of Christianity were active and in danger of the same fate as Christ. (McCauley)