this. If Goguel and Harris are correct, Pliny furnishes only the barest witness to the historical Jesus, but this was not at all his aim. This leads us finally to the issue of Pliny’s sources. Background knowledge of Christianity and Christ may have come from Tacitus, Pliny’s friend. (Letter 1.7, addressed to Tacitus, talks of their long friendship; they often exchanged their writings for comment.) The opening of Letter 96 states that Pliny has not been present at (other) trials of Christians, which