evil, but also in the city, (Rome.) Therefore those who professed it were first seized, and then, on their confession, a great number of others were convicted, not so much on the charge of the arson, as on account of the universal hatred which existed against them. And their deaths were made amusing exhibitions, as, being covered with the skins of wild beasts, they were torn to pieces by dogs, or were nailed to crosses, or, being daubed with combustible stuff, were burned by way of light, in the darkness, after the close of day. Nero opened his own gardens for the show, and mingled with the lowest part of the throng, on the occasion." (The description of the cruel manner in which they were burned, may serve as a forcible illustration of the meaning of "the fiery trial," to which Peter alludes, iv. 12.) By Suetonius, also, they are briefly mentioned. (Nero. cap. 15.) "Afflicti suppliciis Christiani, genus hominum superstitionis novae et maleficae."—"The Christians, a sort of men of a new and pernicious (evil doing) superstition, were visited with punishments."
That this Neronian persecution was as extensive as is here made to appear, is proved by Lardner and Hug. The former in particular, gives several very interesting evidences, in his "Heathen testimonies," especially the remarkable inscription referring to this persecution, found in Portugal. (Test. of Anc. Heath. chap. iii.)
From the uniform tone in which the apostle alludes to the danger
as threatening only his readers, without the slightest allusion
to the circumstance of his being involved in the difficulty, is
drawn another important confirmation of the locality of the epistle.
He uniformly uses the second person when referring to trials,
but if he himself had then been so situated as to share in
the calamity for which he strove to prepare them, he would have
been very apt to have expressed his own feelings in view of the
common evil. Paul, in those epistles which were written under
circumstances of personal distress, is very full of warm expressions
of the state of mind in which he met his trials; nor was
there in Peter any lack of the fervid energy that would burst
forth in similarly eloquent sympathy, on the like occasions. But
from Babylon, beyond the bounds of Roman sway, he looked on
their sufferings only with that pure sympathy which his regard
for his brethren would excite; and it is not to be wondered, then,
that he uses the second person merely, in speaking of their distresses.
The bearer of this epistle to the distressed Christians of Asia Minor,
is named Silvanus, generally supposed to be the same with
Silvanus or Silas, mentioned in Paul's epistles, and in the Acts,
as the companion of Paul in his journeys through some of those
provinces to which Peter now wrote. There is great probability
in this conjecture, nor is there anything that contradicts it in the
slightest degree; and it may therefore be considered as true.
Some other great object may at this time have required his presence
among them, or he may have been then passing on his journey
to rejoin Paul, thus executing this commission incidentally.
This view of the scope and contents of this epistle is taken from Hug, who seems
to have originated it. At least I can find nothing of it in any other author whom I
have consulted. Michaelis, for instance, though evidently apprehending the general
