PLINY, LETTERS 10.98. A METAPHOR FOR THE SOLUTION TO THE CHRISTIAN PROBLEM?

Abstract I argue that letter 98 of Book 10 of Pliny's Letters (= Epistulae ) was deliberately moved from its original position in the sequence of letters in order to serve as a metaphor for the solution to the problem of Christians in Bithynia and Pontus. This solves a chronological problem in Pliny's Letters and is evidence of the hand of an active editor.