Dio is a further century removed from the events. Odd that he did not quote his great predecessor, though.
Suetonius:
Note how closely Suetonius' write up matches Pliny's. Yet we are asked to believe that Tacitus, who knew both of them and was writing at the same time heard the whole story about Pilate and the rest and no one else bothered to mention it.
I'm glad you found Carrington's write up on your own. Saves me the trouble of posting it.
I have to say I am not impressed with the argument about how great a forger would have to be to imitate Tacitus or anyone else. That's what forgers do. Someone who had copied scroll after scroll of Tacitus' writing to the point where he reaches Book XV, Ch. 44 had been working on it for a while. It's not that hard to tack on a couple of lines. Again, Bart Ehrman has written a whole book about xtian forgeries but it is a concept which goes back many years.
Suetonius:
Quote: During his reign many abuses were severely punished and put down, and no fewer new laws were made: a limit was set to expenditures; the public banquets were confined to a distribution of food; the sale of any kind of cooked viands in the taverns was forbidden, with the exception of pulse and vegetables, whereas before every sort of dainty was exposed for sale.45 Punishment was inflicted on the Christians, a class of men given to a new and mischievous superstition. He put an end to the diversions of the chariot drivers, who from immunity of long standing claimed the right of ranging at large and amusing themselves by cheating and robbing the people. The pantomimic actors and their partisans were banished from the city.46
Note how closely Suetonius' write up matches Pliny's. Yet we are asked to believe that Tacitus, who knew both of them and was writing at the same time heard the whole story about Pilate and the rest and no one else bothered to mention it.
I'm glad you found Carrington's write up on your own. Saves me the trouble of posting it.
I have to say I am not impressed with the argument about how great a forger would have to be to imitate Tacitus or anyone else. That's what forgers do. Someone who had copied scroll after scroll of Tacitus' writing to the point where he reaches Book XV, Ch. 44 had been working on it for a while. It's not that hard to tack on a couple of lines. Again, Bart Ehrman has written a whole book about xtian forgeries but it is a concept which goes back many years.
