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Suetonius on the Christians
"Because the Jews at Rome caused constant disturbances at the instigation of
Chrestus [Christ], he [Claudius] expelled them from the city [Rome]."
Suetonius' Life of the Emperor Claudius, chapter 25 (excerpt)
"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. 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."
- Suetonius' Life of the Emperor Nero, chapter 16 (excerpt)
Note: Gaius Suetonius Tranquilla was a Roman historian under Hadrian (AD
76-138).