Note 99:5 — Chapter VI · THE ROMAN GOVERNMENT'S TREATMENT OF THE CHRISTIANS
Reading edition
E. Th. Klette, Nero and the Christians, who relies for his conclusions on sources prior to Tacitus, repudiates the scapegoat theory. He contends that Nero, influenced by Jewish intrigue, publicly punished the Christians as Christians and because of the popular suspicions against them, so as to make it appear that the burning of Rome was due to the wrath of the gods.