Note 15 — On Toleration

Ch. 25. Voltaire has in this followed ecclesiastical custom. The word in Suetonius is not “Christo,” but “Chresto,” and therefore the passage reads, in English: “Claudius expelled the Jews from Rome for their constant disturbances at the instigation of Chrestus.” As Chrestus was not an uncommon name at Rome, there is no need to apply the passage to Christ in any way.—J. M.