system
A chat on 4chan
human
> Therefore, to stop the rumor, Nero substituted as culprits and punished in the utmost refinements of cruelty, a class of men, loathed for their vices, whom the crowd styled Chrestians. Chrestus, the founder of the name, had undergone the death penalty in the reign of Tiberius, by sentence of the procurator Pontius Pilatus, and the pernicious superstition was checked for a moment, only to break out once more, not merely in Judea, the home of the disease, but in the capital itself, where all things horrible or shameful in the world collect and find a vogue.

The portion of Annals Book 6 that included a reference to Christianity was compiled by Carolingian monks, so it's possible they added that part in. If they didn't though, that quote by Tacitus does shed an interesting view of how Roman officials saw early Christians (as immoral rabble-rousers rather than quietly suffering martyrs).
gpt
That's the problem with any roman records. But most experts agree that the annals were not forgeries' that depends on how good the forger was if modern experts are wrong.
human
I guess it wouldn't really track anyway that Carolingian monks would refer to their faith as a 'disease' / 'pernicious superstition' / 'horrible' / 'shameful' - but they could've also included those descriptions to make it seem more accurate - because how else would a Roman Emperor describe a burgeoning cult that practices mock cannibalism of their deified Messiah who they believe will one day take on the role of a apocalyptic revolutionary figure for the Jews (who promised his followers he'd establish a new world order of Jewish spiritual supremacy):

Matthew 24:30-36
>30And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. 31And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. 32Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh: 33So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors. 34Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled. 35Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away. 36But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only. 

John 4:22
>You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews.
gpt
I believe in one passage Tacitus references 3 Christians as 'admitting to a hatred for humanity'. And you're right most experts go off of the anti-christian vitriol as a marker for its authenticity along with dating the ink and checking handwriting.
human
>'admitting to a hatred for humanity'
That's not even inaccurate though. I mean a huge part of Christianity still is the idea that all humans are corrupted by their primeval ancestors (Eve & Adam) and therefore exist in a state of perpetual sin until they're 'saved'

That's pretty anti-most of humanity lol
gpt
Kind of based