Having forged, then, Memoirs of Pilate and of our Saviour, full of every kind of blasphemy against Christ, by the decision of their superior they sent them round to every part of his dominion, charging by letters that in every place, both fields and cities, these should be exhibited openly for all to see, and that the elementary teachers should give them to the children, instead of lessons, to study and to commit to memory.
While these things were being carried out in this manner, another commander of the camp, whom the Romans call 「dux,」 having seized certain women of ill repute from the market-place at Damascus in Phoenicia, threatened to inflict tortures upon them, compelling them to state in writing that they had once been Christian women, that they had been privy to the Christians' unlawful deeds, and that the Christians practised licentious acts in the very churches—and whatever else he wished them to say to the defamation of our doctrine. He too set their words on record in memoranda and communicated them to the Emperor; and at his command this document also was published in every place and city.