In his letter to Trajan, Pliny is seeking advice on how to handle the increasing amount of Christians within the Roman empire. The letter provides details about the situation and describes what has been done to handle it so far. However, Pliny is uncertain about whether what he is doing is correct and would like the opinion of Emporer Trajan. Pliny convinces Trajan to provide guidance on the matter by describing his inexperience towards the situation, voicing specific concerns about the situation, and discussing how big the problem is. Pliny opens his argument by discussing how he lacks the experience to be certain he is dealing with the situation correctly. In the first paragraph, Pliny states that he has “never been present at any legal examination of the Christians” so he does not know “what are the usual penalties passed upon them, or the limits of those penalties, or how an inquiry should be made” (Pliny par. 1). By making these statements, Pliny is showing that he doesn't have the knowledge required to handle the Christians with full certainty. This helps convince Trajan to provide advice since a lack of knowledge could result in the mismanagement of …show more content…
Pliny makes multiple statements where he repeats the word ‘whether’. For example, he says “ whether any distinctions should be drawn according to the ages of the accused; whether the weak should be punished as severely as the more robust” (Pliny par. 1). Here he is pointing out multiple concerns that he would like Trajan to evaluate. Pointing out multiple particular concerns shows that dealing with the Christians is complex and requires consideration of multiple factors. This helps to convince Trajan to advise Pliny on the situation because if it was very simple, then it likely wouldn't be worth Trajans time. However, showing that the situation is complex proves that there is a need for an expert