Earlier apologists had directed their works to the emperor. The procedure had a drawback which rendered the apologists ineffectual. Persecution, however, varied in its incidence and intensity, not according to the attitude of the reigning emperor, but through the actions and attitudes of magistrates and the pagans whom they governed. Miltiades had instead directed his apology to the provincial governors, and Tertullian followed him. In the first book, he demonstrates that the accusations launched at the Christians are really true of the heathens.
Christians strive to live open moral lives, and are accused of secret vice.
The pagans who accuse them live lives of open vice, and care nothing about the moral issues, except to rubbish the Christians. Much of the material is reworked from the Greek apologists. Neronianum' to stigmatize persecution. In particular he quotes local incidents - he described a recent incident provoked by an apostate Jew, and complained about the violence offered to the Christians when they gathered for worship. Other notorious scandals of the period are mentioned, including one where a stolen child was accidentally bought by his father to use as a catamite, and when he had grown up sent to labour in chains in the fields.