Original sentence: He said in his letter:.I then thought it the more needful to get at the facts behind their statements.In one of the most famous (Letters, Book X, 96), he asks the emperor about the way he ought to judge Christians, since he had always condemned those who did not deny Christianity and discharged those who offered the prescribed sacrifices to the Roman gods.So far from binding themselves by oath to commit any crime, they swore to keep from theft, robbery, adultery, breach of faith, and not to deny any trust money deposited with them when called upon to deliver it.Therefore I placed two women, called "deaconesses," under torture, but I found only a debased superstition carried to great lengths, so I postponed my examination, and immediately consulted you.They also had ceased from this practice after the edict I issued -- by which, in accord with your orders, I forbade all secret societies.This ceremony over, they used to depart and meet again to take food -- but it was of no special character, and entirely harmless.[According to them] their guilt or error was simply this -- on a fixed day they used to meet before dawn and recite a hymn among themselves to Christ, as though he were a god
Edited sentence: He said in his letter that now he had discovered that Christianity was only a foolish superstition and was surprised about the number of anonymous denunciations he received.In one of the most famous (Letters, Book X, 96), he asks the emperor about the way he ought to consider Christians, since he had always condemned those who did not deny Christianity and discharged those who offered the prescribed sacrifices to the Roman gods