I think that was Pliny the Younger who was Hadrian’s governor of Bithynia and Pontus when he persecuted Christians.
Pliny came to the province not knowing much about Christianity but assuming that the Christians were guilty of horrible crimes in their secret meetings. He took the trouble to investigate and could find no evidence that the reports were true, but still thought they should be executed for refusing to honor the gods.
He wrote Trajan to make sure--Trajan replied that just being a Christian was sufficient reason to be put to death, but any former Christian who offered incense to the gods would be let off, and Pliny should not go hunting after Christians.
Pliny the Younger was a friend of Tacitus--Tacitus' account of Nero's persecution of the Christians after the Great Fire of 64 is very interesting reading. Pliny's letter describing the eruption of Vesuvius was written for Tacitus as material for his Histories (but that portion of Tacitus' work does not survive.
Well, I’m sure that’s true.
But it is hard to tell one Pliny from the other.