In 250 the emperor Decius issued an edict, the text of which has been lost, requiring everyone in the Empire (except Jews, who were exempted) to perform a sacrifice to the gods in the presence of a Roman magistrate and obtain a signed and witnessed certificate, called a libellus, to this effect. The decree was part of Decius' drive to restore traditional Roman values and there is no evidence that Christians were specifically being targeted. A number of these certificates still exist and one discovered in Egypt ("text of papyrus in illustration") reads: