sign in sign up
<<
Home , Allectus, Carinus, Carus, Eutropius (historian), Jovian (emperor), Numerian

1

Diocletian's New Empire

Eutropius, Brevarium, 9.18-27.2 (Eutr. 9.18-27.2)

18. After the death of , was created emperor, a native of Narbo in , who immediately made his sons, and Numerianus, Caesars, and reigned, in conjunction with them, two years. News being brought, while he was engaged in a war with the , of an insurrection among the Persians, he set out for the east, and achieved some noble exploits against that people; he routed them in the field, and took and , their noblest cities, but, while he was encamped on the , he was killed by lightning. His son NUMERIANUS, too, whom he had taken with him to Persia, a young man of very great ability, while, from being affected with a disease in his eyes, he was carried in a litter, was cut off by a plot of which Aper, his father-in-law, was the promoter; and his death, though attempted craftily to be concealed until Aper could seize the throne, was made known by the odour of his dead body; for the soldiers, who attended him, being struck by the smell, and opening the curtains of his litter, discovered his death some days after it had taken place.

19. 1. In the meantime CARINUS, whom Carus, when he set out to the war with Parthia, had left, with the authority of , to command in Illyricum, Gaul, and Italy, disgraced himself by all manner of crimes; he put to death many innocent persons on false accusations, formed illicit connexions with the wives of noblemen, and wrought the ruin of several of his school-fellows, who happened to have offended him at school by some slight provocation. 2. Incurring the hatred of all men by such proceedings, he not long after met with deserved punishment.

3. The victorious army, on returning from Persia, as they had lost their emperor Carus by lightning, and the Caesar Numerianus by a plot, conferred the imperial dignity on , a native of Dalmatia, of such extremely obscure birth, that he is said by most writers to have been the son of a clerk, but by some to have been a freedman of a senator named Anulinus.

20. 1. Diocletian, in the first assembly of the army that was held, took an oath that was not killed by any treachery on his part; and while Aper, who had laid the plot for Numerian's life, was standing by, he was killed, in the sight of the army, with a sword by the hand of Diocletian. 2. He soon after overthrew Carinus, who was living under the utmost hatred and detestation, in a great battle at Margum, Carinus being betrayed by his own troops, for though he had a greater number of men than the enemy, he was altogether abandoned by them between Viminacium and Mount Aureus. 3. He thus became master of the ; and when the peasants in Gaul made an insurrection, giving their faction the name of , and having for leaders Amandus and Aelianus, he despatched Herculius, with the authority of Caesar, to suppress them. 4. Maximian, in a few battles of little importance, subdued the rustic multitude, and restored peace to Gaul.

21. 1. During this period, , who, though of very lowly birth, had gained extraordinary reputation by a course of active service in war, and had received a commission in his post at Bononia, to clear the sea, which the and Saxons infested, along the coast of Belgica and Armorica. 2. 2

Having captured numbers of the barbarians on several occasions, but having never given back the entire booty to the people of the province or sent it to the emperors, a suspicion arose that the barbarians were intentionally allowed by him to congregate there, that he might seize them and their booty as they passed, and by that means enrich himself. 3. When he was sentenced by Maximian to be put to death, he assumed the imperial purple, and took on the government of Britain.

22. While disorder thus prevailed throughout the world, while Carausius was taking arms in Britain and Achilleus in , while the Quinquegentiani were harassing Africa, and Narseus was making war upon the east, Diocletian promoted MAXIMIAN HERCULIUS from the dignity of Caesar to that of emperor, and created Constantius and Maximian Caesars. 2. Constantius is said to have been the grand-nephew of by a daughter, and Maximian Galerius to have been born in Dacia not far from Sardica. 3. That he might also unite them by affinity, Constantius married Theodora the step- daughter of Herculius, by whom he had afterwards six children, brothers to ; while Galerius married Valeria, the daughter of Diocletian; both being obliged to divorce the wives that they had before. 4. With Carausius, however, as hostilities were found vain against a man eminently skilled in war, a peace was at last arranged. 5. At the end of seven years, Allectus, one of his supporters, put him to death, and held Britain himself for three years subsequently, but was cut off by the efforts of Asclepiodotus, praefect of the .

23. 1. At the same period a battle was fought by Constantius Caesar in Gaul, at Lingonae, where he experienced both good and had fortune in one day; for though he was driven into the city by a sudden onset of the barbarians, with such haste and precipitation that after the gates were shut he was drawn up the wall by ropes, yet, when his army came up, after the lapse of scarcely six hours, he cut to pieces about sixty thousand of the . 2. Maximian the emperor, too, brought the war to an end in Africa, by subduing the Quinquegentiani, and compelling them to make peace. 3. Diocletian, meanwhile, besieging Achilleus in Alexandria, obliged him to surrender about eight months after, and put him to death. 4. He used his victory, indeed, cruelly, and distressed all Egypt with severe proscriptions and massacres. 5. Yet at the same time he made many judicious arrangements and regulations, which continue to our own days.

24. 1. Galerius Maximian, in acting against Narseus, fought, on the first occasion, a battle far from successful, meeting him between Callinicus and Carrae, and engaging in the combat rather with rashness than want of courage; for he contended with a small army against a very numerous enemy. 2. Being in consequence defeated, and going to join Diocletian, he was received by him, when he met him on the road, with such extreme haughtiness, that he is said to have run by his chariot for several miles in his scarlet robes.

25. 1. But having soon after collected forces in Illyricum and , he fought a second time with Narseus (the grandfather of Hormisdas and Sapor), in Greater Armenia, with extraordinary success, and with no less caution and spirit, for he undertook, with one or two of the cavalry, the office of an scout. 2. After putting Narseus to flight, he captured his wives, sisters, and children, with a vast number of the Persian nobility besides, and a great quantity of treasure; the king himself he forced to take refuge in the remotest deserts in his dominions. 3. Returning therefore in triumph to Diocletian, who was then encamped with some troops in , he was welcomed by him with great honour. 4. Subsequently, they conducted several wars both in conjunction and separately, subduing the Carpi and , and defeating the Sarmatians, from which nations he settled a great number of captives in the Roman territories. 3

26. 1. Diocletian was of a crafty disposition, with much sagacity, and keen penetration. He was willing to gratify his own disposition to cruelty in such a way as to throw the odium upon others; he was however a very active and able prince. 2. He was the first that introduced into the Roman empire a ceremony suited rather to royal usages than to Roman liberty, giving orders that he should be adored, whereas all emperors before him were only saluted. 3. He put ornaments of precious stones on his dress and shoes, when the imperial distinction had previously been only in the purple robe, the rest of the habit being the same as that of other men.

27. 1. But Herculius was undisguisedly cruel, and of a violent temper, and showed his severity of disposition in the sternness of his looks. 2. Gratifying his own inclination, he joined with Diocletian in even the most cruel of his proceedings.

Sextus Aurelius , On the Caesars, 38-39 (Aur. Vict. Caes 38-39)

38. And so, Carus, powerful because he was Praetorian , was clothed with the imperial robe along with his sons, the Caesars Carinus and Numerian. 2. And because all the barbarians seized the opportunity to invade when new of Probus' death spread, Carus sent his elder son [Carinus] off to defend Gaul, while with Numerianus as his companion, he traveled directly into Mesopotamia, because that region is the site of ongoing warfare with the Persians. He routed the enemy troops there, but while he was going through Ctesiphon (a famous Persian city) searching too eagerly for glory he was struck down by a bolt of lightning. Some say that this happened to him justly; for although the oracles had made clear that with victory it was permissible for him to come right up to the town just mentioned, he went charging on too far and paid the penalty. Consequently it is hard to divert the things destined by fate, and for that reason a knowledge of the future is superfluous. But when Numerianus was withdrawing his army, with his father dead and at that time thinking that the war was completed, he was assassinated by his father-in-law, the Praetorian Prefect Aper, who was helped by the young man's fortuitous eye trouble. Finally, the wicked deed was hidden for a long time, while the corpse was being carried enclosed in a litter on the pretext of illness to prevent his eyes from being bothered by the wind.

39. 1. But after the crime was revealed by the smell of the rotting body, Valerius Diocletian, the commander of the imperial bodyguard, was chosen on account of his wisdom by the decision of the generals and ; he was a great man, with regards to his morals. 2. On the other hand, he was the first to seek a vest made from gold and desired a large amount of silk, purple dye, and gems for his shoes. 3. Although this finery was ostentatious and signs of a conceited and extravagant disposition, nevertheless these vices were insignificant compared to other things. 4. For he was the first of all the emperors after and to allow people to openly called him "Lord," and to worship him, and address him as if a god.

5. In these matters, I know for certain that it is just human nature that the lower orders are more greatly given over to excessive pride and ambition when they scale the heights. 6. For this reason Marius, in the time of our forefathers, and Diocletian in our time went beyond the common appearance, yet the mind having had no share in power is --- as in the case of starvation --- insatiably greedy for compensation. 7. Because of this it seems surprising to me that very many people impute arrogance to 4 those who have arrived late at nobility, who, mindful of its persecutions from the class, by which it is motivated, does have some slight justification to stand out.

8. But these inclinations were masked in Valerius [Diocletian] by other good qualities; for instance because he permitted himself to be called "Lord" he acted the part of a parent; and it is an established fact that this prudent man wanted to teach that the brutality of deeds hindered more than the brutality of words. 9. Meanwhile Carinus, apprised of the events which had transpired, in the hope of easily calming the revolts that were breaking out, made hastily for Illyricum by a detour around Italy. 10. There he butchered after striking down his battleline. For Julian, while he was governing and making reforms in northeastern Italy, had learned of Carus' death and desperate to seize power, had come out to meet the advancing enemy.

11. And Carinus, when he reached Moesia, was met by Diocletian near the Margus river; while he eagerly chased those who had been defeated, he died from a blow delivered by his own men, because being unable to endure his own lust, he was fondling many of the soldiers' wives. Their husbands, made extremely hostile by the man, had postponed their anger and grief for an accident of battle. 12 With the war turning out as he desired, they avenged themselves upon him from fear that a mind of this sort might become puffed up more and more through victory. This was the end of Carus and his sons. They came from and held power for two years.

13. And so Valerius [Diocletian] in his first speech to the army, having drawn his sword, gazing at the sun, swore that he was unaware of the plot to kill Numerianus and that he had not desired power. Then he sunk his sword into Aper, who was standing next to him. Aper's treachery, as I explained above, had led to the death of this good, eloquent youth, who had also been Aper's son-in-law. 14. Pardons were then given to the rest and nearly all of the enemy soldiers were retained and a very distinguished man by the name of Aristobulus was placed in charge of the praetorian guard for his services. 15. This action was new and unexpected within human memory, namely that no one in the civil war was robbed of their fortunes, fame, or dignity; for we rejoice when a civil war is conducted very dutifully and with mildness, and a boundary is observed in the case of exile, proscription, and even in the punishments and executions.

16. Why should I mention his admission of many foreign men into partnership with him to look after and extend the jurisdiction of ? 17. For in fact after Carinus had been killed, when Diocletian learned that Helianus and Amandus were attacking throughout Gaul, having stirred up a band of savages and thieves whom the locals called the Bagaudae, and laying waste to the farms and many of the cities, he immediately appointed Maximianus emperor. Maximianus was a faithful friend, somewhat uncivilized, but good in warfare and clever. 18. Later, through the worship of the deity, the title of Hercules was added to this man's name, just as Jupiter was added to Valerius; from this action also the name was conferred on the military auxiliaries of the most outstanding soldiers.

19. But Hercules advanced into Gaul, and there, either routing or winning over the enemies, quickly established peace everywhere. 20. In this war, Carausius, from the town of Menapia, was distinguished by his enterprising actions; and for this reason and at the same time because he had knowledge of steering boats (a duty he had practiced for pay while growing up) they put him in charge of building a fleet and driving off the Germans who were infesting the seas. 21. This made him arrogant; he overwhelmed many of the barbarians but failed to send all of the spoils to the imperial treasury. When 5 he learned that Herculius [Maximianus] had issued an order to kill him, out of fear he scooped up power and seized Britain.

22. At the same time, the Persians were harassing the East, while Julian and the Quinquegentana were violently disrupting Africa. 23. Moreover, near Alexandria in Egypt, a man named Achilleus had put on the regalia of kingship. 24. For these reasons, they called Julius Constantius and Galerius Maximianus (who bore the nickname Armentarius [sheepherder]), and made them [Caesars] by marriage. 25. Constantius was given the step-daughter of Herculius, Galerius the daughter of Diocletian; their earlier marriages were dissolved, just as had done the same thing in the case of and his daughter Julia. 26. Illyricum, admittedly, was their homeland: naturally they were uncultured, nevertheless because of their experience of the hardships of country and military life, they were the best men for the republic. 27. Therefore it is a fact that revered, intelligent men are made more quickly by the experience of trouble; on the other hand, those having no share in tribulations, as long as they judge everyone else by their own resources, their judgement is less sound. 28. But their harmony gave excellent proof that talent and good military discipline, as it had been established by Aurelius and Probus, is almost enough to constitute good leadership. 29. Finally, they looked up to Valerius as a parent or like a great god. The nature and importance of this has been revealed from the founding of the city down to our own time by the crimes of relatives.

30 And because the pressure of the wars, which I wrote about above, was increasing rapidly, in a four- part division of power, all the lands of Gaul, on the other side of Alps, were handed over to Constantius; Africa and Italy were given to Herculius; the land from the border of Illyricum all the way to the Sea of Pontus was given to Galerius; Valerius retained the rest of the empire. 31. Finally the great evil of taxes was inflicted upon part of Italy. For although he was pursuing a reasonable policy of equal revenue collection everywhere, a new law was introduced for taxes, by which the army and emperor, who are present always or most of the time in Italy, would be sustained. 32. Admittedly the tolerable moderation of those times had advanced to the ruin of these days.

33. Meanwhile the Emperor [Diocletian] advanced to Alexandria, entrusting to his Caesar, Maximianus [Galerius], the task of leaving his domains and marching into Mesopotamia, an attack intended to rescue that region from the Persians. 34. He was badly mauled by them at first; with an army that had been quickly assembled from veterans and raw recruits, he marched through Armenia. This is nearly the only (or at least the easiest) method of defeating them. 35. Finally he brought the same King Narseus under Roman jurisdiction, together with his sons, wives, and the royal court. 36. His victory was so complete that had Valerius [Diocletian], whose will was paramount over all, not prevented it (although the reason for this is uncertain) Roman fasces would have been carried into a new province. 37. Nevertheless, the portion of those lands more useful to us was taken; a recent war, both deeply serious and ruinous, has been launched since our enemy is fervently demanding that we return these lands.

38. And in Egypt, Achilleus was struck in an easy business and suffered punishment. 39. Throughout Africa events proceeded in a similar manner; Carausius came to be seen as a convenient way to control the inhabitants of Britain, and defending them against the more warlike peoples. 40. In any event, a man named Allectus circumvented him by a trick after nearly six years in power. 41. Carausius had granted Allectus the position of Praetorian Prefect, but Allectus, driven by a fear of assassination on account of the wickedness of his shameful acts, grabbed power. 42. After a short time, Constantius destroyed Allectus by sending Asclepiodotus, who was his Praetorian Prefect, on ahead with part of the 6 fleet and the legions. 43. Meanwhile, the Marcomanni had been slaughtered, and all the people of the Carpi were brought across to be in our land, a part of whom had been brought over by .

44. And it was with no less energy that peacetime operations were circumscribed with extremely fair laws and by the driving away of the pestilence of the frumentarii, who were similar to our own secret police. 45. These men, although it appears that they were established to investigate and report any disturbances that happened to exist in the provinces, having wickedly composed indictments, and spreading fear everywhere (chiefly in the most remote regions) they were shamefully snatching all things. At the same time the annual grain supply for Rome and safety of the taxpayers were guarded with anxious care, and by the advancement of the best men and on the other side through punishments for the wicked, enthusiasm for every virtue was increased. The most ancient religions were attended to with great sollicitude and it is amazing in what manner the Rome's hills and other cities were furnished with new but finely finished walls, especially in , Milan, and . 7

Anonymous, Epitome of the Caesars, 38-39.4 (Epit. Caes. 38-39.4)

38. Carus, born at Narbo, ruled two years. 2. He immediately made Carinus and Numerian Caesars. 3. He died near Ctesiphon by the blow of a lightning bolt. 4. Numerian, too, his son, while he was being carried in a litter (he had contracted a disorder of the eyes), was murdered in a plot, with Aper, who was his father-in-law, the instigator. 5. While his death was being hidden by a deception until such time as Aper was able to take power, the crime was revealed by the stench of the corpse. 6. Then Sabinus Julianus took power and, at the Verronesian Fields, was killed by Carinus. 7. This Carinus defiled himself with all crimes. He killed many innocent men for made-up offenses. He corrupted the marriages of nobles. He was ruinous toward his fellow pupils, too, who, with jeering voice, teased him in the classroom. 8. He was tortured to death chiefly by the hand of his , whose wife he was said to have violated.

39. Diocletian, a Dalmatian, freedman of the senator Anulinus, was, until he assumed power, called in their language Diocles, from his mother and likewise from a city named Dioclea; when he took control of the Roman world, in the fashion of the Romans, he converted to the Greek name. He ruled twenty- five years. 2. He made Maximian an Augustus; Constantius and Galerius Maximianus, with the cognomen Armentarius ["Herdsman"], he created Caesars, giving to Constantius, when his prior wife was divorced, Theodora, the stepdaughter of Herculius Maximian. 3. At this time, Carausius in Gallia, Achilles in Egypt, and Julianus in Italy were made imperatores and, by diverse death, perished. 4. Of these, Julianus, when an attack breached his walls, threw himself into a fire. 8

Lactantius, On the Death of the Persecutors, 7-9 (Lact. DM 7-9)

7. While Diocletian, that author of ill, and deviser of misery, was ruining all things, he could not withhold his insults, not even against God. 2 This man, by avarice partly, and partly by timid counsels, overturned the Roman empire. For he made choice of three persons to share the government with him; and thus, the empire having been quartered, armies were multiplied, and each of the four princes strove to maintain a much more considerable military force than any sole emperor had done in times past. 3 There began to be fewer men who paid taxes than there were who received wages; so that the means of the farmers were being exhausted by enormous impositions, the farms were abandoned, cultivated grounds became woodland, and universal dismay prevailed. 4 Besides, the provinces were divided into minute portions, and many magistrates and a multitude of inferior officers lay heavy on each territory, and almost on each city. 5 There were also many stewards of different degrees, and deputies of presidents. Very few civil causes came before them: but there were condemnations daily, and forfeitures frequently inflicted; taxes on numberless commodities, and those not only often repeated, but perpetual, and, in exacting them, intolerable wrongs.

6 Whatever was laid on for the maintenance of the soldiery might have been endured; but Diocletian, through his insatiable avarice, would never allow the sums of money in his treasury to be diminished: he was constantly heaping together extraordinary aids and free gifts, that his original hoards might remain untouched and inviolable. He also, when by various extortions he had made all things exceedingly dear, attempted by an ordinance to limit their prices. 7 Then much blood was shed for the smallest trifles; men were afraid to expose anything to sale, and the scarcity became more excessive and grievous than ever, until, in the end, the ordinance, after having proved destructive to multitudes, was from mere necessity abrogated. 8 To this there were added a certain endless passion for building, and on that account, endless exactions from the provinces for furnishing wages to labourers and artificers, and supplying carriages and whatever else was requisite to the works which he projected. 9 Here public halls, there a circus, here a mint, and there a workhouse for making implements of war; in one place a habitation for his empress, and in another for his daughter. Presently a great part of the city was vacated, and all men removed with their wives and children, as from a town taken by enemies. 10 And when those buildings were completed, to the destruction of whole provinces, he said, "They are not right, let them be done on another plan." Then they were to be pulled down, or altered, to undergo perhaps a future demolition. By such folly was he continually endeavouring to equal Nicomedia with the city Rome in magnificence.

11 I omit mentioning how many perished on account of their possessions or wealth; for such evils were exceedingly frequent, and through their frequency appeared almost lawful. 12 But this was peculiar to him, that whenever he saw a field remarkably well cultivated, or a house of uncommon elegance, a false accusation and a capital punishment were straightway prepared against the proprietor; so that it seemed as if Diocletian could not be guilty of theft without also shedding blood.

8. What was the character of his brother in empire, Maximian, called Herculius? Not unlike to that of Diocletian; and, indeed, to render their friendship so close and faithful as it was, there must have been in them a sameness of inclinations and purposes, a corresponding will and unanimity in judgment. 2 Herein alone they were different, that Diocletian was more avaricious and less resolute, and that 9

Maximian, with less avarice, had a bolder spirit, prone not to good, but to evil. 3 For while he possessed Italy, itself the chief seat of empire, and while other very opulent provinces, such as Africa and Spain, were near at hand, he took little care to preserve those treasures which he had such fair opportunities of amassing. 4 Whenever he stood in need of more, the richest senators were presently charged, by suborned evidences, as guilty of aspiring to the empire; so that the chief luminaries of the senate were daily extinguished. And thus the treasury, delighting in blood, overflowed with ill-gotten wealth.

5 Add to all this the incontinency of that pestilent wretch, not only in debauching males, which is hateful and abominable, but also in the violation of the daughters of the principal men of the state; for wherever he journeyed, virgins were suddenly torn from the presence of their parents. 8 In such enormities he placed his supreme delight, and to indulge to the utmost his lust and flagitious desires was in his judgment the felicity of his reign.

7 I pass over Constantius, a prince unlike the others, and worthy to have had the sole government of the empire.

9. But the other Maximian (Galerius), chosen by Diocletian for his son-in-law, was worse, not only than those two princes whom our own times have experienced, but worse than all the bad princes of former days. 2 In this wild beast there dwelt a native barbarity and a savageness foreign to Roman blood; and no wonder, for his mother was born beyond the Danube, and it was an inroad of the Carpi that obliged her to cross over and take refuge in New Dacia. 3 Galerius’ body corresponded with his manners. 4 Of stature tall, full of flesh, and swollen to a horrible bulk of corpulency; by his speech, gestures, and looks, he made himself a terror to all that came near him. His father-in-law, too, dreaded him excessively. 5 The cause was this. Narseus, king of the Persians, emulating the example set him by his grandfather Sapores, assembled a great army, and aimed at becoming master of the eastern provinces of the Roman empire. 6 Diocletian, apt to be low-spirited and timorous in every commotion, and fearing a fate like that of , would not in person encounter Narseus; but he sent Galerius by the way of Armenia, while he himself halted in the eastern provinces, and anxiously watched the event.

7 It is a custom among the barbarians to take everything that belongs to them into the field. Galerius laid an ambush for them, and easily overthrew men embarrassed with the multitude of their followers and with their baggage. 8 Having put Narseus to flight, and returned with much spoil, his own pride and Diocletian's fears were greatly increased. For after this victory he rose to such a pitch of haughtiness as to reject the appellation of Caesar; and when he heard that appellation in letters addressed to him, he cried out, with a stern look and terrible voice, “How long am I to be Caesar?”

9 Then he began to act extravagantly, as if he had been a second , he wished to pass for and to be called the offspring of Mars; and that he might appear the issue of a divinity, he was willing that his mother Romula should be dishonoured with the name of adulteress. 10 But, not to confound the chronological order of events, I delay the recital of his actions; for indeed afterwards, when Galerius got the title of emperor, his father-in-law having been divested of the imperial purple, he became altogether outrageous, and of unbounded arrogance. 10

Orosius, Seven Books Against the Pagans, 7.25 (Oros. Hist. 7.25)

25. In the one thousand and forty-first year, Diocletian was chosen by the army as the thirty-third emperor. He reigned for twenty years. Upon assuming full command, he at once killed with his own hand Aper, the murderer of Numerian. He next defeated Carinus in a stubbornly contested battle. This man had been leading a dissolute life in Dalmatia, where Carus had left him as Caesar. 2 Later Amandus and Aelianus in Gaul gathered together a band of farmers, who were called Bacaudae, and stirred up destructive insurrections. Diocletian appointed Maximianus, surnamed Herculius, Caesar and sent him into the Gallic provinces. Here, by his military prowess, he easily put down the inexperienced and disorderly company of peasants.

3 At this time a certain Carausius, a man of lowly birth to be sure, but quick in thought and action, was in charge of the defense of the coasts of the Ocean, which were infested by the Franks and Saxons. He did more to injure than to help the government, for he did not restore to its true owners any of the booty recovered from the pirates but claimed it for himself alone. In this way he aroused the suspicion that it was his deliberate neglect that had allowed the enemy to make raids. For this reason Maximianus ordered his execution.

Carausius at once assumed the purple and seized control of the British provinces.

4 Thus the thunders of strife suddenly reverberated throughout the territories of the Roman Empire. Carausius was leading a rebellion in Britain, and Achilleus one in Egypt; the Quinquegentiani were attacking Africa, and Narseus, king of the Persians, was waging destructive wars in the East. 5 In view of this dangerous situation, Diocletian advanced Maximianus Herculius from the rank of Caesar to that of Augustus and appointed Constantius and Galerius Maximianus Caesars. Constantius now married Theodora, the stepdaughter of Herculius Maximianus, and by her had six sons, the brothers of Constantine.

6 Carausius, after laying claim to Britain, held it firmly in his grasp for seven years. Finally, however, he was treacherously killed by his comrade Allectus. The latter held for three years the island that he had taken away from his friend. The praetorian prefect Asclepiodotus then overthrew him and regained Britain, ten years after it had been lost. 7 In Gaul, in the first encounter, the Alemanni routed Constantius Caesar's army. He himself barely managed to escape. In the second battle, however, he won a complete victory. It is said that sixty thousand of the Alemanni were slain in the course of a few hours. 8 Maximianus Augustus subdued the Quinquegentiani in Africa. Then Diocletian besieged Achilleus at Alexandria for eight months. He finally captured and killed him; but, far from showing moderation in his victory, he gave Alexandria over to pillage, and made life in all Egypt hideous with proscriptions and massacres.

9 Galerius Maximianus fought two battles against Narseus. In a third engagement, which took place somewhere between the cities of Callinicus and Carrhae, Narseus defeated him. After losing his troops, Galerius took refuge with Diocletian, who received him with extreme arrogance. The story goes that though clad in scarlet robes he was forced to run before the emperor's carriage for several miles. Nevertheless Galerius made this insult serve as a whetstone to his valor. 10 Spurred on by this 11 treatment, when the rust of kingly pride was rubbed off, he was able to sharpen his mind to a keen edge. He at once made a general levy of troops throughout Illyricum and Moesia, and hurriedly returning to meet the enemy, he overwhelmed Narseus by skillful strategy and superior forces. 11 After annihilating the Persian army and putting Narseus himself to flight, he seized the latter's camp, made prisoners of his wives, sisters, and children, appropriated an immense amount of Persian treasure, and led away many of the Persian nobles into captivity. On his return to Mesopotamia he was welcomed by Diocletian and given the highest honors. 12 Later these same generals fought vigorously against the Carpi and the Basternae. They then conquered the Sarmatians and distributed a great number of captives from this people among the garrisons of the Roman frontiers.

Scriptores Historia Augustae, Carus, Carinus, and Numerian, 11–20 (SHA Carus, 11-20)

11 1 Numerian, the son of Carus, was of excellent character and truly worthy to rule; he was notable, moreover, for his eloquence, so much so, in fact, that even as a boy he declaimed in public, and his writings came to be famous, though more suitable for declamation than in keeping with 's style. 2 In verse, furthermore, he is said to have had such skill that he surpassed all the poets of his time. In fact, he competed with Olympius Nemesianus, who wrote On Fishing, On Hunting, and On Seamanship, and shone with conspicuous luster in all the colonial towns; and as for Aurelius Apollinaris, the writer of iambics, who had composed an account of his father's deeds, Numerian, when he published what he had recited, cast him into the shade like a ray of the sun. 3 The speech, moreover, which he sent to the senate is said to have been so eloquent that a statue was voted him not as a Caesar but as a rhetorician, to be set up in the Ulpian Library with the following inscription: "To Numerian Caesar, the most powerful orator of his time."

12 He accompanied his father in the Persian war, and after his father's death, when he had begun to suffer from a disease of the eyes — for that kind of ailment is most frequent with those exhausted, as he was, by too much loss of sleep — and was being carried in a litter, he was slain by the treachery of his father-in-law Aper, who was attempting to seize the rule. 2 But the soldiers continued for several days to ask after the emperor's health, and Aper kept haranguing them, saying that he could not appear before them for the reason that he must protect his weakened eyes from the wind and the sun, but at last the stench of his body revealed the facts. Then all fell upon Aper, whose treachery could no longer be hidden, and they dragged him before the standards in front of the general's tent. Then a huge assembly was held and a tribunal, too, was constructed.

13 And when the question was asked who would be the most lawful avenger of Numerian and who could be given to the commonwealth as a good emperor, then all, with a heaven-sent unanimity, conferred the title of Augustus on Diocletian, who, it was said, had already received many omens of future rule. He was at this time in command of the household-troops, an outstanding man and wise, devoted to the commonwealth, devoted to his family, duly prepared to face whatever the occasion demanded, forming plans that were always deep though sometimes over-bold, and one who could by prudence and exceeding firmness hold in check the impulses of a restless spirit. 2 This man, then, having ascended the tribunal was hailed as Augustus, and when someone asked how Numerian had been slain, he drew his sword and pointing to Aper, the prefect of the guard, he drove it through him, 12 saying as he did so, "It is he who contrived Numerian's death." So Aper, a man who lived an evil life and in accordance with vicious counsels, met the end that his ways deserved. 3 My grandfather used to say that he was present at this assembly when Aper was slain by the hand of Diocletian; and he used to say that Diocletian, after slaying him, shouted, “Well may you boast, Aper, 'Tis by the hand of the mighty Aeneas you perish.'” 4 I do, indeed, wonder at this in a military man, although I know perfectly well that very many soldiers use sayings in both Greek and taken from the writers of comedy and other such poets. 5 In fact, the comic poets themselves frequently introduce soldiers in such a way as to make them use familiar sayings; for "You are a hare yourself and yet are you looking for game?" is a saying which is taken for Livius Andronicus, and many others were given by and Caecilius.

14 I do not consider it too painstaking or yet too much in the ordinary manner to insert a story about Diocletian Augustus that seems not out of place here — an incident which he regarded as an of his future rule. This story my grandfather related to me, having heard it from Diocletian himself. 2 "When Diocletian," he said, "while still serving in a minor post, was stopping at a certain tavern in the land of the Tungri in Gaul, and was paying his daily bill with a woman, who was a Druidess, she said to him, 'Diocletian, you are far too greedy and far too stingy,' to which Diocletian replied, it is said, not in earnest, but only in jest, 'I shall be generous enough when I become emperor.' 3 At this the Druidess said, so he related, 'Do not jest, Diocletian, for you will become emperor when you have slain a Boar (Aper).' "

15 Now Diocletian always had in his mind a desire to rule, as Maximian knew and my grandfather also, to whom he himself told these words of the Druidess. Then, however, reticent, as was his wont, he laughed and said nothing. 2 Nevertheless, in hunting, whenever there was opportunity, he always killed the boars with his very own hand. 3 In fact, when Aurelian received the imperial power, then Probus, then , and then Carus himself, Diocletian remarked, "I am always killing boars, but the other man enjoys the meat." 4 It is now well known and a common story that when he had killed Aper, the prefect of the guard, he declared, it is said, "At last I have killed my fated Boar." 5 My grandfather also used to say that Diocletian himself declared that he had no other reason for killing him with his own hand than to fulfill the Druidess' prophecy and to ensure his own rule. 6 For he would not have wished to become known for such cruelty, especially in the first few days of his power, if Fate had not impelled him to this brutal act of murder.

7 We have written of Carus, we have written, too, of Numerian, and now there still remains Carinus.

16 He was the most polluted of men, an adulterer and a constant corrupter of youth (I am ashamed to relate what Onesimus has put into writing), and he even made evil use of the enjoyment of his own sex. 2 He was left by his father as Caesar in Gaul and Italy and in Illyricum, Spain, Britain, and Africa, all of which had been voted to him, and he exercised there a Caesar's powers, but with the permission to perform all the duties of an Augustus. Then he defiled himself by unwonted vices and inordinate depravity, 3 he set aside all the best among his friends and retained or picked out all the vilest, and he appointed as city-prefect one of his doorkeepers, a baser act than which no one can conceive or relate. 4 He slew the prefect of the guard whom he found in office 5 and put in his place Matronianus, one of his clerks and an old procurer, whom he had always kept with him as accomplice and assistant in debaucheries and lusts. 6 He appeared in public as consul contrary to his father's wish. He wrote arrogant letters to the senate, and he even promised the senate's property to the mob of the city of Rome, as though it, forsooth, were the . 7 By marrying and divorcing he took nine wives 13 in all, and he put away some even while they were pregnant. He filled the Palace with actors and harlots, pantomimists, singers and pimps. 8 He had such an aversion for the signing of state-papers that he appointed for signing them a certain filthy fellow, with whom he used always to jest at midday, and then he reviled him because he could imitate his writing so well.

17 He wore jewels on his shoes, used only a jeweled clasp and often a jeweled belt also. In fact, in Illyricum most people hailed him as king. 2 He would never come forward to meet the or consuls. He granted favors most of all to the base, and always invited them to banquets. 3 At one of his banquets he often served one hundred pounds of birds, one hundred of fish, and one thousand of meat of different kinds, and he lavished on his guests vast quantities of wine. He swam about among apples and melons and strewed his banqueting-halls and bedrooms with roses from Milan.

4 The baths that he used were as cold as the air of rooms that are under the ground, and his plunge- baths were always cooled by means of snow. 5 Once, when he came in the winter to a certain place in which the spring-water was very tepid — its natural temperature during the winter — and he had bathed in the pool, he shouted to the bath-attendants, it is said, "This is water for a woman that you have given me"; and this is reported as his most famous saying.

6 When his father heard of all that he did, he exclaimed, "He is no son of mine," and at last he determined to appoint Constantius — afterwards made Caesar but at that time serving as governor of Dalmatia — in the place of Carinus, for the reason that no one even then seemed to be better, and he even planned, as Onesimus relates, to put Carinus to death. 7 It would be too long to tell more, even if I should desire to do so, about his excesses. If anyone wishes to learn all in detail, he should read Fulvius Asprianus also, who tells the whole tale of his deeds even to the point of boredom.

18 When he learned that his father had been killed by lightning and his brother slain by his own father- in-law, and that Diocletian had been hailed as Augustus, Carinus committed acts of still greater vice and crime, as though now set free and released by the death of his kindred from all the restraints of filial duty. 2 He did not, however, lack strength of purpose for claiming the imperial power. For he fought many battles against Diocletian, but finally, being defeated in a fight near Margus, he perished.

3 We have now come to the end of the three emperors, Carus, Numerian and Carinus, after whom the gods gave us Diocletian and Maximian to be our princes, joining to these great men Galerius and Constantius, the one of whom was born to wipe out the disgrace incurred by Valerian's capture, the other, to bring again the province of Gaul under the laws of Rome. 4 Four rulers, indeed, of the world were they, brave, wise, kindly, and wholly generous, all of one mind toward the commonwealth, very respectful to the , moderate, friends of the people, revered, earnest, and pious, and, in fact, such emperors as we have always desired. 5 Their lives have been related, each in a separate book, by Claudius Eusthenius, imperial secretary to Diocletian — a fact which I mention in order that none may demand so great a work from me, especially since the biographies even of living emperors cannot be written without incurring blame.

19 The most noteworthy event of the rule of Carus, Carinus and Numerian was the series of games that they gave the Roman people, distinguished by some novel spectacles, a painting of which we have seen in the Palace near the portico of the stables. 2 For there was exhibited a rope-walker, who in his buskins seemed to be walking on the winds, also a wall-climber, who, eluding a bear, ran up a wall, also some bears which acted a farce, and, besides, one hundred trumpeters who blew one single blast together, 14 one hundred horn-blowers, one hundred flute-players, also one hundred flute-players who accompanied songs, one thousand pantomimists and gymnasts, moreover, a mechanical scaffold, which, however, burst into flames and burned up the stage — though this Diocletian later restored on a more magnificent scale. Furthermore, actors were gathered together from every side. 3 They were given also Sarmatian games, than which nothing affords greater pleasure, and, besides, a Cyclops-performance. And they bestowed on the Greek artists and gymnasts and actors and musicians both gold and silver and they bestowed on them also garments of silk.

20 But although all these things have a certain charm for the populace, they are of no importance in a good emperor. 2 In fact, a saying of Diocletian's is current, uttered when one of his treasury-officials was speaking to him with praise of Carus' exhibition, saying that he and his sons, while emperors, had gained great favor by means of theatrical spectacles and spectacles in the circus. "And so," he remarked, "Carus caused great laughter during his rule." 3 In fact, when Diocletian himself presented spectacles, after inviting all nations to attend, he was most sparing in his liberality, declaring that there should be more continence in games when a censor was looking on.

4 I should like this passage to be read by Junius Messalla, with whom I will dare to find fault frankly. For he has cut off his natural heirs and bestowed his ancestral fortune on players, giving a tunic of his mother's to an actress and a cloak of his father's to an actor — and rightly so, I suppose, if a gold and purple mantle of his grandmother's could be used as a costume by a tragic actor! 5 Indeed, the name of Messalla's wife is still embroidered on the violet mantle of a flute-player, who exults in it as the spoils of a noble house. Why, now, should I speak of those linen garments imported from Egypt? Why of those garments from Tyre and Sidon, so fine and transparent, of gleaming purple and famed for their embroidery-work? 6 He has presented, besides, capes brought from the Atrabati and capes from Canusium and Africa, such splendour as never before was seen on the stage.

21 All of this I have put into writing in order that future givers of spectacles may be touched by a sense of shame and so be deterred from cutting off their lawful heirs and squandering their inheritances on actors and mountebanks.

2 And now, my friend, accept this gift of mine, which, as I have often said, I have brought out to the light of day, not because of its elegance of style but because of its learned research, chiefly with this purpose in view, that if any gifted stylist should wish to reveal the deeds of the emperors, he might not lack the material, having, as he will, my little books as ministers to his eloquence. 3 I pray you, then, to be content and to contend that in this work I had the wish to write better than I had the power.