ROME. 
The Empire. 
291 
The Empire. 
disdained the plainness of Roman manners, and delighted 
himself with the gorgeous array of Persian extravagance, 
was compelled to lay such imposts on his subjects as they had 
never before experienced; and that even these imposts were 
necessarily of greater amount when four splendid courts were 
to be provided for, than when the imperial expenditure was 
confined to one person. Of this we have full testimony. 
For according to his religion and situation, each writer of 
the time chuses either Dioclesian, or Constantine, or Valens, 
or Theodosius, for the object of his invectives; but they 
unanimously agree in representing the burden of the public 
impositions, and particularly the land-tax and capitation, 
as the intolerable and increasing grievance of their own 
times. From such a concurrence, an impartial historian, 
who is obliged to extract truth from satire, as well as from 
panegyric, will be inclined to divide the blame among the 
princes whom they accuse, and to ascribe their exactions 
much less to their personal vices, than to the uniform 
system of their administration. The emperor Dioclesian 
was indeed the author of that system; but during his reign, 
the growing evil was confined within the bounds of modesty 
and discretion, and he deserves the reproach of establishing 
pernicious’ precedents, rather than of exercising actual 
oppression. It may be added, that his revenues were 
managed with prudent ceconomy; and that after all the 
current expenses were discharged, there still remained in 
the Imperial treasury an ample provision either for judicious 
liberality or for an emergency of the state. 
It was in the twenty-first year of his reign, that Diocle¬ 
sian executed his memorable resolution of abdicating the 
empire; an action more naturally to have been expected 
from the elder or the younger Antoninus, than from a prince 
who had never practised the lessons of philosophy either 
in the attainment or in the use of supreme power. 
The ceremony of his abdication was performed in a spa¬ 
cious plain, about three miles from Nicomedia. The em¬ 
peror ascended a lofty throne, and in a speech, full of rea¬ 
son and dignity, declared his intention both to the people 
and to the soldiers who were assembled on this extraordi¬ 
nary occasion. As soon as he had divested himself of the 
purple, he withdrew from the gazing multitude; and tra¬ 
versing the city in a covered chariot, proceeded, without 
delay, to the favourite retirement which he had chosen in 
his native country of Dalmatia. On the same day, which 
was the first of May, Maximian, as it had been previ¬ 
ously concerted, made his resignation of the Imperial dig¬ 
nity at Milan. Even in the splendour of the Roman tri¬ 
umph, Dioclesian had meditated his design of abdicating 
the government. As he wished to secure the obedience of 
Maximian, he exacted from him, either a general assurance 
that he would submit his actions to the authority of his 
benefactor, or a particular promise that he would descend 
from the throne, whenever he should receive the advice and 
the example. This engagement, though it was confirmed 
by the solemnity of an oath before the altar of the Capito- 
line Jupiter, would have proved a feeble restraint on the 
fierce temper of Maximian, whose passion was the love of 
power, and who neither desired present tranquillity nor fu¬ 
ture reputation. But he yielded, however reluctantly, to 
the ascendant which his wiser colleague had acquired over 
, him, and retired immediately after his abdication, to a villa 
in Lucania, where it was almost impossible that such an 
impatient spirit could find any lasting tranquillity. 
The balance of power established by Dioclesian subsisted 
no longer than while it was sustained by the firm and dexter¬ 
ous hand of the founder. It required such a fortunate mix¬ 
ture of different tempers and abilities, as could scarcely be 
found, or even expected a second time; two emperors 
without jealousy, two Caesars without ambition, and the same 
general interest invariably pursued by four independent princes. 
The abdication of Dioclesian and Maximian was succeeded 
by eighteen years of discord and confusion. The empire 
was afflicted by five civil wars; and the remainder of the 
time was not so much a state of tranquillity as a supension of 
arms between several hostile monarchs, who, viewing each 
other with an eye of fear and hatred, strove to increase their 
respective forces at the expense of their subjects. 
As soon as Dioclesian and Maximian had resigned the 
purple, their station, according to the rules of the new con¬ 
stitution, was filled by the two Caesars, Constantius and 
Galerius, who immediately assumed the title of Augustus. 
The honours of seniority and precedence were allowed to the 
former of those princes, and he continued, under a new 
appellation, to administer his ancient department of Gaul, 
Spain, and Britain. The government of those ample pro¬ 
vinces was sufficient to exercise his talents, and to satisfy his 
ambition. Clemency, temperance, and moderation, distin¬ 
guished the amiable character of Constantius, and his fortu¬ 
nate subjects had frequently occasion to compare the virtues 
of their sovereign with the passions of Maximian, and even 
with the arts of Dioclesian. 
The stern temper of Galerius was cast in a very different 
mould; and while he commanded the esteem of his subjects, 
he seldom condescended to solicit their affections. His fame 
in arms, and above all, the success of the Persian war, had 
elated his haughty mind, which was naturally impatient of 
a superior, or even of an equal. 
After the elevation of Constantius and Galerius to the rank 
of Augusti, two new Caesars were required to supply their 
place, and to complete the system of the imperial govern¬ 
ment. Dioclesian was sincerely desirous of withdrawing 
himself from the world: he considered Galerius, who had 
married his daughter, as the firmest support of his family 
and of the empire; and he consented, without reluctance, 
that his successor should assume the merit as well as the envy 
of the important nomination. It was fixed without con¬ 
sulting the interest or inclination of the princes of the West. 
Each of them had a son who was arrived at the age of man¬ 
hood, and who might have been deemed the most natural 
candidates for the vacant honour. But the important resent¬ 
ment of Maximian was no longer to be dreaded: and the 
moderate Constantius, though he might despise the dangers, 
was humanely apprehensive of the calamities of civil war. 
The two persons whom Galerius promoted to the rank of 
Caesar, were much better suited to serve the views of his 
ambition ; and their principal recommendation seems to 
have consisted in the want of merit or personal consequence. 
The first of these was Daza, or, as he was afterwards called, 
Maximin, whose mother was the sister of Galerius. The 
unexperienced youth still betrayed by his manners and lan¬ 
guage his rustic education, when, to his own astonishment 
as well as that of the world, he was invested by Dioclesian 
with the purple, exalted to the dignity of Caesar, and 
intrusted with the sovereign command of Egypt and Syria, 
At the same time, Severus, a faithful servant, addicted to 
pleasure, but not incapable of business, was sent to Milan, 
to receive from the reluctant hands of Maximian the Caesa¬ 
rean ornaments, and the possession of Italy and Africa, 
According to the forms of the constitution, Severus acknow¬ 
ledged the supremacy of the western emperor; but he was 
absolutely devoted to the commands of his benefactor Gale¬ 
rius, who, reserving to himself the intermediate countries 
from the confines of Italy to those of Syria, firmly established 
his power over three-fourths of the monarchy, in the full 
confidence, that the approaching death of Constantius would 
leave him sole master of the Roman world. 
But within less than eighteen months, two unexpected 
revolutions overturned the ambitious schemes of Galerius, 
The hopes of uniting the western provinces to his empire 
were disappointed by the elevation of Constantine, whilst Italy 
and Africa were lost by the successful revolt of Maxentius. 
The British expedition, and an easy victory over the 
barbarians of Calcedonia, were the last exploits of the reign 
of Constantius. He ended his life in the imperial palace of 
York, fifteen months after he had received the title of Au¬ 
gustus, and almost fourteen years and a half after he had 
been 
