XIII.

monarch would be less exposed to the rude li- CHAP. cence of the people and the soldiers, as his person was secluded from the public view; and that habits of submission would insensibly be productive of sentiments of veneration. Like the modesty affected by Augustus, the state maintained by Diocletian was a theatrical representation; but it must be confessed, that of the two comedies, the former was a much more liberal and manly character than the latter. It was the aim of the one to disguise, and the object of the other to display, the unbounded power which the emperors possesssed over the Roman world.

of admini

gusti, and

sars.

Ostentation was the first principle of the new New form system instituted by Diocletian. The second was stration, division. He divided the empire, the provinces, two Auand every branch of the civil as well as military two Cz. administration. He multiplied the wheels of the machine of government, and rendered its operations less rapid but more secure. Whatever advantages and whatever defects might attend these innovations, they must be ascribed in a very great degree to the first inventor; but as the new frame of policy was gradually improved and completed by succeeding princes, it will be more satisfactory to delay the consideration of it till the reason of its full maturity and perfection.' Reserving, therefore, for the reign of Constan

'The innovations introduced by Diocletian are chiefly deduced, 1st, from some very strong passages in Lactantius; and, 2dly, from the new and various offices which, in the Theodosian code, appear already established in the beginning of the reign of Constantine.

XIII.

CHAP. tine a more exact picture of the new empire, we shall content ourselves with describing the principal and decisive outline, as it was traced by the hand of Diocletian. He had associated three colleagues in the exercise of the supreme power; and as he was convinced that the abilities of a single man were inadequate to the public defence, he considered the joint administration of four princes, not as a temporary expedient, but as a fundamental law of the constitution. It was his intention, that the two elder princes should be distinguished by the use of the diadem, and the title of Augusti; that, as affection or esteem might direct their choice, they should regularly call to their assistance two subordinate colleagues; and that the Cæsars, rising in their turn to the first rank, should supply an uninterrupted succession of emperors. The empire was divided into four parts. The east and Italy were the most honourable, the Danube and the Rhine the most laborious stations. The former claimed the presence of the Augusti, the latter were intrusted to the administration of the Cæsars. The strength of the legions was in the hands of the four partners of sovereignty; and the despair of successively vanquishing four formidable rivals might intimidate the ambition of an aspiring general. In their civil government, the emperors were supposed to exercise the undivided power of the monarch, and their edicts, inscribed with their joint names, were received in all the provinces, as promulgated by their mutual councils and authority. Notwithstanding these precautions,

XIII.

the political union of the Roman world was gra- CHAP. dually dissolved, and a principle of division was introduced, which, in the course of a few years, occasioned the perpetual separation of the eastern and western empires.

taxes.

The system of Diocletian was accompanied Increase of with another very material disadvantage, which cannot even at present be totally overlooked; a more expensive establishment, and consequently an increase of taxes, and the oppression of the people. Instead of a modest family of slaves and freedmen, such as had contented the simple greatness of Augustus and Trajan, three or four magnificent courts were established, in the various parts of the empire, and as many Roman kings contended with each other, and with the Persian monarch, for the vain superiority of pomp and luxury. The number of ministers, of magistrates, of officers, and of servants, who filled the different departments of the state, was multiplied beyond the example of former times; and (if we may borrow the warm expression of a contemporary)" when the proportion of those who received, "exceeded the proportion of those who contri"buted, the provinces were oppressed by the weight of tributes."m From this period to the extinction of the empire, it would be easy to deduce an uninterrupted series of clamours and complaints. According to his religion and situation, each writer chooses either Diocletian, or Constantine, or Valens, or Theodosius, for the

66

Lactant, de M. P. c. 7.

XIII.

...

CHAP. 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 Diocletian 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 perniciou precedents, rather than exercising actual oppression." It may be added, that his revenues were managed with prudent economy; and that after all the current expences were discharged, there still remained in the imperial treasury an ample provision either for judicious liberality or for any emergency of the state.

Abdication of

It was in the twenty-first year of his reign that Diocletian Diocletian executed his memorable resolution of and Maxi- abdicating the empire; an action more naturally

mian.

to have been expected from the elder or the younger Antonius, than from a prince who had never practised the lessons of philosophy either in the attainment or in the use of supreme power.

"Indicta lex nova quæ sane illorum temporum modestiâ tolerabilis, in peruiciem processit. Aurel. Victor, who has treated the character of Diocletian with good sense, though in bad Latin.

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blance to

the fifth.

Diocletian acquired the glory of giving to the CHAP. world the first example of a resignation, which has not been very frequently imitated by succeeding monarchs. The parallel of Charles the fifth, Resem however, will naturally offer itself to our mind, Charles not only since the eloquence of a modern historian has rendered that name so familiar to an English reader, but from the very striking resemblance between the characters of the two emperors, whose political abilities were superior to their military genius, and whose specious virtues were much less the effect of nature than of art. The abdication of Charles appears to have been hastened by the vicissitudes of fortune; and the disappointment of his favourite schemes urged him to relinquish a power which he found inadequate to his ambition. But the reign of Diocletian had flowed with a tide of uninterrupted success; nor was it till after he had vanquished all his enemies, and accomplished all his designs, that he seems to have entertained any serious thoughts of resigning the empire. Neither Charles nor Diocletian were arrived at a very advanced period of life; since the one was only fifty-five, and the other was no more than fiftynine years of age; but the active life of those princes, their wars and journies, the cares of royalty, and their application to business, had

* Solus omnium, post conditum Romanum imperium, qui ex tanto fastigio sponte ad privatæ vitæ statum civilitatemque remearet. Eutrop. ix, 28.