Chap. IX.

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. 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. The form of Galerius corresponded with his manners. 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. 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. Diocletian, apt to be low-spirited and timorous in every commotion, and fearing a fate like that of Valerian, 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. It is a custom amongst 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. 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 Cæsar;11    [On which see cap. 20, infra, and preceding chapters.]   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 Cæsar? “Then he began to act extravagantly, insomuch that, as if he had been a second Romulus, 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. 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.  

While by such a conduct, and with such associates, Diocles—for that was the name of Diocletian before he attained sovereignty—occupied himself in subverting the commonweal, there was no evil which his crimes did not deserve: nevertheless he reigned most prosperously, as long as he forbore to defile his hands with the blood of the just; and what cause he had for persecuting them, I come now to explain.  

IX. 0207B Alter vero Maximianus, quem sibi generum Diocletianus asciverat, non his duobus tantum, quos tempora nostra senserunt, sed omnibus qui fuerunt, 0208A malis pejor. Inerat huic bestiae naturalis barbaries, et feritas a Romano sanguine aliena. Non mirum, cum mater ejus Transdanuviana, infestantibus Carpis, in Daciam novam transjecto amne confugerat. Erat etiam corpus moribus congruens, status celsus, caro ingens, et in horrendam magnitudinem diffusa et inflata. Denique et verbis, et actibus, et aspectu terrori omnibus ac formidini fuit. Socer quoque eum metuebat acerrime. Cujus timoris haec fuit causa, Narseus, rex Persarum, concitatus domesticis exemplis avi sui Saporis, ad occupandum Orientem cum magnis copiis inhiabat.

Tunc Diocletianus, ut erat in omni tumultu meticulosus, animique disjectus, simul et exemplum Valeriani timens, non ausus est obviam tendere: sed 0208B hunc per Armeniam misit, ipse in Oriente subsistens et occupans exitus rerum. Ille insidiis suis barbaros, quibus mos est cum omnibus suis ad bellum pergere, multitudine impeditos, et sarcinis occupatos non difficiliter oppressit; fugatoque Narseo rege, 0209A reversus cum praeda et manubiis ingentibus, sibi attulit superbiam, Diocletiano timorem. In tantos namque fastus post hanc victoriam elevatus est, ut jam detrectaret Caesaris nomen. Quod cum in litteris ad se datis audisset, truci vultu ac voce terribili exclamabat: QUOUSQUE CAESAR? Exinde insolentissime agere coepit, ut ex Marte se procreatum, et videri, et dici vellet, tamquam alterum Romulum; maluitque Romulam matrem stupro infamare, ut ipse diis oriundus videretur. Sed differo de factis ejus dicere, ne confundam tempora. Postea enim quam nomen Imperatoris accepit, exuto socero, tum demum furere coepit, et contemnere omnia. Diocles (sic) enim ante imperium vocabatur: cum rempublicam talibus consiliis et talibus sociis everteret, cum 0210A pro sceleribus suis nihil non mereretur, tamdiu tamen summa felicitate regnavit, quamdiu manus suas justorum sanguine non inquinaret. Quam vero causam persequendi habuerit, exponam.