John Malalas, Chronography

a great palace, having found foundations laid formerly by Gallienus, also called Licinnianus. The same 307 Diocletian also built a public bath in the plain, near the old hippodrome, which he called the Diocletian. He also built granaries for the purpose of storing grain; and he gave measures of grain to all, and of all other things being sold, so that none of the market-people would be harassed by the soldiers; He also built the so-called stadium in Daphne for the Olympic and other contestants, so that they would not go away in chariots and be crowned at the Argurus river, but after everyone had competed in great Antioch, they would go up to the place called Daphne, and so that they would not travel such a distance on the road in chariots to the Argurus river of Cilicia, both the Olympians and the Antiochenes going for the Olympia, just as also in his divine edict he ordered that those competing in the Olympic games be crowned with laurel in Daphne. In the stadium of Daphne itself he built a temple of Olympian Zeus, and in the sphendone of the same stadium he built a temple to Nemesis. He also renewed the temple of Apollo, decorating it with various marbles. He also built for Hecate a subterranean temple of 365 steps. In Daphne he also built a palace for visiting emperors to stay there, since formerly they used to make pavilions in the grove and stay there. He also built three factories for the manufacturing of arms for the army, and he also built factories in Edessa so that the arms might be supplied nearby; likewise he also built factories in Damascus, taking into consideration 308 the raids of the Saracens. He also built a M308int in Antioch, so that coins could be struck there; for the same Mint had been destroyed by an earthquake; and it was renewed. He also built a bath, which he called the Senatorial, and likewise 3 other baths. But the Caesar Maximian, having gone against the Persians and having decisively defeated them, returned to Antioch, having taken captive the wife of the king of the Persians. as they had fled with a few men to the Indian frontier, their host having been destroyed. And the queen of the Persians, Arsane, lived in Daphne under guard by order of the emperor of the Romans, Diocletian, with honor for a time. And after this, when peace treaties were made, she was given back to the Persians to her own husband, having been guarded with honor. At that same time donatives were granted by the emperor to the whole Roman state on account of the victories. The same Diocletian also built forts on the frontiers from Egypt to the Persian borders, stationing in them frontier soldiers, and appointing duces for each province to be stationed further inland from the forts with much support for defence. And they erected columns to the emperor and to the Caesar on the frontier of Syria. At that same time the Egyptians rebelled and murdered their own rulers. And the same 309 Diocletian marched against them, and he waged war in great Alexandria, besieging it and making entrenchments, cutting the aqueduct and diverting it from the so-called Canopus, which provided service to the city. And taking Alexandria, he burned it; and he entered it on horseback, with his horse walking over the corpses. And he had ordered the expeditionary force not to spare the slaughter, until the blood of the slain should rise to the knee of the horse on which he was sitting. But it happened by the command of God that near the gate as he was entering, the horse on which the emperor was sitting trod upon a human corpse and, stumbling on it, fell to its knees and its knee was bloodied; and taking notice he gave an indulgence, and the soldiers stopped cutting down the citizens of Alexandria. and the... erected

παλάτιον μέγα, εὑρὼν θεμελίους τεθέντας πρῴην μὲν ὑπὸ Γαλλιηνοῦ τοῦ καὶ Λικιννιανοῦ. ἔκτισε δὲ ὁ αὐ 307 τὸς ∆ιοκλητιανὸς καὶ δημόσιον λουτρὸν εἰς τὴν πεδιάδα, πλησίον τοῦ παλαίου ἱππικοῦ, ὅπερ ἐκάλεσε τὸ ∆ιοκλητιανόν. ἔκτισε δὲ καὶ ὡρεῖα λόγῳ ἀποθέτων σίτου· καὶ μέτρα δὲ σίτου πᾶσιν ἔδωκε καὶ τῶν πιπρασκομένων ἄλλων πάντων διὰ τὸ μὴ ἐπηρεάζεσθαί τινα τῶν ἀγοραίων ἀπὸ τῶν στρατιωτῶν· ἔκτισε δὲ καὶ τὸ στάδιον τὸ λεγόμενον ἐν ∆άφνῃ διὰ τοὺς Ὀλυμπικοὺς καὶ τοὺς λοιποὺς ἀγωνιστάς, ὥστε μὴ ἀπιέναι ἐν κοτρίγαις καὶ στεφανοῦσθαι ἐν Ἀργυρῷ ποταμῷ, ἀλλὰ μετὰ τὸ ἀγωνίσασθαι πάντας ἐν Ἀντιοχείᾳ τῇ μεγάλῃ ἀνιέναι αὐτοὺς ἐν τῇ λεγομένῃ ∆άφνῃ, καὶ μὴ ἵνα τοσοῦτον διάστημα ὁδοῦ ἀπέρχωνται ἐν τῷ Ἀργυρῷ ποταμῷ ἐν κοτρίγαις τῆς Κιλικίας, καὶ οἱ Ὀλυμπικοὶ καὶ οἱ Ἀντιοχεῖς ἀπιόντες κατὰ τὸ Ὀλύμπια, καθὼς καὶ ἐν τῇ θείᾳ αὐτοῦ διατάξει ἐκέλευσεν ἐν ∆άφνῃ δαφνοῦσθαι τοὺς ἀγωνιζομένους ἐν τῷ ἀγῶνι τῶν Ὀλυμπίων. ἔκτισε δὲ ἐν αὐτῷ τῷ σταδίῳ ∆άφνης ἱερὸν Ὀλυμπίου ∆ιός, καὶ ἐν τῇ σφενδόνῃ τοῦ αὐτοῦ σταδίου ἔκτισεν ἱερὸν τῇ Νεμέσει. ἀνενέωσε δὲ καὶ τὸ τοῦ Ἀπόλλωνος ἱερόν, κοσμήσας διαφόροις μαρμάροις. ἔκτισε δὲ καὶ τῇ Ἑκάτῃ ἱερὸν καταχθόνιον βαθμῶν τξεʹ. ἔκτισε δὲ ἐν ∆άφνῃ καὶ παλάτιον εἰς τὸ τοὺς ἀνιόντας βασιλεῖς ἐκεῖ καταμένειν, ἐπειδὴ πρῴην εἰς τὸ ἄλσος ἐποίουν παπυλεῶνας καὶ κατέμενον. ἔκτισε δὲ καὶ φαβρικὰς τρεῖς πρὸς τὸ κατασκευάζεσθαι ὅπλα τῷ στρατῷ, ἔκτισε δὲ καὶ ἐν Ἐδέσῃ φαβρικὰ διὰ τὸ τὰ ὅπλα ἐγγὺς χορηγεῖσθαι· ὡσαύτως δὲ καὶ ἐν ∆αμασκῷ ἔκτισε φαβρικά, ἐννοήσας 308 τὰς ἐπιδρομὰς τῶν Σαρακηνῶν. ἔκτισε δὲ καὶ ἐν Ἀντιοχείᾳ Μό308 νηταν, ὥστε χαράσσεσθαι ἐκεῖ νομίσματα· ἦν γὰρ ἡ αὐτὴ Μόνητα ἀπὸ σεισμοῦ καταστραφεῖσα· καὶ ἀνενεώθη. ἔκτισε δὲ καὶ λουτρόν, ὅπερ ἐκάλεσε συγκλητικόν, ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ ἄλλα γʹ λουτρά. Ὁ δὲ Καῖσαρ Μαξιμιανὸς ἀπελθὼν κατὰ Περσῶν καὶ νικήσας αὐτοὺς κατὰ κράτος ἐπανῆλθεν ἐν Ἀντιοχείᾳ, λαβὼν αἰχμάλωτον τὴν τοῦ βασιλέως τῶν Περσῶν γυναῖκα. ἐκείνων φυγόντων μετὰ ὀλίγων ἀνδρῶν εἰς τὸ Ἰνδολίμιτον, τοῦ πλήθους αὐτῶν ἀναλωθέντος. ἡ δὲ βασίλισσα τῶν Περσῶν Ἀρσανὴ ᾤκησεν ἐν ∆άφνῃ φυλαττομένη κατὰ κέλευσιν τοῦ βασιλέως Ῥωμαίων ∆ιοκλητιανοῦ μετὰ τιμῆς ἐπὶ χρόνον. καὶ μετὰ ταῦτα πάκτων εἰρήνης γενομένων ἀπεδόθη Πέρσαις τῷ ἰδίῳ αὐτῆς ἀνδρί, φυλαχθεῖσα μετὰ τιμῆς. Ἐν αὐτῷ δὲ τῷ χρόνῳ δωρεαὶ παρεσχέθησαν παρὰ τοῦ βασιλέως πάσῃ τῇ Ῥωμαίων πολιτείᾳ ὑπὲρ τῶν ἐπινικίων. Ἔκτισε δὲ καὶ εἰς τὰ λίμιτα κάστρα ὁ αὐτὸς ∆ιοκλητιανὸς ἀπὸ τῆς Αἰγύπτου ἕως τῶν Περσικῶν ὅρων, τάξας ἐν αὐτοῖς στρατιώτας λιμιτανέους, προχειρισάμενος καὶ δοῦκας κατὰ ἐπαρχίαν ἐνδοτέρω τῶν κάστρων καθέζεσθαι μετὰ πολλῆς βοηθείας πρὸς παραφυλακήν. καὶ ἀνήνεγκαν τῷ βασιλεῖ καὶ τῷ Καίσαρι στήλας ἐν τῷ λιμίτῳ τῆς Συρίας. Ἐν αὐτῷ δὲ τῷ χρόνῳ ἐτυράννησαν οἱ Αἰγύπτιοι καὶ ἐφόνευσαν τοὺς ἄρχοντας αὑτῶν. καὶ ἐπεστράτευσε κατ' αὐτῶν ὁ αὐ 309 τὸς ∆ιοκλητιανός, καὶ ἐπολέμησεν ἐν Ἀλεξανδρείᾳ τῇ μεγάλῃ, πολιορκήσας αὐτὴν καὶ ποιήσας φοσάτα, κόψας τὸν ἀγωγὸν καὶ στρέψας αὐτὸν ἀπὸ τοῦ λεγομένου Κανώπου καὶ παρέχοντα χρῆσιν τῇ πόλει. παραλαβὼν δὲ Ἀλεξάνδρειαν ἐνέπρησεν αὐτήν· εἰσῆλθε δὲ ἐν αὐτῇ ἔφιππος, τοῦ ἵππου αὐτοῦ περιπατοῦντος ἐπάνω τῶν λειψάνων. ἦν δὲ κελεύσας τῷ ἐξπεδίτῳ μὴ φείσασθαι τοῦ φονεύειν, ἕως οὗ ἀνέλθῃ τὰ αἵματα τῶν σφαζομένων ἕως τὸ γόνυ τοῦ ἵππου οὗ ἐκάθητο. συνέβη δὲ κατὰ κέλευσιν θεοῦ πλησίον τῆς πόρτας εἰσελθόντος αὐτοῦ τὸν ἵππον ἐν ᾧ ἐκάθητο ὁ βασιλεὺς πατῆσαι λείψανον ἀνθρώπου καὶ κονδάψαντα εἰς αὐτὸ γονατίσαι καὶ αἱματωθῆναι τὸ γόνυ τοῦ ἵππου· καὶ προσεσχηκὼς ἔδωκεν ἰνδουλγεντίας, καὶ ἐπαύσαντο οἱ στρατιῶται κόπτοντες τοὺς πολίτας Ἀλεξανδρείας. καὶ ἀνέστησαν οἱ