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Diocletian, while going through Egypt against the Ethiopians, sent him out to engage with a worthy force. who, having joined battle with the Persians, was defeated and fled. but again Diocletian sent him out with a larger army. Engaging with them again, therefore, he was victorious in such a way as to reverse the former defeat. For he both killed most of the Persians and pursued the wounded Narses as far as inner Persia, and led away his wives and children and sisters as captives, and seized as much money as Narses had brought on campaign, and many of the notable men among the Persians. And having recovered from his wound 3.162 Narses sent an embassy to Diocletian and Galerius, asking that his children and wives be returned to him and to make a peace treaty. And he obtained his request, ceding to the Romans as much as they wanted. And Diocletian and Maximian successfully waged many other wars, some through themselves or the Caesars, and others through their generals, and they extended the borders of the empire. Puffed up by these things and becoming arrogant, Diocletian no longer tolerated being addressed by the senate as before, but decreed that he be prostrated to, and he adorned his clothes and his shoes with gold and stones and pearls, and he invested the imperial insignia with greater luxury. For the former emperors had been honored in the manner of the consuls, and as a sign of their rule they had only a purple cloak. And with the persecution intensifying, and innumerable men and women dying for their confession of Christ, and the faithful still increasing in number, these tyrants, having gone mad, around the nineteenth year of Diocletian's reign, sent out decrees everywhere ordering that the churches of the Christians be demolished and razed to the ground and their books be burned and their priests, as teachers and preachers of the faith, be pitilessly put to death, and of the others, those enrolled in dignities or military service were to be dishonorably driven out from their dignity and service, and those of private status were to be enslaved. 3.163 And when Diocletian had already completed the twentieth year of his reign, by agreement both emperors laid down their rule, saying publicly that they were laying aside the burden of affairs; but to those to whom they revealed the secrets of their hearts, they confessed they were laying down their rule out of despair, because they had not been able to overcome the Christians nor extinguish the Christian proclamation, nor did they choose to enjoy their reign. And having laid down their rule on the same day by a prearranged signal, one in Nicomedia, and Maximian in Milan, and having become private citizens, Diocletian lived in Salona, a city of Dalmatia, which was also his homeland, and Herculius in Lucania. But before laying down their rule, having returned to Rome, they celebrated a triumph for the victory over the Persians, in which they paraded in triumph the wives of Narses and his children and his sisters, and the chiefs of other nations, and as much wealth as they had plundered from the Persians. But here it is good to declare whence the name of the triumph has been taken. They say, therefore, that it was named from the *thria*, which are the leaves of the fig tree. For before masks were invented, the stage-actors, covering their own faces with fig leaves, would make their jests in iambics; and the soldiers, too, in the victory processions, bringing fig leaves to their own faces, would jeer at those holding the processions; and from this it is believed that the victory processions were named triumphs. But others 3.164 say that the triumph was so named because those who filled the procession were constituted from three orders, of the senate, of the people, and of the soldiers, and from the three orders marching together it was called a sort of *triambos*, and instead of the tau, the theta was adopted for the sake of euphony. And after this victory procession, they on the one hand stepped down from power, and on the other hand they appointed the Caesars as emperors, dividing the rule among them,

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∆ιοκλητιανός, διὰ τῆς Αἰγύπτου ἐπὶ τοὺς Αἰθίοπας ἀπιών, συμβαλεῖν αὐτῷ μετὰ δυνάμεως ἀξιομάχου ἐξέπεμψεν. ος καὶ συμμίξας τοῖς Πέρσαις ἡττήθη καὶ εφυγεν. αυθις δὲ μετὰ πλείονος αὐτὸν ὁ ∆ιοκλητιανὸς ἐξέπεμψε στρατιᾶς. συμβαλὼν ουν αὐτοῖς πάλιν, ουτως ἐνίκησεν ὡς καὶ τὴν προτέραν ητταν ἀνακαλέσασθαι. τούς τε γὰρ πλείονας ἀπέκτεινε τῶν Περσῶν καὶ τὸν Ναρσῆν τρωθέντα μέχρι τῆς ἐνδοτέρας Περσίδος ἐδίωκε, καὶ τὰς τούτου γυναῖκας καὶ τοὺς παῖδας καὶ ἀδελφὰς αἰχμαλώτους ἀπήγαγε, καὶ χρήματα οσα ἐπήγετο Ναρσῆς στρατευόμενος ἐχειρώσατο, καὶ πολλοὺς τῶν ἐν Πέρσαις ἐπιφανῶν. ἀναρρωσθεὶς δ' ἐκ τοῦ τραύματος 3.162 ὁ Ναρσῆς πρεσβείαν πρὸς ∆ιοκλητιανὸν καὶ Γαλέριον ἐποιήσατο, τοὺς παῖδας καὶ τὰς γυναῖκας ἀποδοθῆναι αὐτῷ ἀξιῶν σπονδὰς θέσθαι εἰρηνικάς. καὶ ετυχε τῆς αἰτήσεως, ἐκστὰς τοῖς ̔Ρωμαίοις οσων ἐβούλοντο. Καὶ αλλους δὲ πολλοὺς πολέμους κατώρθωσαν ∆ιοκλητιανὸς καὶ Μαξιμιανός, τοὺς μὲν δι' ἑαυτῶν η τῶν Καισάρων, τοὺς δὲ διὰ στρατηγῶν, καὶ τοὺς ορους τῆς βασιλείας ἐπλάτυναν. οις ἐπαρθεὶς ὁ ∆ιοκλητιανὸς καὶ μέγα φρονήσας οὐκέτι προσαγορεύεσθαι παρὰ τῆς γερουσίας ὡς πρῴην ἠνείχετο, ἀλλὰ προσκυνεῖσθαι ἐθέσπισε, καὶ τὰς ἐσθῆτας ἑαυτοῦ καὶ τὰ ὑποδήματα χρυσῷ καὶ λίθοις καὶ μαργάροις ἐκόσμησε, καὶ πλείονα πολυτέλειαν τοῖς βασιλικοῖς παρασήμοις ἐνέθετο. οἱ πρῴην γὰρ βασιλεῖς κατὰ τοὺς ὑπάτους τετίμηντο, καὶ τῆς βασιλείας παράσημον μόνον ειχον πορφυροῦν περιβόλαιον. Τοῦ διωγμοῦ δ' ἐπιταθέντος, καὶ ἀναριθμήτων ἀνδρῶν καὶ γυναικῶν ὑπὲρ τῆς εἰς Χριστὸν ὁμολογίας θνησκόντων, καὶ τῶν πιστῶν ετι πλεοναζόντων, ἐκμανέντες οἱ τύραννοι ουτοι περὶ τὸ ἐννεακαιδέκατον ετος τῆς ∆ιοκλητιανοῦ βασιλείας θεσπίσματα πανταχοῦ διεπέμψαντο καθαιρεῖσθαι καὶ κατασκάπτεσθαι τὰς τῶν χριστιανῶν ἐκκλησίας κελεύοντα καὶ τὰς βίβλους αὐτῶν κατακαίεσθαι καὶ τοὺς ἱερεῖς αὐτῶν ὡς διδασκάλους καὶ κήρυκας τῆς πίστεως ἀσυμπαθῶς προσαπόλλυσθαι, τῶν δ' αλλων τοὺς ἀξίαις η στρατείαις κατειλεγμένους ἀτίμως ἐξελαύνεσθαι καὶ τῆς ἀξίας καὶ τῆς στρατείας, τοὺς δὲ τύχης ἰδιώτιδος οντας δουλοῦσθαι. 3.163 Ηδη δὲ εἰκοστὸν διανύσαντος ἐνιαυτὸν ∆ιοκλητιανοῦ παρὰ τῇ ἀρχῇ, ἐκ συμφώνου αμφω τὼ αὐτοκράτορε τὴν βασιλείαν ἀπέθεντο, δημοσίᾳ μὲν τὸν οχλον τῶν πραγμάτων ἀποσκευάζεσθαι λέγοντες· οις δὲ τὰ τῆς καρδίας ἐξεκάλυπτον κρύφια, ἐξ ἀπονοίας ὡμολόγουν ἀποτίθεσθαι τὴν ἀρχήν, οτι μὴ περιγενέσθαι χριστιανῶν ἠδυνήθησαν μηδ' ἀποσβέσαι τὸ χριστώνυμον κήρυγμα, μηδὲ τῆς βασιλείας ἀπολαύειν αἱρούμενοι. ἀποθέμενοι δὲ τὴν ἀρχὴν κατὰ τὴν αὐτὴν ἡμέραν ἐκ συνθήματος ὁ μὲν ἐν Νικομηδείᾳ, ὁ δὲ Μαξιμιανὸς ἐν Μεδιολάνῳ, καὶ ἰδιωτεύσαντες, ∆ιοκλητιανὸς μὲν ἐν Σάλωνι πόλει τῆς ∆αλματίας διῆγεν, ητις ην αὐτοῦ καὶ πατρίς, ὁ δ' ̔Ερκούλιος ἐν Λουκανίᾳ. πρὸ δὲ τῆς ἀποθέσεως τῆς ἀρχῆς τὸν ἐπὶ τῇ νίκῃ τῶν Περσῶν ἐπανελθόντες ἐν ̔Ρώμῃ κατήγαγον θρίαμβον, ἐν ῳ τάς τε τοῦ Ναρσοῦ γαμετὰς καὶ τὰ τέκνα καὶ τὰς ὁμαίμονας ἐθριάμβευσαν καὶ ἀρχηγοὺς ἑτέρων ἐθνῶν καὶ τὸν πλοῦτον οσον ἐκ Περσῶν ἐληίσαντο. ̓Αλλ' ἐνταῦθα δηλωθῆναι καλὸν οθεν τὸ τοῦ θριάμβου ἐξείληπται ονομα. φασὶν ουν κληθῆναι τοῦτον ἐκ τῶν θρίων, α ἐστι τὰ τῆς συκῆς φύλλα. πρὸ γὰρ τοῦ τὰ προσωπεῖα ἐπινοηθῆναι τοῖς σκηνικοῖς συκῆς φύλλοις τὰ ἑαυτῶν καλύπτοντες πρόσωπα δι' ἰάμβων ἐποιοῦντο τὰ σκώμματα· καὶ οἱ στρατιῶται δὲ ἐν ταῖς ἐπινικίοις πομπαῖς φύλλα συκῆς ταῖς ἑαυτῶν ἐπάγοντες οψεσιν εἰς τοὺς τὰς πομπὰς ποιοῦντας ἀπέσκωπτον· κἀντεῦθεν ὀνομασθῆναι νομίζεται θριάμβους τὰς ἐπινικίους πομπάς. ετεροι δέ 3.164 φασιν ὀνομασθῆναι τὸν θρίαμβον, οτι ἐκ τριῶν οἱ τὴν πομπὴν πληροῦντες συνίσταντο τάξεων, τῆς συγκλήτου, τοῦ δήμου, καὶ τῶν στρατιωτῶν, καὶ ἐκ τοῦ βαίνειν ὁμοῦ τὰς τάξεις τὰς τρεῖς τρίαμβόν τινα κληθῆναι, ἀντὶ δὲ τοῦ ˉτ τὸ ˉθ παραληφθῆναι διὰ τὸ εὐφωνότερον. Μετὰ δὲ τὴν ἐπινίκιον ταύτην πομπὴν ἐκεῖνοι μὲν τῆς ἐξουσίας ἀπέστησαν, τοὺς Καίσαρας δ' ἀνέδειξαν αὐτοκράτορας, μερίσαντες αὐτοῖς τὴν ἀρχήν,