as soon
as he had slain a wild boar (_aper_). Having been installed at
Nicomedia, he received general acknowledgment after the murder of
Carinus. In consequence of the rising of the Bagaudae in Gaul, and the
threatening attitude of the German peoples on the Rhine, he appointed
Maximian Augustus in 286; and, in view of further dangers and
disturbances in the empire, proclaimed Constantius Chlorus and Galerius
Caesars in 293. Each of the four rulers was placed at a separate
capital--Nicomedia, Mediolanum (Milan), Augusta Trevirorum (Trier),
Sirmium. This amounted to an entirely new organization of the empire, on
a plan commensurate with the work of government which it now had to
carry on. At the age of fifty-nine, exhausted with labour, Diocletian
abdicated his sovereignty on the 1st of May 305, and retired to Salona,
where he died eight years afterwards (others give 316 as the year of his
death). The end of his reign was memorable for the persecution of the
Christians. In defence of this it may be urged that he hoped to
strengthen the empire by reviving the old religion, and that the church
as an independent state over whose inner life at least he possessed no
influence, appeared to be a standing menace to his authority. Under
Diocletian the senate became a political nonentity, the last traces of
republican institutions disappeared, and were replaced by an absolute
monarchy approaching to despotism. He wore the royal diadem, assumed the
title of lord, and introduced a complicated system of ceremonial and
etiquette, borrowed from the East, in order to surround the monarchy and
its representative with mysterious sanctity. But at the same time he
devoted his energies to the improvement of the administration of the
empire; he reformed the standard of coinage, fixed the price of
provisions and other necessaries of daily life, remitted the tax upon
inheritances and manumissions, abolished various monopolies, repressed
corruption and encouraged trade. In addition, he adorned the city with
numerous buildings, such as the thermae, of which extensive remains are
still standing (Aurelius Victor, _De Caesaribus_, 39; Eutropius ix. 13;
Zonaras xii. 31).

See A. Vogel, _Der Kaiser Diocletian_ (Gotha, 1857), a short sketch,
with notes on the authorities; T. Preuss, _Kaiser Diocletian und seine
Zeit_ (Leipzig, 1869); V. Casagrandi, _Diocleziano_ (Faenza, 1876); H.
Schiller, _Gesch. der romischen Kaiserzeit_, ii. (1887); T. Bernh