ocletian received into his confidence Aristobulus,
the principal minister of the house of Carus, respected the lives, the
fortunes, and the dignity, of his adversaries, and even continued in
their respective stations the greater number of the servants of Carinus.
[4] It is not improbable that motives of prudence might assist the
humanity of the artful Dalmatian; of these servants, many had purchased
his favor by secret treachery; in others, he esteemed their grateful
fidelity to an unfortunate master. The discerning judgment of Aurelian,
of Probus, and of Carus, had filled the several departments of the
state and army with officers of approved merit, whose removal would
have injured the public service, without promoting the interest of his
successor. Such a conduct, however, displayed to the Roman world the
fairest prospect of the new reign, and the emperor affected to confirm
this favorable prepossession, by declaring, that, among all the virtues
of his predecessors, he was the most ambitious of imitating the humane
philosophy of Marcus Antoninus. [5]

[Footnote 4: In this encomium, Aurelius Victor seems to convey a just,
though indirect, censure of the cruelty of Constantius. It appears from
the Fasti, that Aristobulus remained praefect of the city, and that
he ended with Diocletian the consulship which he had commenced with
Carinus.]

[Footnote 5: Aurelius Victor styles Diocletian, "Parentum potius quam
Dominum." See Hist. August. p. 30.]

The first considerable action of his reign seemed to evince his
sincerity as well as his moderation. After the example of Marcus, he
gave himself a colleague in the person of Maximian, on whom he bestowed
at first the title of Caesar, and afterwards that of Augustus. [6] But
the motives of his conduct, as well as the object of his choice, were
of a very different nature from those of his admired predecessor. By
investing a luxurious youth with the honors of the purple, Marcus had
discharged a debt of private gratitude, at the expense, indeed, of the
happiness of the state. By associating a friend and a fellow-soldier
to the labors of government, Diocletian, in a time of public danger,
provided for the defence both of the East and of the West. Maximian
was born a peasant, and, like Aurelian, in the territory of Sirmium.
Ignorant of letters, [7] careless of laws, the rusticity of his
appearance and manners still betrayed in the most elevated fortune the
meanness of his extraction.