en months [84] through the provinces, concealed
in the disguise of plebeian habits. They were at length discovered at
Thessalonica; and as the sentence of their death was already pronounced,
they were immediately beheaded, and their bodies thrown into the sea.
The people gazed on the melancholy spectacle; but their grief and
indignation were suppressed by the terrors of a military guard. Such
was the unworthy fate of the wife and daughter of Diocletian. We lament
their misfortunes, we cannot discover their crimes; and whatever idea we
may justly entertain of the cruelty of Licinius, it remains a matter
of surprise that he was not contented with some more secret and decent
method of revenge. [85]

[Footnote 80: Lactantius de M. P. c. 50. Aurelius Victor touches on
the different conduct of Licinius, and of Constantine, in the use of
victory.]

[Footnote 81: The sensual appetites of Maximin were gratified at the
expense of his subjects. His eunuchs, who forced away wives and virgins,
examined their naked charms with anxious curiosity, lest any part of
their body should be found unworthy of the royal embraces. Coyness and
disdain were considered as treason, and the obstinate fair one was
condemned to be drowned. A custom was gradually introduced, that no
person should marry a wife without the permission of the emperor, "ut
ipse in omnibus nuptiis praegustator esset." Lactantius de M. P. c. 38.]

[Footnote 82: Lactantius de M. P. c. 39.]

[Footnote 83: Diocletian at last sent cognatum suum, quendam militarem
ae potentem virum, to intercede in favor of his daughter, (Lactantius
de M. P. c. 41.) We are not sufficiently acquainted with the history of
these times to point out the person who was employed.]

[Footnote 84: Valeria quoque per varias provincias quindecim mensibus
plebeio cultu pervagata. Lactantius de M. P. c. 51. There is some doubt
whether we should compute the fifteen months from the moment of her
exile, or from that of her escape. The expression of parvagata seems to
denote the latter; but in that case we must suppose that the treatise
of Lactantius was written after the first civil war between Licinius and
Constantine. See Cuper, p. 254.]

[Footnote 85: Ita illis pudicitia et conditio exitio fuit. Lactantius
de M. P. c. 51. He relates the misfortunes of the innocent wife
and daughter of Discletian with a very natural mixture of pity and
exultation.]

The Roman world was now divided between Constantine an