ar, and alluding to
the prediction of a soothsayer in Gaul, who had told him that he would
become emperor after having killed a boar (Vopiscus, in "Hist. Aug.").
Diocletian, self-composed and strong-minded in other respects, was all
his life an anxious believer in divination, which superstition led him
probably to inflict summary punishment upon Aper with his own hands.
He made his solemn entrance into Nicomedia in September, 284, which
town he afterward chose for his favorite residence.

Carinus, the other son of Carus, who had remained in Italy, having
collected a force to attack Diocletian, the two armies met at Margum,
in Moesia, where the soldiers of Carinus had the advantage at first,
but Carinus himself being killed during the battle by his officers,
who detested him for his cruelty and debauchery, both armies joined
in acknowledging Diocletian emperor in 285. Diocletian was generous
after his victory, and, contrary to the common practice, there were no
executions, proscriptions, or confiscations of property; he even
retained most of the officers of Carinus in their places.

Diocletian, on assuming the imperial power, found the Empire assailed
by enemies in various quarters--on the Persian frontiers, on the side
of Germany and of Illyricum, and in Britain; besides which a serious
revolt had broken out in Gaul among the rural population, under two
leaders who had assumed the title of emperor. To quell the disturbance
in Gaul, Diocletian sent his old friend Maximianus, a native of
Pannonia, and a brave but rude uncultivated soldier. Maximianus
defeated the Bagaudi, for such was the name the rustic insurgents had
assumed. In the year 286, Diocletian chose Maximianus as his colleague
in the Empire, under the name of Marcus Valerius Maximianus Augustus,
and it is to the credit of both that the latter continued ever after
faithful to Diocletian and willing to follow his advice. Maximianus
was stationed in Gaul and on the German frontier to repel invasion;
Diocletian resided chiefly in the East to watch the Persians, though
he appears to have visited Rome in the early part of his reign. About
287 the revolt of Carausius took place. In the following year
Maximianus defeated the Germans near Treviri, and Diocletian himself
marched against other tribes on the Rhaetian frontier; the year after
he defeated the Sarmatians on the lower Danube. In the same year, 289,
peace was made between Carausius and the two emperors, Carau