nd Retirement
Of Diocletian And Maximian.

As the reign of Diocletian was more illustrious than that of any of
his predecessors, so was his birth more abject and obscure. The strong
claims of merit and of violence had frequently superseded the ideal
prerogatives of nobility; but a distinct line of separation was hitherto
preserved between the free and the servile part of mankind. The parents
of Diocletian had been slaves in the house of Anulinus, a Roman senator;
nor was he himself distinguished by any other name than that which he
derived from a small town in Dalmatia, from whence his mother deduced
her origin. It is, however, probable that his father obtained the
freedom of the family, and that he soon acquired an office of scribe,
which was commonly exercised by persons of his condition. Favorable
oracles, or rather the consciousness of superior merit, prompted his
aspiring son to pursue the profession of arms and the hopes of fortune;
and it would be extremely curious to observe the gradation of arts and
accidents which enabled him in the end to fulfil those oracles, and to
display that merit to the world. Diocletian was successively promoted to
the government of Maesia, the honors of the consulship, and the important
command of the guards of the palace. He distinguished his abilities
in the Persian war; and after the death of Numerian, the slave, by the
confession and judgment of his rivals, was declared the most worthy of
the Imperial throne. The malice of religious zeal, whilst it arraigns
the savage fierceness of his colleague Maximian, has affected to cast
suspicions on the personal courage of the emperor Diocletian. It would
not be easy to persuade us of the cowardice of a soldier of fortune, who
acquired and preserved the esteem of the legions as well as the favor
of so many warlike princes. Yet even calumny is sagacious enough to
discover and to attack the most vulnerable part. The valor of Diocletian
was never found inadequate to his duty, or to the occasion; but he
appears not to have possessed the daring and generous spirit of a hero,
who courts danger and fame, disdains artifice, and boldly challenges
the allegiance of his equals. His abilities were useful rather than
splendid; a vigorous mind, improved by the experience and study of
mankind; dexterity and application in business; a judicious mixture of
liberality and economy, of mildness and rigor; profound dissimulation,
under the disguise of mili