tary frankness; steadiness to pursue his
ends; flexibility to vary his means; and, above all, the great art of
submitting his own passions, as well as those of others, to the interest
of his ambition, and of coloring his ambition with the most specious
pretences of justice and public utility. Like Augustus, Diocletian may
be considered as the founder of a new empire. Like the adopted son of
Caesar, he was distinguished as a statesman rather than as a warrior; nor
did either of those princes employ force, whenever their purpose could
be effected by policy.

The victory of Diocletian was remarkable for its singular mildness. A
people accustomed to applaud the clemency of the conqueror, if the usual
punishments of death, exile, and confiscation, were inflicted with
any degree of temper and equity, beheld, with the most pleasing
astonishment, a civil war, the flames of which were extinguished in the
field of battle. Diocletian 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.
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.

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. 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, Ma