ne a more exact picture
of the new empire, we shall content ourselves with describing the
principal and decisive outline, as it was traced by the hand of
Diocletian. He had associated three colleagues in the exercise of the
supreme power; and as he was convinced that the abilities of a single
man were inadequate to the public defence, he considered the joint
administration of four princes not as a temporary expedient, but as a
fundamental law of the constitution. It was his intention, that the two
elder princes should be distinguished by the use of the diadem, and
the title of Augusti; that, as affection or esteem might direct their
choice, they should regularly call to their assistance two subordinate
colleagues; and that the Csars, rising in their turn to the first rank,
should supply an uninterrupted succession of emperors. The empire was
divided into four parts. The East and Italy were the most honorable, the
Danube and the Rhine the most laborious stations. The former claimed the
presence of the Augusti, the latter were intrusted to the administration
of the Csars. The strength of the legions was in the hands of the four
partners of sovereignty, and the despair of successively vanquishing
four formidable rivals might intimidate the ambition of an aspiring
general. In their civil government, the emperors were supposed to
exercise the undivided power of the monarch, and their edicts,
inscribed with their joint names, were received in all the provinces,
as promulgated by their mutual councils and authority. Notwithstanding
these precautions, the political union of the Roman world was gradually
dissolved, and a principle of division was introduced, which, in the
course of a few years, occasioned the perpetual separation of the
Eastern and Western Empires.

The system of Diocletian was accompanied with another very material
disadvantage, which cannot even at present be totally overlooked; a more
expensive establishment, and consequently an increase of taxes, and
the oppression of the people. Instead of a modest family of slaves and
freedmen, such as had contented the simple greatness of Augustus and
Trajan, three or four magnificent courts were established in the various
parts of the empire, and as many Roman kings contended with each other
and with the Persian monarch for the vain superiority of pomp and
luxury. The number of ministers, of magistrates, of officers, and
of servants, who filled the different departments