zens to death. One remarkable edict which he
now published forbade the study of alchemy in Egypt, and ordered all
books upon that subject to be burned. He also made a treaty with the
Nubians, in order to protect the frontiers of Egypt.

It gives us, indeed, a clear view of the immense extent of the Roman
power when we reflect that its commanders were, almost at the same
moment, struggling successfully against its enemies in Africa, Britain,
Germany, and the East. A war with Persia now arose, in which Galerius
was at first defeated, A.D. 296. But the next year he passed through
the mountains of Armenia at the head of twenty-five thousand chosen men,
and, having surprised the Persian army in the night, slaughtered great
numbers of them; the booty, too, was immense. A barbarian soldier,
finding a bag of shining leather filled with pearls, threw away the
contents and preserved the bag; and the uncultivated savages gathered a
vast spoil from the tents of the Persians. Galerius, having taken
prisoners several of the wives and children of the Persian monarch
Narses, treated them with such tenderness and respect that Narses made
peace. Mesopotamia was now added to the empire, being taken from the
King of Armenia, who received in its place a considerable Persian
province.

The two emperors returned to Rome and celebrated their triumph November
20, A.D. 303, the last spectacle of that kind which the world has
witnessed. Romulus, more than a thousand years before, had ascended the
Capitoline Mount on foot, bearing in his arms the spoil of Acron, and
his example had been followed by a long line of Roman heroes. In the
last triumph, the two emperors were attended by the spoils of Africa and
Britain, of the East and the West.

During this reign also occurred the last persecution of the Christians,
who were soon to become the masters of the empire. It began A.D. 303,
and continued for ten years; and such multitudes of the Christians
perished that the emperors boasted that they had wholly extirpated the
sect!

Diocletian introduced an Eastern pomp into his court, assumed the titles
of "Lord and Emperor," and wore a diadem set with pearls. His robes were
of silk and gold. He required his subjects to prostrate themselves
before him, and to adore him as a divinity.

In A.D. 305, like Charles V., he resolved to abdicate his power, having
persuaded his colleague Maximian to do the same: he lived in retirement
for nine years, and amuse