In the year 1041 from the founding of the City, Diocletian, the thirty-third, was chosen emperor by the army and reigned for twenty years. As soon as he had the means of power, he killed with his own hand Aper, the murderer of Numerian. Next, in a most difficult war and with the greatest effort, he overcame Carinus, who was living shamefully, and whom Carus had left as Caesar in Dalmatia.
1 Anno ab urbe condita MXLI Diocletianus tricesimus tertius ab exercitu imperator electus annis uiginti fuit; statimque ut potestatis copiam habuit, Aprum interfectorem Numeriani manu sua interfecit. Carinum deinde, quem Carus Caesarem in Dalmatia reliquerat, flagitiose uiuentem difficillimo bello et maximo labore superauit.
Then, when in Gaul Amandus and Aelianus had gathered a band of country folk, whom they called Bacaudae, and had stirred up ruinous disturbances, he made Maximian, surnamed Herculius, Caesar and sent him into the Gallic provinces; and Maximian, by his military prowess, easily brought to order that unskilled and disorderly band of rustics.
2 dehinc cum in Gallia Amandus et Aelianus collecta rusticanorum manu, quos Bacaudas uocabant, perniciosos tumultus excitauissent, Maximianum cognomento Herculium Caesarem fecit misitque in Gallias: qui facile agrestium hominum imperitam et confusam manum militari uirtute conposuit.
Next a certain Carausius, a man of the lowest birth but quick in counsel and in action, was posted to guard the shores of the Ocean, which the Franks and Saxons were then infesting; but he acted more to the ruin than to the advancement of the commonwealth. For by restoring no part of the plunder recovered from the pirates to its owners, but claiming it for himself alone, he aroused the suspicion that he was also, by a calculated negligence, allowing the enemy themselves to raid the frontiers. On this account Maximian ordered him to be killed; whereupon he assumed the purple and seized the British provinces.
3 deinde Carausius quidam, genere quidem infimus sed consilio et manu promptus, cum ad obseruanda Oceani litora, quae tunc Franci et Saxones infestabant, positus plus in perniciem quam in prouectum reipublicae ageret, ereptam praedonibus praedam nulla ex parte restituendo dominis sed sibi soli uindicando accendens suspicionem, quia ipsos quoque hostes ad incursandos fines artifici neglegentia permitteret, quamobrem a Maximiano iussus occidi purpuram sumpsit ac Britannias occupauit.
So throughout all the frontiers of the Roman Empire the crash of sudden upheavals resounded: Carausius was in rebellion in the British provinces, Achilleus in Egypt, while the Quinquegentiani were harrying Africa, and Narses, king of the Persians, was also pressing the east with war.
4 igitur per omnes Romani imperii fines subitarum turbationum fragores concrepuerunt, Carausio in Britanniis rebellante, Achilleo in Aegypto, cum et Africam Quinquegentiani infestarent, Narseus etiam rex Persarum orientem bello premeret.
Alarmed by this danger, Diocletian raised Maximian Herculius from Caesar to Augustus, and chose Constantius and Galerius Maximian as Caesars. Constantius took as his wife Theodora, the stepdaughter of Maximian Herculius, by whom he had six children, half-brothers and half-sisters of Constantine.
5 hoc periculo Diocletianus permotus Maximianum Herculium ex Caesare fecit Augustum, Constantium uero et Maximianum Galerium Caesares legit. Constantius Herculii Maximiani priuignam Theodoram accepit uxorem, ex qua sex filios fratres Constantini sustulit.
Carausius, after he had most valiantly claimed and held Britain for himself for seven years, was at last killed through the treachery of his associate Allectus. Allectus afterwards held for three years the island he had wrested from Carausius; he was crushed by Asclepiodotus, the praetorian prefect, who recovered Britain after ten years.
6 Carausius, Britannia sibi per septem annos fortissime uindicata ac retenta, tandem fraude Allecti socii sui interfectus est. Allectus postea ereptam Carausio insulam per triennium tenuit: quem Asclepiodotus praefectus praetorio oppressit Britanniamque post decem annos recepit.
Constantius Caesar, however, when his army was routed by the Alamanni in Gaul in the first battle, barely escaped himself; but in the second a decidedly favourable victory followed, for sixty thousand Alamanni are reported to have been slain in a few hours.
7 Constantius uero Caesar in Gallia primo proelio ab Alamannis profligato exercitu suo, uix ipse subreptus est; secundo autem secuta est satis secunda uictoria: nam paucis horis sexaginta milia Alamannorum caesa referuntur.
Maximian Augustus, for his part, subdued the Quinquegentiani in Africa. Diocletian, moreover, besieged Achilleus at Alexandria for eight months, captured him and put him to death. But, using his victory without restraint, he gave Alexandria over to plunder and defiled the whole of Egypt with proscriptions and massacres.
8 at Maximianus Augustus Quinquegentianos in Africa domuit. porro autem Diocletianus Achilleum obsessum per octo menses apud Alexandriam cepit et interfecit. sed inmoderata uictoria usus Alexandriam direptioni dedit, Aegyptum totam proscriptionibus caedibusque foedauit.
Galerius Maximian, besides, having already fought two battles against Narses, engaged him a third time between Callinicum and Carrhae, was defeated, and, having lost his forces, fled back to Diocletian. He was received by him with the greatest arrogance, so much so that he is reported to have run for several miles, clad in his purple, in front of Diocletian’s carriage;
9 praeterea Galerius Maximianus cum duobus iam proeliis aduersus Narseum conflixisset, tertio inter Gallinicum et Carras congressus et uictus, amissis copiis ad Diocletianum refugit: a quo arrogantissime exceptus, ita ut per aliquot milia passuum purpuratus ante uehiculum eius cucurrisse referatur,
yet he used this insult as a whetstone for courage, and, the rust of royal pride being rubbed away by it, he sharpened the edge of his mind. And so he soon drew together forces from every quarter through Illyricum and Moesia, swiftly returned against the enemy, and overcame Narses by great strategy and strength.
10 uerumtamen hac contumelia quasi cote ad uirtutem usus est, per quam detrita regii fastus robigine aciem mentis expediit. itaque mox per Illyricum et Moesiam undique copias contraxit raptimque in hostem reuersus, Narseum magnis consiliis uiribusque superauit.
Having destroyed the forces of the Persians and put Narses himself to flight, he burst into his camp, captured his wives, sisters and children, carried off an immense quantity of Persian treasure, and led away a great many captives from among the Persian nobles. On returning to Mesopotamia he was received by Diocletian with the highest honour.
11 extinctis Persarum copiis ipsoque Narseo in fugam acto, castra eius inuasit, uxores sorores liberosque cepit, immensam uim gazae Persicae diripuit, captiuos quamplurimos Persarum nobilium abduxit. reuersus in Mesopotamiam a Diocletiano plurimo honore susceptus est.
Afterwards, under the same commanders, war was vigorously waged against the Carpi and the Bastarnae. Next they conquered the Sarmatians, a very great multitude of whose captives they distributed among the garrisons along the Roman frontiers.
12 postea per eosdem duces strenue aduersus Carpos Basternasque pugnatum est. Sarmatas deinde uicerunt: quorum copiosissimam captiuam multitudinem per Romanorum finium dispersere praesidia.
Meanwhile Diocletian in the east and Maximian Herculius in the west ordered that the churches be laid waste and the Christians afflicted and killed — the tenth persecution from Nero. This persecution was longer and more savage than almost all those that had gone before; for it was carried on without ceasing for ten years, with the burning of churches, the proscription of the innocent, and the slaughter of martyrs.
13 Interea Diocletianus in oriente, Maximianus Herculius in occidente uastari ecclesias, adfligi interficique Christianos decimo post Neronem loco praeceperunt: quae persecutio omnibus fere ante actis diuturnior atque immanior fuit, nam per decem annos incendiis ecclesiarum, proscriptionibus innocentum, caedibus martyrum incessabiliter acta est.
There followed an earthquake in Syria, in which, at Tyre and Sidon, as houses collapsed on every side, many thousands of people were crushed. In the second year of the persecution Diocletian required of the unwilling Maximian that they should lay down the purple and the imperial power together, and, with younger men put in their place over the commonwealth, should themselves grow old in private leisure. And so on one and the same day Diocletian at Nicomedia and Maximian at Milan laid down together both the power of empire and its insignia.
14 sequitur terrae motus in Syria, ex quo apud Tyrum et Sidonem passim labentibus tectis multa hominum milia prostrata sunt. secundo persecutionis anno Diocletianus ab inuito exegit Maximiano, ut simul purpuram imperiumque deponerent ac iunioribus in rempublicam substitutis ipsi in priuato otio consenescerent. itaque sub una die Diocletianus apud Nicomediam, Maximianus apud Mediolanium potestatem imperii simul cultumque deposuerunt.
Galerius and Constantius, as Augusti, were the first to divide the Roman Empire into two parts: Galerius Maximian held Illyricum, Asia and the east; Constantius, Italy, Africa and the Gallic provinces. But Constantius, a man of the most peaceable temper, content with Gaul alone [and Spain], yielded the remaining parts to Galerius.
15 Galerius et Constantius Augusti primi Romanum imperium in duas partes diuiserunt: Galerius Maximianus Illyricum Asiam et orientem, Constantius Italiam Africam et Gallias obtinuit; sed Constantius uir tranquillissimus, Gallia tantum [Hispaniaque] contentus, Galerio ceteris partibus cessit.
Galerius chose two Caesars: Maximinus, whom he placed in the east, and Severus, to whom he entrusted Italy, while he himself was stationed in Illyricum. Constantius Augustus, a man of the greatest gentleness and courtesy, died in Britain. He left as emperor of the Gallic provinces Constantine, his son born of the concubine Helena.
16 Galerius duos Caesares legit: Maximinum, quem in oriente constituit, et Seuerum, cui permisit Italiam, ipse in Illyrico constitutus. Constantius uero Augustus summae mansuetudinis et ciuilitatis in Britannia mortem obiit. qui Constantinum filium ex concubina Helena creatum imperatorem Galliarum reliquit.