Diocletian

C. Valerius Diocletianus (surnamed Jovius), a man of mean birth, a native of Dalmatia, proclaimed Emperor of Rome by the army in 284 a. p. He defeated Car in us in Mesia (286), conquered the Alemanni, and was generally beloved for the goodne of his disposition; but was compelled by the dangers threatening Rome to share the government with M. Aurelius Valerius Maximian. In 292 C. Galerius and Constant i us Chlorus were also raised to a share in the empire, which was thus divided into four parts, of which Diocletian administered Thrace, Egypt, Syria, and Asia. As the result of his reconstitution of the empire there followed a period of brilliant succe es in which the barbarians were driven back from all the frontiers, and Roman power restored from Britain to Egypt. In 305, in conjunction with Maximian, he resigned the imperial dignity at Nicomedia, and retired to Salona in Dalmatia, where he cultivated-his garden in tranquility till his death in 313. In the latter part of his reign he was induced to sanction a persecution of the Christians.