UNIT I: ROMAN HISTORY

SECTION I: ANCIENT HISTORY

Era III: The Empire
Period I: The Principate, 27-284 A.D.
(b) General History of the Empire

From the development of the principate of Augustus into the avowed despotism which it was the great work of Diocletian to organize and consolidate we pass to the general fortunes of the empire during this period. On the accession of Augustus, there could be little doubt as to the nature of the work that was necessary, if peace and prosperity were to be secured for the Roman world. He was called upon to justify his position byrectifying thefrontiers and strengthening thefrontier defences, by reforming the system of provincial government, and by reorganizing the finance; and his success in dealing with these three difficult problems is sufficiently proved by the prosperous condition of the empire for a century and a half after his death.1

The Frontiers

To secure the peace which the distracted Roman world desired, it was imperatively to necessary to establish on all sides of the empire really defensible frontiers; and this became possible now that for the first time the direction of the foreign policy of the state and of its military forces was concentrated in the hands of a single magistrate. To the south and west the generals of the republic, and Caesar himself, had extended the authority of Rome to the natural boundaries formed by the African deserts and the Atlantic Ocean, and in these two directions Augustus's task was in the main confined to the organization of a settled Roman government within these limits. In Africa the client state of Egypt was formed into a separate province, and the kingdom of Numidia (25 B.C.) was incorporated with the old province of Africa. In Spain the hilltribes of the north-west were finally subdued, and a third province, Lusitania, established.2 Until the commencement of Caesar's campaigns (58 B.C.) Roman rule in Gaul had been confined to the single southern province of Gallia Narbonensis (121-118 B.C.). Caesar subdued the rest of the country, but the fierce struggles of the Civil War and his early death obliged him to leave to his nephew the task of organizing the conquered territory. Augustus (27 B.C.) established in addition to the "old province" the three new ones of Aquitania, Lugdunensis, and Belgica.3

The North

Towards the north the republic had left the civilized countries bordering on the Mediterranean with only a very imperfect defence against the threatening mass of barbarian tribes above them. The result4 of Augustus's policy was to establish a protecting line of provinces running from the Euxine to the North Sea, and covering the peaceful districts to the south,'—Moesia (6 A.D.), Pannonia (9 A.D.), Noricum (15 B.C.), Raetia (15 B.C.), and Gallia Belgica. Roman rule was thus carried up to the natural frontier lines of the Rhine and the Danube. Here, after the defeat of Varus (9 A.D.) and the abandonment of a forward policy beyond the Rhine, Augustus fixed the limits of the empire northward; his successor Tiberius recalled Germanicus, as soon as the disaster in the Silva Teutoburgensis had been avenged ; and after the peace with Maroboduus, the chief of the Marcomanni on the upper Danube, in the next year (17 A.D.), the defensive policy recommended by Augustus was adopted along the whole of the northern frontier. The line of the great rivers was held by an imposing mass of troops. Along the Rhine lay the armies of Upper and Lower Germany, consisting of four legions each; eight more guarded the Danube and the frontiers of Pannonia and Mcesia. The command of the troops was entrusted to imperial legates, whose posts became the most coveted prizes in the imperial service, and were not unfrequently stepping-stones to the imperial purple itself. At frequent intervals along the frontier were the military colonies, the permanent camps, and the smaller intervening "castella." Flotillas of galleys cruised up and down the rivers, and Roman roads opened communication both along the frontiers and with the seat of government in Italy.

The East

In the East Rome had other work to do than that of erecting a barrier against a surging tide of barbarism, for here she was confronted with a well-organized and powerful state whose claims to empire were second only to her own. The conquests of Pompey (66-62 B.C.) had brought Rome face to face with Parthia on the banks of the Euphrates, the limits of Roman authority being marked by the eastern frontiers of the client states of Pontus, Cappadocia, and Commagene, and of the newly formed province of Syria. In 54 the rash advance of Crassus beyond the Euphrates provoked the first serious collision between Rome and Parthia, and the victory at Carrhae encouraged among the Parthians the idea of an invasion of Syria and Asia Minor, while it awakened in Rome a genuine fear of the formidable power which had so suddenly arisen in the East. Caesar was at the moment of his death preparing to avenge the death of Crassus by an invasion of Parthia, and Antony's schemes of founding an Eastern empire which should rival that of Alexander included the conquest of the kingdom beyond the Euphrates. But on the Euphrates, as on the Rhine and the Danube, Augustus adhered to the policy which he recommended to his successors of "keeping the empire within its bounds"; and the Parthians, weakened by internal feuds and dynastic quarrels, were in no mood for vigorous action. Roman pride was satisfied by the restoration of the standards taken at Carrhae. Four legions guarded the line of the Euphrates, and, beyond the frontiers of Pontus and Cappadocia, Armenia was established as a "friendly and independent ally."

Administrative Reforms in the Provinces

Next in importance to the rectification and defence of the frontiers was the reformation of the administration, and the restoration of prosperity to the distracted and exhausted provinces. The most serious defect of the republican system had been the absence of any effective contral control over the Roman officials outside Italy. This was now supplied by the general proconsular authority vested in the emperor. The provinces were for the first time treated as departments of a single state, while their governors, from being independent and virtually irresponsible rulers, became the subordinate officials of a higher authority. Over the "legati" and "procuratores " of the imperial provinces the control of the emperor was as complete as that of the republican proconsul over his staff in his own province. They were appointed by him, held office at his good pleasure, and were directly responsible to him for their conduct. The proconsuls of the senatorial provinces were in law magistrates equally with the princeps, though inferior to him in rank ; it was to the senate that they were as of old responsible; they were still selected by lot from among the senators of consular and praetorian rank. But the distinction did not seriously interfere with the paramount authority of the emperor. The provinces left nominally to the senate were the more peaceful and settled districts in the heart of the empire, where only the routine work of civil administration was needed, and where the local municipal governments were as yet comparatively vigorous. The senatorial proconsuls themselves were indirectly nominated by the emperor through his control of the praetorship and consulship. They wielded no military and only a strictly subordinate financial authority, and, though Augustus and Tiberius, at any rate, encouraged the fiction of the responsibility of the senatorial governors to the senate, it was in reality to the emperor that they looked for direction and advice, and to him that they were held accountable. Moreover, in the case of all governors this accountability became under the empire a reality. Prosecutions for extortion ("de pecuniis repetundis"), which were now transferred to the hearing of the senate, are tolerably frequent during the first century of the empire; but a more effective check on maladministration lay in the appeal to Caesar from the decisions of any governor, which, was open to every provincial, and in the right of petition. Under the Antonines, not the least laborious of the duties which devolved upon the emperor and his ministers was the daily one of hearing and deciding the innumerable cases sent up from the provinces. On the other hand, the growing frequency of imperial mandates and rescripts (see above, p. 705), dealing both with questions of general policy and with points of law, attests the close attention paid by all the better emperors to the government of the provinces and the increasing dependence of the governor on imperial guidance. Within the province Augustus curtailed the powers of legate and proconsul alike. In both cases there was a division of authority. By the side of the imperial legate was placed, as the highest financial authority, an imperial procurator, while the proconsul, in addition to the loss of all military control, was checked by the presence of the imperial officer, also styled procurator, to whom the care of the fiscal revenues was entrusted ; finally, both legate and proconsul were deprived of that right of requisitioning supplies which, in spite of a long series of restrictive laws, had been the most powerful instrument of oppression in the hands of republican governors.

Financial Reforms

The financial reforms of Augustus are marked by the same desire to establish an equitable, orderly, and economical system, and by the same centralization of authority in the emperor's hands. The institution of an imperial census, or valuation of all land throughout the empire, and the assessment upon this basis of a uniform land tax, in place of the heterogeneous and irregular payments made under the republic, were the work of Augustus, though the system was developed and perfected by the emperors of the 2d century and by Diocletian. The land tax itself was directly collected, either by imperial officials or by local authorities responsible to them, and the old wasteful plan of selling the privilege of collection to publicani was henceforward applied only to such indirect taxes as the customs duties. The rate of the land tax was fixed by the emperor, and with him rested the power of remission even in senatorial provinces. The effect of these reforms is clearly visible in the improved financial condition of the empire. Under the republic the treasury had been nearly always in difficulties, and the provinces exhausted and impoverished. Under the emperors, at least throughout the 1st century, in spite of a largely increased expenditure on the army, on public works, on shows and largesses, and on the machinery of government itself, the better emperors, such as Tiberius and Vespasian, were able to accumulate large sums, while the provinces show but few signs of distress.

Liberal Policy towards the Provinces

A reformed administration and an improved system of taxation were not the only boons for which the empire at large had to thank Augustus. While the republic had almost entirely-neglected to develop the internal resources of the provinces, Augustus set the example of a liberal expenditure on public works, in the construction of harbours, roads, and bridges, the reclamation of waste lands, and the erection of public buildings. The crippling restrictions which the republic had placed on freedom of intercourse and trade, even between the separate districts of a single province, disappeared under the empire, and the institution of the provincial councils, as centres of provincial unity, is one among many instances of the more liberal policy pursued by the emperors.4





Italy and the Provinces under the Empire

In the eyes of the republican statesmen the provinces were merely the estates of the Roman people, but from the reign of Augustus dates the gradual disappearance of the old pre-eminence of Rome and Italy. It was from the provinces that the legions were increasingly recruited; provincials rose to high rank as soldiers, statesmen, and men of letters;5 the growing Roman civilization of the Western provinces and the thriving commerce of the populous cities of the East contrasted significantly with the degenerate cosmopolitanism of Rome, and with the dwindling population and decaying industry of Italy; while even into Rome and Italy the methods of administration formerly distinctive of the provinces found their way. From Augustus himself, jealous as he was of the traditions and privileges of the ruling Roman people, date the rule of an imperial prefect in the city of Rome, the division of Italy into regiones in the provincial fashion, and the permanent quartering there of armed troops.6

The Empire from Augustus to the Death of Marcus Aurelius (180 A.D.)

For a century and a half the policy initiated by Augustus secured the peace and prosperity of the empire; of the emperors who ruled during that period the majority were able and vigorous administrators, and even the follies and excesses of Gaius, Claudius, and Nero did little harm beyond the limits of Rome and Italy. The firm rule of Vespasian repaired the damages inflicted by the wars of the rival emperors after Nero's death, and the abilities of Trajan, Hadrian, and the Antonines, if they failed to revive the flagging energies of the empire, at least secured tranquillity and good government. But few additions of importance were made to the territories of Rome.

Conquest of Britain

In Britain the work begun by Caesar was taken up by Claudius, under whom the southern part of the island was constituted a province; the northern districts were subdued by Agricola (78-84 A.D.), and the limits of the province northward were finally fixed by the Wall of Hadrian (see BRITANNIA).

Conquest of Dacia

The conquest of Dacia by Trajan (107) was provoked by the threatening attitude of the barbarian tribes on the lower Danube, and, though it remained part of the empire down to 256, its exposed position as lying beyond the Danube frontier rendered it always a source of weakness rather than strength.7 To Trajan's reign also belongs the annexation of Arabia Pctraea.

The Frontiers on the North

Otherwise on the frontiers there was little change. In the north the revolt of Civilis (69-70 A.D.) owed its temporary success mainly to the confusion created by the rivalries of Otho, Vitellius, and Vespasian.8 The connexion of the Rhine with the Danube frontier bj a continuous wall, a work gradually carried out under the Flavian and Antonine emperors, was a strategical necessity, and involved no general advance of the Roman lines.9 On the Rhine itself the peaceful state of affairs is sufficiently proved by the reduction of the force stationed there from eight legions to four; and it was only on the Danube that there was any pressure severe enough to strain the strength of the Roman defence. The presence of Trajan himself was required to quell the Dacians under their able king Decebalus, and, though his campaigns were followed by sixty years of peace, a force of ten legions was considered necessary to guard the Danubian frontier.

Invasion of the Marcomanni

Far more serious was the irruption of the Marcomanni and other tribes in the reign of Marcus Aurelius (162-175.).10 The tide of barbaric invasion which then swept across the upper Danube and over the provinces of Rhaetia, Noricum, and Pannonia, till it touched the Alps and the soil of Italy, was indeed driven back after fourteen years of war, but it first revealed to the Roman world the strength of the forces which were gathering unnoticed in the distant regions beyond the limits of the "Roman peace."

The Eastern Frontier

In the East Rome and Parthia still faced each other upon the banks of the Euphrates, and contended, now by arms now by diplomacy, for supremacy in the debateable land of Armenia. Trajan's momentary acquisitions were abandoned by Hadrian, and on this side of the empire the first changes of importance on the frontier belong to the reign of Septimius Severus.

Condition of the Provinces

Within the frontiers the levelling and unifying process commenced by Augustus had steadily proceeded. A tolerably uniform provincial system covered the whole area of the empire. The client states had one by one been reconstituted as provinces, and even the government of Italy had been in many respects assimilated to the provincial type.

Spread of the Municipal System

The municipal system had spread widely; the period from Vespasian to Aurelius witnessed the elevation to municipal rank of an immense number of communities, not only in the old provinces of the West, in Africa, Spain, and Gaul, but in the newer provinces of the North, and along the line of the northern frontier; and everywhere under the influence of the central imperial authority there was an increasing uniformity in the form of the local constitutions, framed and granted as they all were by imperial edict.

Spread of the Roman Franchise

Throughout the empire again the extension of the Roman franchise was preparing the way for the final act by which Caracalla assimilated the legal status of all free-born inhabitants of the empire, and in the west and north this was preceded and accompanied by the complete Romanizing of the people in language and civilization.

Spread of Roman Law and Civilization

Moreover, the empire, that was thus becoming one in its administrative system, its laws, and its civilization, had as yet continued to enjoy peace and order. The burdens of military service fell on the frontier provinces, and only the echoes of the border wars reached the Mediterranean territories. Yet, in spite of the internal tranquillity and the good government which have made the age of the Antonines famous, we can detect signs of weakness.

Symptoms of Decline

Though the evils of excessive centralization were hardly felt while the central authority was wielded by vigorous rulers, yet even under Trajan, Hadrian, and the Antonines we notice a ailure of strength in the empire as a whole, and a corresponding increase of pressure on the imperial government itself. The reforms of Augustus had given free play to powers still fresh and vigorous. The ceaseless labours of Hadrian were directed mainly to the careful husbanding of such strength as still remained, or to attempts at reviving it by the sheer force of imperial authority. Among the symptoms of incipient decline which not the most heroic efforts of the government could entirely remove were the growing depopulation especially of the central districts of the empire, the constant financial difficulties, the deterioration in character of the local governments in the provincial communities, and the increasing reluctance exhibited by all classes to undertake the now onerous burden of municipal office. Lastly, the irruption of the Marcomanni, and the revolt of Avidius Cassius (174-175) dn the Eastern provinces, anticipated the two most serious of the dangers which ultimately proved fatal to the empire.





The Empire -- 180-284 A.D.

Marcus Aurelius died in 180, and his death was followed by a century of war and disorder, during which nothing but the stern rule of soldier emperors, such as Septimius Severus, Decius, Claudius, Aurelian, and Probus saved the empire from dissolution. The want of any legal security for the orderly transmission of the imperial power had been partially supplied during the 2d century by the practice of adoption.

Plate VI

But throughout the 3d century the Roman world witnessed a series of desperate conflicts between rival generals put forward by their respective legions as claimants for the imperial purple. Between the death of Severus in 211 and the accession of Diocletian in 284, no fewer than twenty-three emperors sat in the seat of Augustus, and of these all but three died violent deaths at the hands of a mutinous soldiery or by the orders of a successful rival. Of the remaining three, Decius fell in battle against the Goths, Valerian died a prisoner in the far East, and Claudius was among the victims of the chronic pestilence which added to the miseries of the time.

The Tyrants

The "tyrants," as the unsuccessful pretenders to the imperial purple were styled, reappear with almost unfailing regularity in each reign. The claims of Septimius Severus himself, the first and ablest of the soldier emperors, were disputed by Clodius Albinus in the West, and by Pescennius Niger in the East, and at the bloody battle of Lugdunum and the sack of Byzantium rival Roman forces, for the first time since the accession of Vespasian, exhausted each other in civil war. In 237-238 six emperors perished in the course of a few months.

Reign of Gallienus (260-268 A.D.)

It was, however, during the reign of Gallienus (260-268) that the evil reached its height. The central authority was paralysed; the barbarians were pouring in from the North; the Parthians were threatening to overrun the Eastern provinces; and the legions on the frontiers were left to repel the enemies of Rome as best they could. A hundred ties bound them closely to the districts in which they were stationed; their permanent camps had grown into towns, they had families and farms; the unarmed provincials looked to them as their natural protectors, and were attached to them by bonds of intermarriage and by long intercourse. Now that they found themselves left to repel by their own efforts the invaders from without, they reasonably enough claimed the right to ignore the central authority which was powerless to aid them, and to choose for themselves " imperatores " whom they knew and trusted.

Tyrants in Gaul

The first of these provincial empires was that established by Postumus in Gaul (259-272), and long maintained by his successors Victorinus and Tetricus. Their authority was acknowledged, not only in Gaul and by the troops on the Bhine, but by the legions of Britain and Spain; and under Postumus at any rate (259-269) the existence of the Gallic empire was justified by the repulse of the barbarians and by the restoration of peace and security to the provinces of Gaul. On the Danube, in Greece, and in Asia Minor none of the " pretenders" enjoyed more than a passing success.

Odaenathus and Zenobia at Palmyra

It was otherwise in the far East, where the Syrian Odaenathus, prince of Palmyra, though officially only the governor of the East (dux Orientis) under Gallienus, drove the Persians out of Asia Minor and Syria, recovered Mesopotamia, and ruled Syria, Arabia, Armenia, Cappadocia, and Cilicia with all the independence of a sovereign. Odaenathus was murdered in 266. His young son Vaballathus succeeded him in his titles, but the real power was vested in his widow Zenobia, under whom not only the greater part of Asia Minor but even the province of Egypt was forcibly added to the dominions governed in the name of Gallienus by the Palmyrene prince.

Restoration of Authority by Aurelian (273 A.D.)

Gallienus was murdered at Milan in 268, and the remaining sixteen years of this period were marked by the restoration of unity to the distracted empire. Palmyra was destroyed and Zenobia led a prisoner to Rome by Aurelian in 273 ; in the next year the Gallic empire came to an end by the surrender of Tetricus, and the successors of Aurelian—Tacitus, Probus, and Carus (275-282)—were at least rulers over the whole extent of the empire.

Barbaric Invasions

While rival generals were contending for the imperial purple, the very existence of the empire which they aspired to rule was imperilled by foreign invasion. As early as 236 a new enemy, the Alemanni, had crossed the Rhine, but had been driven back by the valour of Maxi-minus (238), and in the same year the Goths first appeared on the banks of the Danube. It was, however, during the period of internal dissension and civil war from the reign of Philip (244-249) to the accession of Claudius (268) that the barbarians saw and used their opportunity. Prom across the Rhine bands of Alemanni and Franks swept over Gaul and Spain, and even descended upon the coasts of Africa, until their raids were checked by the Gallic emperor Postumus (253-259).

The Goths

Far more destructive were the raids of the Goths. Towards the close of the reign of Philip (247) they crossed the Danube, and overran Mcesia, Thrace, and Macedonia. In 251 they defeated and slew the emperor Decius ; and, though his successor Gallus purchased a temporary peace by lavish gifts, the province of Dacia was finally lost to Rome. The Gothic raids by sea which began under Valerian (253-260) were even more destructive. Their fleets issuing from the ports of tho Black Sea ravaged the seaboard of Asia Minor, and returned laden with the spoils of the maritime towns. In the reign of Gallienus (260-268) a fleet of five hundred sail appeared off the coasts of Greece itself; Athens, Corinth, Argos, and Sparta were sacked, and Epirus laid waste. On the death of Gallienus (268) the Goths once more marched south-ward, but in the new emperor Claudius they were confronted at last by an able and resolute opponent. They were decisively defeated and driven back across the Danube (269). Claudius died of the plague in the next year, but by his successor Aurelian Roman authority was established in Mcesia and Pannonia, and the Danube frontier was put once more in a state of efficient defence. Five years later (276) Probus repulsed a raid of the Franks and Alemanni, and restored peace on the Rhine. But the rule of Rome now stopped short, as in the reign of Tiberius at the line of the two great rivers; all that had been acquired beyond since the time of Vespasian was abandoned, and on the further banks of the Rhine and Danube stood, in the place of friendly or subject tribes, a threatening array of hostile peoples.

The Sassanidae in Parthia

At the close of the 2d century the growing weakness of Parthia seemed to promise an immunity from danger on the Eastern frontier. But with the revolution which placed the Sassanidae upon the throne the whole situation was changed.2 The new dynasty was in blood and religion Persian; it claimed descent from Cyrus and Darius, and aspired to recover from Western hands the dominions which had once been theirs. In 230 Artaxares (Ardashir) had formally demanded from Severus Alexander the restitution of the provinces of Asia, had invaded Mesopotamia, now a Roman province, and even advanced into Syria. Twenty years later his successor Sapor again crossed the Euphrates; in 260, ten years after Decius's defeat by the Goths, the emperor Valerian was conquered and taken prisoner by the Persians, who poured triumphantly into Syria and captured Antioch. But here for the time their successes ended. Three years later Odaenathus of Palmyra drove them back, and held the East securely in the name of Rome. On the fall of Zenobia (273) they gained possession for a time of Armenia and Mesopotamia, but were driven out by the emperor Carus (282), and the frontier line as fixed by Septimius Severus was restored.

State of the Empire at the Close of the 3rd Century

Although any serious loss of territory had been avoided, the storms of the 3d century had told with fatal effect upon the general condition of the empire. The "Roman peace" had vanished; not only the frontier territories, but the central districts of Greece, Asia Minor, and even Italy itself, had suffered from the ravages of war, and the fortification of Rome by Aurelian was a significant testimony to the altered condition of affairs. War, plague, and famine had thinned the population and crippled the resources of the provinces. On all sides land was running waste, cities and towns were decaying, and commerce was paralysed. Only with the greatest difficulty were sufficient funds squeezed from the exhausted taxpayers to meet the increasing cost of the defence of the frontiers. The old established culture and civilization of the Mediterranean world rapidly declined, and the mixture of barbaric rudeness with Oriental pomp and luxury which marked the court, even of the better emperors, such as Aurelian, was typical of the general deterioration, which was accelerated by the growing practice of settling barbarians on lands within the empire, and of admitting them freely to service in the Roman army.


Footnotes

1 Marquardt, Rom. Staatsverw., i. 282, 506.
8 Marquardt, i. 101 ; Mommsen, R. G., v. 5S sq.
3 Marquardt, i. 112 ; Mommsen, R. G., v. 76.
4 See especially Mommsen, R. G., v. caps. 4 and 6.

Mommsen, R. G., v. cap. 9. Armenia, however, long continued to he a debateable ground between Home and Parthia,—passing alternately under the influence of one or the other.
For the provincial reforms of Augustus, see Marquardt, Staats-verw., i. 402-422 ; Madvig, Verf. d. R. Reichs, ii. 7 ; Merivale, iv. cap. 32.

Marquardt, ii. 198 sq., esp. p. 200, note 4, where the literature
is given. 2 Tac, Ann., ii. 47.
Suet., Aug., 18, 47. 4 Marquardt, i. 365.

s Jung, Romanische Landschaften (Innsbruck, 1881); Budinszky, Die Ausbreitung d. Lateiniselien Spracke (Berlin, 1881).
6 Marquardt, i. 67 ; Suet., Aug., 32.
7 Mommsen, R. G., v. 205-208.
8 Tac., Hist., iv.; Mommsen, R. G., v. 116-131.
9 For the " limes imperii," see Mommsen, v. 140-146 ; Cohausen, Der Rom. Grenzwall (Wiesbaden, 1884); Herzog, Die Vermessung d. Rom. Grenzwalls (Stuttgart, 1880).
10 Mommsen, v. 209; Vita Marci, 12 sq.

Mommsen, v. 409.
Marquardt, i. 464 sq.; cf. esp., the "leges Salpensanaeet Malaei-tanae''; C. I. L., ii. 1963, 4 ; Bruns, Fontes Juris Romani, 130
(Berlin, 1879). 3 Dio, Ixxvii. 9 (211-217 A.D.).
Pliny, Epp. ad Trajanum. For the " curatores " and " correc-
tores" appointed in the 2d century, see Marquardt, i. 487 and notes.
Gibbon, i. chap. v.; Schiller, Gesch. d. Eaiserzeit, i. (2) 660.
6 Gibbon, i. chap. x.; Mommsen, v. 149 ; Schiller, i. (2) 827.
Gibbon, i. chap. x.; Mommsen, v. 433 ; cf. PALMYRA.


3 See Gibbon, vol. iii., chap. xvii.; Marquardt, Staatsverw., i. pp. 81, 336, 337, ii. 217 sq.; Madvig, Verf. d. Rom''Reichs, i. 585 ; Booking, Notitia Dignitatum, Bonn, 1853 ; Hodgkin, Haly and her Invaders, i. 202 sq.; Preuss, Diocletian, Leipsic, 1869.
4 Mommsen, Staatsrecht, ii. 1065 sq. Verus was associated with Marcus Aurelius as Augustus ; Severus gave the title to his two sons. The bestowal of the title "Caesar" on the destined successor dates from Hadrian. Mommsen, op. cit., 1044.
5 The division was as follows :—(1) Diocletian—Thrace, Egypt, Syria, Asia Minor ; (2) Maximian—Italy and Africa ; (3) Galerius—_ Illyricum and the Danube; (4) Constantius—Britain, Gaul, Spain. See Gibbon, ii. 68 ; Aurelius Victor, c. 39.

1. Gibbon, i. chap. x. ; Mommsen, v. 216.
2. Gibbon, chap. viii.; Mommsen, v. 411 ; cf. PERSIA.


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