Chapter XIII: Diocletian

[nwhyte]

Read it here, here, or here.

1) Good quotes

On the man himself: His abilities were useful rather than splendid - a vigorous mind improved by the experience and study of mankind; dexterity and application in business; a judicious mixture of liberality and economy, of mildness and rigour; profound dissimulation under the disguise of military

Comments

[swisstone]

sorts out the empire by dividing it into four. Of course, that simply meant new structures that could go wrong; but it was a good solution to the problem of unmanageability.

I think Domitian's intention was to eliminate the struggles for mastery that had plagued the empire over the last century by turning to the collegiality that had been a form of the Republic's constitution. Two Augusti would reign together, and then resign together at the appropriate moment, allowing the two Caesares to be elevated to take their place as AugustiIt didn't work in the long term for a number of reasons. Firstly, the system was bad at accommodating the ambition of sons to inherit their fathers' influence (as shown by Constantine and Maxentius), and at dealing with the unexpected death of an Augustus soon after elevation (as happened with Constantine

[strange_complex]

Good old Diocletian. Obviously part of the reason he was able to address the problems of the third century so successfully was because a path had already been started for him by people like Aurelian. But he really does deserve an enormous amount of credit for his firmness, resourcefulness and forward thinking