. Constantine the Great; the reorganisation of the empire and the triumph of the church . ressed excitementuntil Diocletian suddenly announced that his choicehad fallen upon Severus, one of his trusted generals,and upon Maximin Daza, a nephew of had already been sent to Milan to be in-vested by Maximian ; Maximin was present on thetribunal and was then and there robed in the ceremony over, Diocletian — a private citizenonce more, though he still retained the title of Au-gustus— drove back to Nicomedia and at once setout for Salona, on the Adriatic, where he had buil
. Constantine the Great; the reorganisation of the empire and the triumph of the church . ressed excitementuntil Diocletian suddenly announced that his choicehad fallen upon Severus, one of his trusted generals,and upon Maximin Daza, a nephew of had already been sent to Milan to be in-vested by Maximian ; Maximin was present on thetribunal and was then and there robed in the ceremony over, Diocletian — a private citizenonce more, though he still retained the title of Au-gustus— drove back to Nicomedia and at once setout for Salona, on the Adriatic, where he had builta sumptuous palace for his retirement. The scene which we have depicted is describedmost fully and most graphically by a historian whosetestimony, unfortunately, is entirely suspect in mat-ters of detail. The author of The Deaths of thePersecutors — it is very doubtful whether Lactan-tius, to whom the work has long been attributed,really wrote it, but for the sake of convenience ofreference we may credit him with it — is at oncethe most untrustworthy and the most vigorous and. CONSTANTINE THE GREAT-FROM GROSVENOR3 CONSTANTINOPLE. The Abdication of Diocletian 41 attractive writer of the period. His object through-out is to blacken the characters of the Emperorswho persecuted the Christian Church, and he doesnot scruple to distort their actions, pervert theirmotives, and even invent, with well calculated malice,stories to their discredit. Lactantius knows, or pre-tends to know, all that takes place even in the mostsecret recesses of the palace; he recounts all thatpasses at the most confidential conferences; andwith consummate artistry he throws in circumstan-tial details and touches of local colour which give anappearance of truth, but are really the most convinc-ing proofs of falsehood. Lactantius represents theabdication of Diocletian as the act of an old man,shattered in health, and even in mind, by a distress-ing malady sent by Heaven as the just punishmentof his cr
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