Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1827) Vol 1.djvu/483

OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 459 and that of his dignity. The former required indul- CHAP, gence and relaxation; the latter compelled him to di- rect, from the bed of sickness, the administration of a great empire. He resolved to pass the remainder of his days in honourable repose, to place his glory be- yond the reach of fortune, and to relinquish the theatre of the world to his younger and more active associates '^. The ceremony of his abdication was performed in a spacious plain, about three miles from Nicomedia. The emperor ascended a lofty throne, and in a speech, full of reason and dignity, declared his intention both to the people and to the soldiers who were assembled on this extraordinary occasion. As soon as he had A. D. 305. divested himself of the purple, he withdrew from the ^^ gazing multitude ; and traversing the city in a covered chariot, proceeded, without delay, to the favourite re- tirement which he had chosen in his native country of Dalmatia. On the same day, which was the first of May*^, Maximian, as it had been previously concerted, Compliance made his resignation of the imperial dignity at Milan, "jnian'^' Even in the splendour of the Roman triumph, Diocletian had meditated his design of abdicating the government. As he wished to secure the obedience of Maximian, he exacted from him, either a general assurance that he would submit his actions to the authority of his bene- factor, or a particular promise that he would descend from the throne, whenever he should receive the advice and the example. This engagement, though it was confirmed by the solemnity of an oath before the altar of the Capitoline Jupiter % would have proved a feeble restraint on the fierce temper of Maximian, whose pas- q Aurelius Victor ascribes the abdication, which had been so variously accounted for, to two causes. First, Diocletian's contempt of ambition; and secondly, his apprehension of impending troubles. One of the panegy- rists (vi. 9.) mentions the age and infirmities of Diocletian, as a very na- tural reason for his retirement. «■ The difficulties as well as mistakes attending the dates both of the year and of the day of Diocletian's abdication, are perfectly cleared up by Tille- mont, Hist, des Empereurs, torn. iv. p. 525. note 19, and by Pagi ad annum. s See Panegyr. Veter. vi. 9. The oration was pronounced after Maxi- mian had reassumed the purple.