BOOK IX

1. After him was Maximinus, the first to take power from the ranks of the soldiers backed by them alone, without the approval of the Senate or having been a senator. Although he had been named emperor by the army, after successfully waging war against the Germans, he was deserted by his soldiers and slain by Pupienus at Aquileia with his son, who was still a boy, with whom he had reigned for three years and a few days.

2. Afterwards, there were three Augusti at the same time: Pupienus, Balbinus, and Gordian. The former two were from obscure families, the latter was from a noble one. In fact, his father, the elder Gordian, had been chosen emperor by the consensus of the soldiers while serving as proconsul of Africa during the reign of Maximinus. When Balbinus and Pupienus came to Rome, they were slain in the palace, and the empire was given to Gordian alone. Gordian, although still a boy, married Tranquillina in Rome. Then, after opening the doors of the temple of Janus [a sign that Rome was at war], he departed for the East in order to wage war against the Parthians, who were threatening an irruption into the empire. He conducted the war successfully indeed, thrashing the Persians in several great battles. On his way home he was slain, not far from Roman territory, through the treachery of Philip who succeeded him. The soldiers built a mound for him, which is now a Roman fort overlooking the Euphrates, at the twentieth milestone from Circesium. His remains were carried back to Rome, and he was proclaimed divine.

3. The two Philips, father and son, seized the empire after Gordian was slain. After the army was led back safely, they departed from Syria to Italy. During their reign, the one thousandth anniversary of the city of Rome was celebrated with a great display of games and spectacles. Afterwards, they were both slain (the elder in Verona and the younger in Rome) by the army. They ruled only five years but were enrolled among the gods.

4. Decius, from Lower Pannonia, born in Budalia, assumed power after them. He suppressed a civil war that had flared up in Gaul. He made his son Caesar and built a bath in Rome. When he and his son had ruled for two years, they were both killed in barbarian country. They were enrolled among the gods.

5. Gallus, Hostilian, and Volusian, the son of Gallus, were soon chosen as emperors. Aemilianus revolted in Moesia during their reign. After they both set out to suppress him, they were slain at Interamna, having not even ruled for two years. They accomplished nothing significant. Their reign is remembered only for plague, disease, and sickness.

6. Aemilianus was of very obscure birth and ruled even more obscurely. He died in the third month of his reign.

7. Next, Licinius Valerian was made emperor by the army, and soon afterwards, Augustus, while operating in Raetia and Noricum. Gallienus was named Caesar by the Senate in Rome as well. As a result of either their ill-fortune or inactivity, their reign was ruinous and almost brought about the end of the Roman state. The Germans advanced all the way to Ravenna. Valerian, while waging war in Mesopotamia, was defeated by Shapur, king of the Persians. He was soon captured and grew old in ignoble servitude among the Parthians.

8. Gallienus was made Augustus though still a young man. He managed the empire well at first, then adequately, and finally disastrously. He did many things with vigor as a young man in Gaul and Illyricum, slaying Ingenuus (who had assumed the imperial purple) near Mursa, and Trebellianus [Regalianus]. He was gentle and peaceful for a long time but then descended into every type of licentiousness. He neglected the management of the government through disgraceful inactivity and despair. After devastating Gaul, the Alamanni penetrated into Italy. Dacia, beyond the Danube, which Trajan had added to the empire, was lost at this time. Greece, Macedonia, Pontus, and Asia were laid waste by the Goths; Pannonia by the Sarmatians and Quadi. The Germans advanced all the way to Spain and stormed the noble city of Tarraco. The Parthians, after seizing Mesopotamia, began to claim Syria.

9. Then, with the situation desperate and the Roman Empire almost destroyed, Postumus, born in Gaul from a very obscure family, assumed the imperial purple. He ruled for ten years in such a way that he restored almost all of the provinces that had been lost through his valor and leadership. He was slain in a sedition of the soldiers because he refused to hand over Mogontiacum, which had rebelled against him at the instigation of Laelianus, to the soldiers to be plundered. Marius, a lowly craftsman, assumed the imperial purple after him and was slain two days later. After that, Victorinus took control of Gaul. He was a very energetic man, but since he was overly libidinous and corrupted other men’s wives, he was slain at Agrippina, through the machinations of one of his secretaries, in the second year of his reign.

10. Tetricus, a senator, succeeded him. While managing Aquitania in the capacity of governor, he was chosen emperor in absentia by the soldiers and assumed the imperial purple near Burdigala. He endured many revolts of the troops. While these events were taking place in Gaul, the Persians were defeated by Odenathus in the East. Odenathus advanced all the way to Ctesiphon after securing Syria and recovering Mesopotamia.

11. Thus, while Gallienus was forsaking the state, the Roman Empire was saved in the West by Postumus and in the East by Odenathus. Gallienus was slain in Mediolanum with his brother in the ninth year of his reign, and Claudius [II Gothicus] succeeded him. He was chosen by the soldiers and proclaimed Augustus by the Senate. He defeated the Goths, who were laying waste Illyricum and Macedonia, in a great battle. He was a frugal and moderate man, a staunch advocate of justice and suitable for managing the empire. Nevertheless, he died from disease two years into his reign and was proclaimed divine. The Senate bestowed a great honor on him indeed, placing his golden shield in the senate house and a golden statue of him in the Capitol.

12. After him, Quintillus, the brother of Claudius, was elected emperor by the will of the soldiers. He was a man of unique self-control and courteousness, who was considered to be the equal of, or even more preferable than, his brother. He was proclaimed Augustus with the consent of the Senate and was killed on the seventeenth day of his reign.

13. Aurelian assumed power after him. Born in Dacia Ripensis, he was a man skilled in warfare, but overly spirited and prone to cruelty. He too valiantly defeated the Goths. He restored Roman power to its former boundaries through various successes in war. He defeated Tetricus near Catalauni, with Tetricus himself betraying his own army, whose continuous mutinies he could no longer endure. Indeed, Tetricus even begged Aurelian to intervene on his behalf through secret letters and employed this verse, among others, from Virgil: “Rescue me, Invincible One, from these evils!” Not far from Antioch, and without much of a fight, Aurelian captured Zenobia, who held the East after her husband Odenathus had been slain. He entered Rome and celebrated a noble triumph as the restorer of the East and West with Tetricus and Zenobia preceding his chariot. Afterwards, Tetricus was governor of Lucania and lived a long life as a private citizen. Zenobia left descendants in Rome who are still there today.

14. Also during his reign, the workers of the mint revolted in the city, killing the finance minister, Felicissimus, and corrupting the money. Aurelian suppressed their revolt with great cruelty. He condemned many nobles to death. He was savage, bloodthirsty, and more of a necessary emperor in certain respects than a beloved one in any. He was always ferocious and even killed his sister’s son. To a great extent, he was a reformer of military discipline and dissolute morals.

15. He enclosed the city with stronger walls. He built a temple dedicated to the Sun, in which he placed a vast amount of gold and jewels. He let slip away the province of Dacia, which Trajan had established beyond the Danube, because Illyricum and Moesia had been laid waste, and he despaired over being able to hold it. He moved the Roman citizens from the cities and fields of Dacia and relocated them in the middle of Moesia. He called this “Dacia,” the area which now divides the two Moesias on the right bank of the Danube as it flows to the sea, when before, Dacia was on the left bank. He was slain through the treachery of one of his servants, who brought to certain military men (friends of Aurelian) a list of names forged in Aurelian’s handwriting, as though Aurelian was preparing to kill them. Thus, in order for this to be prevented, he was slain in the middle of the old paved road which extends between Constantinople and Heraclea, in a place called Caenophrurium. His death did not go unavenged, and he gained enrollment among the gods.

16. Tacitus took over the empire after him. He was a man of excellent manners and one who was suitable to govern the state. However, he left no famous deeds to posterity because he died after ruling less than six months. Florianus, who succeeded him, ruled for two months and twenty days and did nothing worthy of memory.

17. After him, Probus, a man of great military glory, undertook the management of the state. He recovered Gaul, which had been seized by the barbarians, through great successes in the field. He crushed in battle certain men who were trying to usurp power, namely, Saturninus in the East, and Proculus and Bonosus at Agrippina. He permitted the Gauls and Pannonians to have vineyards and had his soldiers plant vineyards on Mt. Alma at Sirmium and Mt. Aureus in Upper Moesia; he gave these to the inhabitants of the provinces to cultivate. After he had fought innumerable wars and procured peace, he stated that soldiers would soon be unnecessary. He was a spirited man, energetic and just, and one who equaled Aurelian in military glory but surpassed him in civility of manners. Nevertheless, he was killed during a military uprising in an iron tower at Sirmium.

18. Carus, born in Narbo in Gaul, was made Augustus after him. He immediately made his sons, Carinus and Numerian, Caesars. While he was waging war against the Sarmatians, a revolt of the Persians was reported. He departed for the East and had notable accomplishments against the Persians. He routed them in battle and captured their noblest cities, Coche and Ctesiphon. He was struck down by the blow of a divine thunderbolt after making a camp above the Tigris river. His son Numerian, a young man of excellent character whom he had brought with him as Caesar to Persia, was also slain, treacherously, at the instigation of Aper, his father-in-law, as he was being carried on a litter due to a malady of the eyes. Although his death was being concealed by guile until which time Aper could seize power, it was revealed by the stench of his corpse; for the soldiers who were accompanying him were disturbed by a foul odor, and upon opening the curtains of his litter, they learned of his death several days after it had taken place.

19. In the meantime, Carinus, whom Carus had left behind as Caesar with authority over Illyricum, Gaul, and Italy as he was setting out against the Parthians, disgraced himself with every type of wickedness. He killed many innocent people on fictitious charges, corrupted noble marriages, and additionally, ruined former schoolmates who had annoyed him in the classroom or bothered him even slightly. He became hated by all men because of these things, and not much later, he paid the price; for as the victorious army was returning from Persia, since it had lost Carus, the Augustus, to a thunderbolt, and Numerian, the Caesar, to treachery, it chose as emperor Diocletian, a man from Dalmatia of such obscure birth that he was believed by most to be the son of a clerk and by some to be the son of a freedman of the senator Anullinus.

20. Diocletian, in the first assembly of the soldiers, swore he had nothing to do with the death of Numerian, and since Aper, who had formed the plot against Numerian, was standing beside him, he was slain in view of the army with a sword by the hand of Diocletian. Afterwards, Diocletian defeated Carinus, who was hated and detested by all, in a great battle near Margum. Carinus was betrayed by his own army, although he had the stronger one, which completely deserted him between Viminacium and Mt. Aureus. Thus, Diocletian gained control of the Roman state. When the peasants in Gaul stirred up a revolt, calling their faction “Bacaudae” and led by Amandus and Aelianus, he sent Maximianus Herculius as Caesar to subjugate them. He subdued the country folk in some minor engagements and restored the peace in Gaul.

21. Also during this time, Carausius, a man of very humble origin who had achieved an excellent reputation through a career of active military service, was appointed while at Bononia to pacify the seas off the coast of Belgica and Armorica, which were infested by the Franks and Saxons. He often captured many barbarians but did not send back all of the plunder to the people of the province or the emperors. When the suspicion arose that he secretly admitted the barbarians in order to enrich himself by capturing them with their booty, he was condemned to death by Maximianus. Carausius then took up the imperial purple and seized Britain.

22. Since the entire world was in turmoil (Carausius was rebelling in Britain, Achilleus in Egypt, the Quinquegentiani were ravaging Africa, and Narses was waging war against the East), Diocletian promoted Maximianus Herculius from Caesar to Augustus and made Constantius and Maximianus Galerius Caesars. Constantius is purported to be the grandson of Claudius II Gothicus through his daughter. Maximianus Galerius was born in Dacia, not far from Serdica. In order for them to be joined by marriage as well, Constantius married the step-daughter of Herculius, Theodora, from whom he had six children who were the brothers of Constantine, and Galerius married Valeria, the daughter of Diocletian. Both were compelled to repudiate the wives they had earlier. After attempting several wars in vain against Carausius, a man most skilled in the art of war, peace was finally agreed upon. Allectus, an associate of Carausius, killed him after seven years and then held Britain himself for three years. He was overthrown by Asclepiodotus, the praetorian prefect. Thus, Britain was recovered in the tenth year.

23. At the same time, Constantius Caesar fought successfully in Gaul. At Lingonae, he experienced both favorable and adverse fortune in the same day; for when the barbarians suddenly fell upon him, he was forced by such dire necessity into the city that the gates were already closed, and he had to be raised onto the wall by ropes; and scarcely five hours later, when the army arrived, he killed about sixty thousand of the Alamanni. Maximianus Augustus ended the war in Africa after conquering the Quinquegentiani and forcing them to make peace. Diocletian defeated Achilleus, having besieged him for about eight months in Alexandria, and killed him. He followed up his victory harshly, brutalizing all Egypt with severe proscriptions and massacres. At this time, however, he prudently ordained and established many new laws which remain until our own time.

24. After meeting Narses between Callinicum and Carrhae, Galerius Maximianus fought an unsuccessful first battle against him, contending rashly rather than without spirit, having joined battle with a small body of men against a vast enemy. Therefore, upon being beaten and heading back to Diocletian, Galerius is said to have been received with such disdain by Diocletian that when Galerius met him on the march, he was reported to have run for several miles clad in purple alongside Diocletian’s chariot.

25. Soon, however, after gathering troops throughout Illyricum and Moesia, he fought a second time against Narses, the grandfather of Hormizd and Shapur, in Greater Armenia with great success and with no less prudence and valor, for he even undertook the duty of a scout with one or two other horsemen. He plundered Narses’ camp after routing him. He captured his wives, sisters, and children, as well as a vast number of the Persian nobility and an immense amount of Persian treasure. He compelled Narses himself to flee to the remotest wildernesses of his kingdom; on which account, when he returned in triumph to Diocletian, who was among the garrisons in Mesopotamia, he was received with great honor. Afterwards, they waged various wars, together and individually, subjugating the Carpi and Bastarnae and defeating the Sarmatians. They relocated vast numbers of these peoples into Roman territory.

26. Diocletian was crafty in manner, shrewd, and discriminating. He was content to satisfy his own cruel nature with the hatred of others. He was, however, a most diligent and skillful leader. He was the first to introduce regal custom into the Roman Empire, rather than the usual practice of Roman liberty, and ordered that he should be revered, when previously all emperors were only saluted. He adorned his clothing and shoes with jeweled ornaments. Previously, the only sign of imperial power was the purple cloak and one’s other garments were ordinary.

27. Herculius, on the other hand, was openly savage and uncivilized in nature, even displaying his fierceness in his frightful countenance. Indulging in his nature, he would accompany Diocletian in all of his more savage endeavors. When Diocletian was getting on in age and had begun to think that he was no longer suitable to govern the empire, he proposed to Herculius that they should return to private life and hand over the management of the empire to more vigorous and younger men. To which notion, his colleague grudgingly complied. Therefore, they exchanged their imperial trappings for the garb of private citizens on the same day (Diocletian in Nicomedia and Herculius in Mediolanum), after their famous triumph, which they celebrated in Rome over numerous nations with an illustrious procession of paintings [representations of cities, rivers, and other things in conquered countries], and in which the wives, sisters, and children of Narses were led before their chariots. Then they both retired, one to Salonae and the other to Lucania.

28. Diocletian grew old in his villa, not very far from Salonae, as a private citizen in a famous retirement, having exercised extraordinary virtue as, he alone, since the founding of the Roman Empire, voluntarily stepped down from so high a station to the status and dignity of private life. Therefore, something happened to him which happened to no one else since the beginning of mankind, that, although he died a private citizen, he was nevertheless enrolled among the gods.

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