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History and Evolution:
By William E. Steinman:
Part 34, Diocletian:
November 17, 2003:
After the death of Claudius in 270 the empire was ruled for about fourteen years, from 270 to 284, by what are called the Illyrian Emperors. All of these guys were very good generals and they tried to restore the empire. The first of these, Quintillus does not figure into the scheme of things. He died or was murdered a few days after his rule was proclaimed. There is little information about him or his death.
The second, Aurelianus did much better. He drove the Germanic tribes out of northern Italy. He also began the fortification of Rome with an edifice called appropriately enough Aurelian's Wall. It was intended to reassure the citizens of Rome who had found little cause for joy in the previous years. He then went east to plunder Palmyra in Syria on his way to recovering Alexandria. On his way back, he recapture the Gallic empire and essentially restored the empire.
He was welcomed in Rome as a hero which gave him the clout to restore some discipline in the Capital. He put down a riot, and militarized several enterprises to ensure the city's supplies. To make sure the Romans got it he declared himself to be the chosen representative of the invincible sun. In Latin that is Sol Invictus. He then built a magnificent temple to his newly invented religion. We can be sure, a few of the military officers were more that a bit afraid of this guy. That culminated in their murdering him in 275.
We continue to notice these self defeating behavioral excesses and resorts to violent solutions in the Roman psyche. From the perspective of centuries we can wonder at the sanity of some of these acts. It was bound to lead to the final collapse. To replace Aurelianus, at the request of the army, the senate named an aging senator, Tacitus. He continues the campaign of defending the Eastern Empire against the barbarian tribes, but he only lasted for three months. It is not clear if he died or was killed by his soldiers. From looking at the previous patterns I would guess the latter.
Upon the death of Tacitus his half brother, Florianus seized power. That was allowed to stand by the senate, but the armies in Syria had another idea. A few months after Florianus claimed power, they proclaimed their own General, Probus as emperor. Of course, that caused a civil war. The war ended quickly when Florianus died. Again, it is not clear how, whether by suicide or assassination by his troops.
After Probus, Carus who had been perfect of the emperor's guard became emperor. He continues the fight against the Persians but died suddenly in 283. Again, the cause of death is unknown. With all of these mysterious deaths it's beginning to sound like a dime novel. Carus was succeeded by his two sons, Carinus and Numeranus. Numeranus became emperor of the East and his brother became emperor of the West.
Guess what? One day, while he was fighting in the East, Nuerianus was found dead. His father-in-law was executed for his murder and Diocletian, the commander of the household guard came to power. How convenient for him. A bit later, Carinus was killed by his own troops while fighting against Diocletian.
Diocletian survived a bit better that his recent predecessors. He remained emperor from 284 to 305. After the previous flirtation with anarchy, he brought some stability to Rome. He restored the government's financial situation and reorganized the military. He accomplished that through a streamlined government administration.
This has shown up previously, however, it is important now to notice the Roman Empire as consisting of two empires with Rome somewhat in the center. The empire in the West was in a serious state of decline. Diocletian managed to slow this somewhat. He realized, however, that the empire was just too much for one man. In 286 he made a decision to share the throne. He called upon a soldier friend, Maximian, and installed him as co or assistant emperor. Maximian became responsible for defense and particularly for the Western Empire. At the same time Diocletian moved to Nicomedia, in western Anatolia to keep the Eastern vigil though he kept the capital at Rome.
In 293 he added another pair of assistants, Galerius and Constantius I to create a tetrarchy, what we might call the first gang of four. He assigned Constantius to Maximian and Galerius to himself. For sure, Diocletian got a bit carried away and decide that he and Maximian were sons of gods and creators of gods. He named himself Jove and Maximian Hercules.
It was not all smooth sailing for this leadership. In 287 a fellow named Carausius decided to name himself emperor of Briton. He managed to maintain that position for ten years until 296. In addition, Egypt decided to secede and had to be reconquered in 296. Finally, the Persians rose up again in 297. Peace was restored in the East when they were defeated by Galerius, That peace lasted until 337. The tetrarchy was proving effective in consolidating the empire.
On the domestic front, Diocletian was gathering all power unto himself. While Gallienus had excluded senators from the army and separated the military from the civil service, Diocletian formalized this. He became for all practical purposed an absolute ruler. The senate was shut out from law making and power was put in the hands of his own bureaucrats. Little did he know the precedent and model he was defining for later bureaucracies such as the one in Washington DC.
On the positive side, he sought through law to restore some of the old virtues. There were many reforms concerning family life. These included that children should care for aging parents, parents should care for their children, respect for marriage, and much etcetera. He also reformed the army, froze wages, invoke price controls, and diluted the arbitrary powers of provincial governors. He also levied some land and income taxes. To make sure that worked he instituted a census which got him some criticism. He also restored a sound currency to help stabilize the economy.
On the very bad side, there was a vigorous persecution of the Christians. This probably had a number of causes and there is enough blame to go around including some for the Christians themselves. At any rate, there was extensive violence against the Christians. The net effect of this was to make martyrs of a number of them and to reenforce their religion.
Diocletian's plan for succession was quite unique. In 305 he resigned as Augustus and bullied Maximian into resigning with him. The assistants or Caesars as they were called became Augusti. Two new assistants or Caesars, Severus and Maximinus Daia were then named. So ended the reign of Deocletian.
Looking at the reign of this man, we can say he was certainly
a power dominant. In fact, there is good evidence to support the
notion that he was a superior dominant. When we look at what he
tried to do, it had much to do with improving and stabilizing
the empire. He also implemented laws that encouraged ethical behavior
at all levels of power and also among the citizens. It is obvious
that he left the empire in much better shape than he found it.
In addition, considering the fate of his predecessors, he demonstrated
a remarkable knack for survival. These all seem to be attributes
of a superior dominant as I have defined the behavior pattern.
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