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Of the Manner in Which the Persecutors Died

Lactantius

Chapter 8

About this work

Author: Lactantius

Chap. VIII.

What was the character of his brother in empire

‹ Chapter 7 Chapter 9 ›

,

Maximian

,

called

Herculius

?

Not

unlike

to

that

of

Diocletian

;

and

,

indeed

,

to

render

their

friendship

so

close

and

faithful

as

it

was

,

there

must

have

been

in

them

a

sameness

of

inclinations

and

purposes

,

a

corresponding

will

and

unanimity

in

judgment

.

Herein

alone

they

were

different

,

that

Diocletian

was

more

avaricious

and

less

resolute

,

and

that

Maximian

,

with

less

avarice

,

had

a

bolder

spirit

,

prone

not

to

good

,

but

to

evil

.

For

while

he

possessed

Italy

,

itself

the

chief

seat

of

empire

,

and

while

other

very

opulent

provinces

,

such

as

Africa

and

Spain

,

were

near

at

hand

,

he

took

little

care

to

preserve

those

treasures

which

he

had

such

fair

opportunities

of

amassing

.

Whenever

he

stood

in

need

of

more

,

the

richest

senators

were

presently

charged

,

by

suborned

evidences

,

as

guilty

of

aspiring

to

the

empire

;

so

that

the

chief

luminaries

of

the

senate

were

daily

extinguished

.

And

thus

the

treasury

,

delighting

in

blood

,

overflowed

with

ill

-

gotten

wealth

.

Add to all this the incontinency of that pestilent wretch, not only in debauching males, which is hateful and abominable, but also in the violation of the daughters of the principal men of the state; for wherever he journeyed, virgins were suddenly torn from the presence of their parents. In such enormities he placed his supreme delight, and to indulge to the utmost his lust and flagitious desires was in his judgment the felicity of his reign.

I pass over Constantius, a prince unlike the others, and worthy to have had the sole government of the empire.