Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1827) Vol 1.djvu/479

 OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 455 of the civil as well as military administration. He mul- CHAP. tiplied the wheels of the machine of government, and 1_ rendered its operations less rapid but more secure, and two Whatever advantages and whatever defects might at- ®^^"' tend these innovations, they must be ascribed in a very great degree to the first inventor ; but as the new frame of policy was gradually improved and completed by succeeding princes, it will be more satisfactory to delay the consideration of it till the season of its full maturity and perfection'. Reserving, therefore, for the reign of Constantine a more exact picture of the new empire, we shall content ourselves with describing the princi- pal and decisive outline, as it was traced by the hand of Diocletian.- He had associated three colleagues in the exercise of the supreme power ; and as he was convinced that the abilities of a single man were inade- quate to the public defence, he considered the joint administration of four princes not as a temporary expe- dient, but as a fundamental law of the constitution. It was his intention, that the two elder princes should be distinguished by the use of the diadem, and the title of Augusti; that, as affection or esteem might direct their choice, they should regularly call to their assistance two subordinate colleagues; and that the CcEsars, vising in their turn to the first rank, should supply an unin- terrupted succession of emperors. The empire was divided into four parts. The east and Italy were the most honourable, the Danube and the Rhine the most laborious stations. The former claimed the presence of the Augusti, the latter were intrusted to the admini- stration of the Caesars. The strength of the legions was in the hands of the four partners of sovereignty ; and the despair of successively vanquishing four formid- able rivals, might intimidate the ambition of an aspir- ing general. In their civil government, the emperors were supposed to exercise the undivided power of the ' The innovations introduced by Diocletian, are chiefly deduced, first, from some very strong passages in Lactantius; and, secondly, from the new and various offices which, in the Theodosian code, appear ntreadu estab- lished in the beginning of the reign of Constantine.