Page "Diocletian" Paragraph 77

The historian A. H. M.

Jones observed that " It is perhaps Diocletian's greatest achievement that he reigned twenty-one years and then abdicated voluntarily, and spent the remaining years of his life in peaceful retirement.

" Diocletian was one of the few Emperors of the third and fourth centuries to die naturally, and the first in the history of the Empire to retire voluntarily.

Once he retired, however, his Tetrarchic system collapsed.

Without the guiding hand of Diocletian, the Empire fell into civil wars.

Stability emerged after the defeat of Licinius by Constantine in 324.

Under the Christian Constantine, Diocletian was maligned.

Constantine's rule, however, validated Diocletian's achievements and the autocratic principle he represented: the borders remained secure, in spite of Constantine's large expenditure of forces during his civil wars ; the bureaucratic transformation of Roman government was completed ; and Constantine took Diocletian's court ceremonies and made them even more extravagant.