Diocletian, who was a man of uncommon shrewdness, could not disguise from himself, how highly dangerous it was to keep jarring elements together by force. He therefore bethought himself of what would seem the strange plan of healing the many splits between the East and the West by a distinct government for each under different princes, they being, however, so united by one common centre, as still to form one whole. This worked well so long as he reigned himself. The legislative power, the consulship, and the high offices were to be in common: but in both parts of the empire there was to be a distinct _Augustus_; and by the side of every Augustus a _Cæsar_ as his coadjutor, who was to succeed to the throne after his death. The latter clause was to prevent the throne from being kept vacant, or being given away by the soldiers. It would seem that the senior Augustus had the right of naming the Cæsars. The _Præfectura Galliarum_ (which consisted of Gaul, Britain, and Spain), together with Mauretania, was to have a Cæsar; Italy and Africa were placed under the immediate rule of the Augustus. The countries on the Danube, Pannonia and Mœsia (afterwards the _præfectura_ of Illyria), were likewise under a Cæsar: the other Augustus had the whole of the East. All these were ingenious combinations: but they showed by their result, what such combinations will generally lead to. Diocletian reigned for twenty years (from 285 to 305), and then by his paramount influence, he got Maximian to resign his dignity at the same time with him (May 1st, 305); so that, while he was yet living, the machine might be set up anew. The Cæsar in the East, Galerius, and his colleague Constantius, were both of them Illyrians. The former was a common soldier who had gotten the surname of _Armentarius_ from having been a drover; the other (to whom we do not give the name of Chlorus, as it is only to be found in Byzantine writers, and not even in the earlier ones, nor on coins; and as we are not able to make out its derivation) was of high birth, his father being a man of rank in the diocese of Illyricum, and his mother a niece of the Emperor Claudius Gothicus. The two were of a very different stamp. Constantius was an accomplished and well educated gentleman; Galerius was a rough fellow: both of them, however, were distinguished generals, though indeed Galerius was the bolder of the two. This division led afterwards to that of the empire into prefectures: not only every Augustus, but also every Cæsar had his _præfectus prætorio_; whence arose the four dioceses, each of which had a _præfectus_, as we see at a later period, there being traces of it even in the times of Justinian. Of the other measures of Diocletian, we shall mention here but the following. He transplanted the ceremonial of the East into his court: neither of the two emperors, however, resided at Rome; Maximian lived at Milan; Diocletian, in Nicomedia. Whatever may