The Roman Army, 31 BC–AD 337: A Sourcebook

The army in the later empire 237
383 Lactantius (3rd–4th C.AD), On the Deaths of the
Persecutors 7. 2
Through his greed and fear he (Diocletian) overturned the entire world.
He appointed three men to share his rule, with the result that the world
was divided into four parts and the armies multiplied, since each one
of the emperors struggled to keep a much larger number of soldiers
than any previous emperor had had when he was administering the
state alone. The number of people who were recipients began to
outnumber contributors, to such an extent that the substance of the
farmers was consumed by the enormity of the requisitions, fields were
abandoned and arable land was turned into woodland. Furthermore,
to ensure that terror permeated everywhere, the provinces too were
divided into chunks; many governors and even more officials were set
over individual areas, indeed virtually over individual communities;
there were also many accountants, and controllers, and deputies of the
prefects, among all of whom civil behaviour was a rarity; instead there
were only numerous condemnations and confiscations, and exactions
of countless resources which were not merely frequent but incessant,
and led to insufferable abuse. Moreover, the methods for raising troops
were intolerable.
By contrast to Zosimus, Lactantius gives, from the Christian standpoint, a
critical opinion of Diocletian’s reforms in the army and administration, and in
particular the exactions required to finance them. Although he is a hostile
witness, he gives us a valuable contemporary reaction to changes which he
believed were very painful to many sections of society. It is true that Lactantius
cannot be right to suggest that the army was quadrupled, but other evidence
indicates the strength of the Severan army was at least doubled (Duncan-Jones
1978; MacMullen 1980).
384 Act of Maximilianus 2. 8–9 (Musurillo 1972:17), AD 295
Dion (proconsul of Africa) said: ‘Think about your youth and serve in
the army. This is the right course of action for a young man’.
Maximilian replied: ‘My service is for my Lord. I cannot serve the
world. I have already stated this, I am a Christian’.
Dion the proconsul said: ‘In the sacred retinue (comitatus) of our
lords Diocletian and Maximian, Constantius and Maximus, there are
soldiers who are Christians, and they serve’.
Maximilian said: ‘They themselves know what is right for them. I,
however, am a Christian and I cannot do evil’.
For the context see text no. 5. The comitatus suggests a field force in attendance