Chapter 6

In the year of our Lord 286, Diocletian, a nominee of the army, became thirty-third in the succession of Augustus.¹ He ruled twenty years, and chose Maximian, known as Herculius, as his co-Emperor. During their reign, Carausius, a man of humble birth but a capable and energetic soldier, was appointed to protect the sea-coasts, which were then being ravaged by Franks and Saxons. But he put his own interests before those of the Republic, and suspicion arose that he was deliberately permitting the enemy to raid the frontiers: any loot that he recovered from the pirates was not restored to its rightful owners, but retained for his own advantage. Maximian ordered his execution, but Carausius assumed the imperial purple and seized Britain, which he won and held for seven years with great daring. He lost his life through the betrayal of his colleague Allectus, who then held the island for three years, after which he was defeated by Asclepiodotus, Prefect of the Praetorian Guard, who thus restored Britain to the Empire after ten years.

Meanwhile Diocletian in the East and Herculius in the West ordered all churches to be destroyed and all Christians to be hunted out and killed. This was the tenth persecution since Nero, and was more protracted and horrible than all that had preceded it. It was carried out without any respite for ten years, with the burning of churches, the outlawing of innocent people, and the slaughter of martyrs. But at length the glory of these martyrs’ devoted loyalty to God was to light even Britain.