and consummated in the way that Diocletian, in act if not in word, had suggested. What was it, that caused one of the most consequent and decided of men to suffer so extraordinary an interruption in his own plans? To us, the riddle has no perfect and satisfactory solution. We can only point out that Diocletian is not the sole instance of a strong-minded man, who has been persuaded in old age to act against a lifelong principle1;—that all the arguments of false religion and false policy which modern