MASSIMIANO (M. Aurelius Valerius Maximianus), ROMAN EMPEROR. — Born of humble parents in Pannonia, he was a soldier during one of the periods of the most vigorous and successful restoration of Roman military prestige under the emperors Aureliano and Probo; he was Diocleziano’s comrade-in-arms and was assisted by him in his career, so that he recognized his superiority and always showed himself devoted to him.
The ancient sources concerning him are of little value, since they range from the often excessive praise of Mamertino’s orations (v. Panegyrici Latini, II, III and VI) to the perhaps exaggeratedly harsh judgments of the few historians of the period, who never cease to emphasize his coarseness, ignorance, impulsiveness, crude inexperience, and childish greed for honours.
When Diocleziano, after the deaths of Caro, Numeriano and Carino, no longer found anyone to challenge his rule of the Empire, he nevertheless immediately had to attend to a number of grave and urgent necessities, not least the serious disorders in the Gallic provinces, which repeated barbarian invasions and internal struggles among usurpers had inflicted with enormous damage. The affliction had to be stamped out, and for this purpose Diocleziano appointed M. Caesar and sent him with military forces to Gaul. M. performed excellently and, as a result, was associated with the Empire under the title of Augustus.
Entrusted with the protection of all the western provinces, M. achieved further victories over the Germans beyond the Rhine, especially over the Franks, while one of his generals, Carausio,
M. meanwhile stayed in Milan, or waged war in Africa against the Quinquegentani and other rebellious tribes. In 303, when Diocleziano’s vicennalia were being celebrated, M. was with him in Rome, where they celebrated a triumph and the ludi saeculares begun in 298. In 305 M.’s vicennalia were to have been celebrated, but the festivities were embittered by the abdication which Diocleziano desired and also imposed upon his highly reluctant colleague (1 May 305), in order, according to the system of the «tetrarchy», to make way for the two Caesares. The irregular proclamation of Costantino as emperor by the soldiers of Gaul and Britain encouraged Massenzio (v.), M.’s son, to have himself acclaimed emperor and to insist that his father resume the imperial purple. M. agreed, and his presence beside his son caused the expeditions of Flavio Severo and Galerio against Massenzio to fail. M. repeatedly urged Diocleziano to resume the imperial power himself in order to restore order and peace, but in vain; indeed, at the meeting at Carnunto, Diocleziano imposed a new abdication upon M. Having returned to private life, and on poor terms with his son, he took refuge in Gaul with Costantino, to whom he had given his daughter Fausta in marriage. But there too, seized once again by restless ambitions for power, he was viewed with suspicion by his son-in-law and, in circumstances that are not entirely clear, made to disappear.
A good soldier, but nothing more than that, he was nevertheless a good executor of Diocleziano’s directives. He was not benevolent toward the Christians, so that in his part of the Empire the provisions of Diocleziano’s edict of persecution were applied rigorously.