1 May AD 305
Diocletian abdicates

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When Diocletian comes to Rome in November AD 303 for a great celebration marking his 20th year as emperor, it is probably the first and only time he visits the imperial city – a sign of the diminishing importance of Rome (and indeed Italy) in an empire that has long since outgrown its origins. He leaves the empire in better shape than at any time during the last century, but his abdication on 1 May AD 305 prompts a new round of power struggles. Diocletian himself is never tempted out of retirement, although Maximian, who he had persuaded to abdicate with him, is soon involved in those struggles himself. The emperor of the west commits suicide in AD 310, after being captured by Constantine. Acclaimed emperor at York four years earlier, Constantine, whose father had been Caesar under Maximian, cannot claim control over the whole empire until almost two decades later, in AD 324.

'If only you could see the cabbages that we have planted at Salonae with our hands, you would never again judge that a tempting prospect.'
Diocletian in response to a suggestion that he should come out of retirement

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