er husband, and his benefactor
were still warm, and while the sorrows of her mind were still expressed
by her mourning garments. She ventured to declare, that she could
place very little confidence in the professions of a man whose cruel
inconstancy was capable of repudiating a faithful and affectionate
wife." On this repulse, the love of Maximin was converted into fury; and
as witnesses and judges were always at his disposal, it was easy for
him to cover his fury with an appearance of legal proceedings, and to
assault the reputation as well as the happiness of Valeria. Her estates
were confiscated, her eunuchs and domestics devoted to the most inhuman
tortures; and several innocent and respectable matrons, who were honored
with her friendship, suffered death, on a false accusation of adultery.
The empress herself, together with her mother Prisca, was condemned to
exile; and as they were ignominiously hurried from place to place before
they were confined to a sequestered village in the deserts of Syria,
they exposed their shame and distress to the provinces of the East,
which, during thirty years, had respected their august dignity.
Diocletian made several ineffectual efforts to alleviate the misfortunes
of his daughter; and, as the last return that he expected for the
Imperial purple, which he had conferred upon Maximin, he entreated that
Valeria might be permitted to share his retirement of Salona, and to
close the eyes of her afflicted father. He entreated; but as he could
no longer threaten, his prayers were received with coldness and disdain;
and the pride of Maximin was gratified, in treating Diocletian as a
suppliant, and his daughter as a criminal. The death of Maximin seemed
to assure the empresses of a favorable alteration in their fortune. The
public disorders relaxed the vigilance of their guard, and they easily
found means to escape from the place of their exile, and to repair,
though with some precaution, and in disguise, to the court of Licinius.
His behavior, in the first days of his reign, and the honorable
reception which he gave to young Candidianus, inspired Valeria with a
secret satisfaction, both on her own account and on that of her adopted
son. But these grateful prospects were soon succeeded by horror and
astonishment; and the bloody executions which stained the palace of
Nicomedia sufficiently convinced her that the throne of Maximin was
filled by a tyrant more inhuman than himself. Valeria consu