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Although Diocletian was finally emperor, his labors didn't end there. Diocletian: "Report." Advisor: "Sir, civil wars are breaking out everywhere, and we don't have enough troops to quell them." Advisor2: "And, as small as it is, we still don't have money to pay the army."

Diocletian: "Why." Advisors: Shrug

Diocletian: "Well?"

Advisor: "We could...raise taxes?"

Diocletian: "Men, we have a civil war on our hands. A tax increase will only fuel the fire."

Diocletian: "No, I think we do some tax reforms." Advisors: "Nooooooooooooooooooooo" Advisor: "it burns"

After a long, boring discussion Diocletian managed to make soem drastic changes.

The amount of taxes paid used to be the same for everyone. Poor guy: "But... this is all I have." Rich guy: "I've got zillions more at home!" Now taxation was based on how much income the person made. Thus the rich paid more tax than the poor.

Poor guy: "Whoopie!"

However, the city of Rome was still exempt from taxes. Poor guy: "But that's where most rich folks live!"